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It was Poetry Week on Storyboard, which is pushing the envelope a bit for a site that explores the art and craft of narrative nonfiction. But I would argue that literary journalists can learn a lot from poets, especially their economy of form, where every word, every beat of the tempo, every pause counts. And […] → Read More
Why is it great? You know how it seems like spring will never arrive, you wait and you wait, and it’s dreary and cold, and then suddenly, in one day, it seems to arrive? In New England they call it the greening, which is a wonderful. The rush of words in cummings’ poem is like that exact moment. A sudden joy after the long winter, an explosion of vitality. → Read More
A "flying boat" is moored on the Thames near the Houses of Parliament in 1928. Associated Press This week we pay tribute to London, a city that seems like it’s being pulled in two directions: toward its tremendous past and its wildly creative yet uncertain future. As the blogger known as “The Gentle Author” (see post below) says: “London is a very dangerous subject for a writer, because it will… → Read More
Why is it great? Well, first of all, it comes from the great Sarah Lyall, who was the longtime London correspondent for The New York Times. She has such a wonderful voice: charming, funny, intimate. This comes from her book about her years living in England (highly recommended). Here, she’s talking about the down-market tabloid The Sun, famous (or infamous) for its bare-breasted “Page 3 girls.”… → Read More
Spitalfields Life recently spotlighted the photography of Ron McCormick, who photographed Whitechapel & Spitalfields in the early seventies. Ron McCormick via Spitalfields Life “In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London.” “The only place in London where you can talk to people, and there is a culture of openness, is the East… → Read More
Point of view is a powerful narrative tool. Take, for example, the Newest Americans project that we spotlighted this week. For some politicians and hate-mongerers, … → Read More
Why is it so great? When I was looking for a One Great Sentence dealing with immigration, I was struck by the differences between America’s two presidents named Roosevelt. In the one above, FDR reminds us of our common bond; it is a sentence of inclusion, not exclusion. And what did Teddy Roosevelt say? “Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or… → Read More
Children sing during a class at a community center in the Ida B. Wells housing project in Chicago, named after the pioneering journalist. Library of Congress Looking back at this week’s posts, I was struck by the similarities between two of the writers we spotlighted. Ida B. Wells was a brave, pioneering investigative journalist who fought for women’s rights and campaigned against lynching. Born… → Read More
Why is it so great? I found this quote from the absolutely amazing Ida B. Wells after The New York Times righted an old wrong by publishing her obit — almost exactly 87 years after her death. She was so fearless, and fierce. She took on those in power and fought to end the impunity of lynching, and also for the right of universal suffrage. I could have chosen any of a dozen Great Sentences here,… → Read More
The sunrise of the winter solstice through a frost-covered window in the Maine countryside. Kari Howard This week we celebrated the vernal equinox, this moment of rebirth and hope as we ease out of winter. (Of course, New England got hit with another snowstorm, as if winter was all Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction” and “I won’t be ignored!”) So we took one last look at some beautiful writing… → Read More
This 1961 book has haunted me since I first read it about 15 years ago. Written at the birth of suburbia, and the accompanying conformity of such neighborhoods, it tells the story of a couple who believe they’re different from all their banal neighbors. They’re the “creative” ones. But in fact they’re trapped by their fear of authenticity, of real emotion. Or rather, the husband is trapped by… → Read More
“Have you ever heard the absolute silence?” So asks a young lobsterman on Maine’s Matinicus Island, one of the handful of people who live year-round … → Read More
As a near-spring Nor’easter hit New England this week, we showcased two recent stories about polar exploration. What intrigued me were the very different perspectives … → Read More
Peacock feathers are off limits to the plumassier, unless he can find vintage ones. Martin Meissner/Associated Press It was John Steinbeck’s birthday this week, and I came across this quote by him: “Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance.” That made me think of the haute couture “plumassier” in the post below. He spends his… → Read More
Why is it great? This line is beautifully constructed, yes, but what stands out for me is the sentiment conveyed. It could be my journalism mantra. The sentence comes from Orlean’s introduction to her book, a collection of profiles whose greatness is finding the extraordinary in the ordinary (such as her famous “The American Man at Age 10”). I love this other bit from the introduction,… → Read More
Kaitlynn Cooper, 12, right, hugs her friend Allison Shonk, 18, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, during a vigil at after a mass shooting there. Gerald Herbert/Associated Press This could have been a week of love — at least of the commercialized Hallmark variety. But hearts and flowers didn’t prevail for even one day before yet another person with a gun ran amok at a school. On… → Read More
Why is it so great? For Valentine’s Day, we had to go with One Great Sentence on love (even if the holiday makes you go harrumph). This one is a doozy. It’s uplifting — love makes you brave enough to come out of hiding and reveal yourself. But it’s also complex, because the use of the verb “crawl” shows how difficult love is, how we sometimes enter it reluctantly, slowly, almost against our will. → Read More
Why is it great? This story was part of the late writer’s Iraq coverage that won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting. → Read More
Why is it so great? This is not only one of the best one-word sentences in a memoir, it’s also possibly the only one-word chapter in a memoir. And the final chapter, to boot. So it also ranks up there in the best-last-line sweepstakes. (My personal favorite is the one in “Little Boy Lost,” by Marghanita Laski, which you mustn’t read before you’ve read the whole book.) O’Court’s memoir of his… → Read More
People watch the fireworks exploding over Copacabana beach during New Year's celebrations in Rio de Janeiro. Leo Correa/Associated Press Friends sometimes tell me to take off my rose-colored spectacles, but I was determined to start out 2018 with a bit of inspiration on Storyboard — from some of our top literary journalists, and some of the narrative conferences and workshops on tap this year.… → Read More