In the mid-80’s, I worked at an underground food co-op in Washington, D.C. One night when I was bagging raisins, I noticed that a woman was staring at me. Finally, she stepped forward and said, “Michelle? Michelle Golden?” “No,” I … Read more
Jacqui Banaszynski is the assistant managing editor/Sunday at The Seattle Times and holds the Knight chair in journalism at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Her series, “AIDS in the Heartland,” covering the life and death of a gay … Read more
Talese and Michel Marriott New York Times reporter and 2002 Nieman Fellow Michel Marriott introduced Gay Talese at the Nieman Narrative Journalism Conference. Excerpts of their comments follow: Michel Marriott: As a young … Read more
‘Pick three things and just keep working on them, keep reinforcing them.’ Think of each of your reporter/writers as a one-year investment. Match the assignment to the writer, but stretch it each time. Give them things to work on. But … Read more
‘You can break the action at times and give us background.’ Say you’re writing about the Little League team winning the Little League World Series and you’re doing a narrative. That’s a dramatic story, but it’s … Read more
“Whether it is fiction or nonfiction, the voice of the author is what keeps us going. If the voice does not capture the reader, the voice is silenced by the reader putting down the book. The authenticity of the voice … Read more
