If character is destiny, you wouldn’t know it from reading our latest Notable Narrative. In “Did This Man Really Cut Michael Jordan?,” Thomas Lake introduces Clifton “Pop” Herring, the high school basketball coach of perhaps the greatest player the game has ever known.
The story, which ran in the January 16 issue of Sports Illustrated, breaks [...]
Contributor Archives: Andrea Pitzer
Thomas Lake calls out Michael Jordan
Beth Macy on Edna Buchanan, sources in conflict, and stories too sad to tell
Our January Editors’ Roundtable looked at “After the battle, Mike Sword’s war within,” a story by Roanoke Times reporter Beth Macy about the death of an Air Force veteran in Virginia after service in Iraq. A former Nieman Fellow, Macy has also been a contributor to the American Journalism Review, Parade, and O, the Oprah Magazine. She [...]
January Editors’ Roundtable: The Roanoke Times on PTSD and hard questions
Our January Roundtable looks at “After the battle, Mike Sword’s war within,” by Beth Macy. In her story, Macy explores the death of a combat veteran in southern Virginia, tracing the effects of the loss on his family and asking what role PTSD might have played in how his life ended. The story, part of [...]
Pamela Colloff on storytelling, justice and letting readers think for themselves
Our latest Notable Narrative, the story of a mother convicted of killing her adopted son with salt, comes from Pamela Colloff of Texas Monthly. A two-time National Magazine Award finalist, Colloff has been at Texas Monthly since 1997, and her work has also appeared in The New Yorker and three editions of “Best American Crime [...]
Death by salt: Texas Monthly opens a case
In our latest Notable Narrative, “Hannah and Andrew,” Pamela Colloff recounts the story of a child and his adoptive mother, who was convicted of killing him by forcing him to eat salt.
At more than 12,000 words, Colloff’s narrative – which ran in the January issue of Texas Monthly – unfolds largely as straight chronology. It [...]
“Watching the detectives” at the New Yorker Festival
We were sad to miss the New Yorker Festival a ways back, but have finally had a chance to look at some videos from the event, and wanted to deliver a few highlights relevant to storytellers. There were a lot of tempting sessions – Atul Gawande! Janet Malcolm! David Remnick! – but given the number [...]
Ben Montgomery on a cold case: building a story and taking names
This week’s Notable Narrative recounts the murder of Claude Neal by a lynch mob in 1934 and introduces his family, which has been waiting for decades for someone to name the killers and hold them to account. Tampa Bay Times reporter Ben Montgomery talked with us by phone this week about reporting and writing “Spectacle: [...]
The Tampa Bay Times unearths a tale of grief and justice denied
Our latest Notable Narrative, “Spectacle: the lynching of Claude Neal,” comes from Ben Montgomery of the Tampa Bay Times.
Montgomery reports that Neal, a 23-year-old African-American farmhand, was arrested in 1934 on suspicion of the rape and murder of a young white woman. Hidden from white mobs for days, he was eventually taken at gunpoint from [...]
Nieman Storyboard’s top 10 posts for 2011
During the last days of December, we’ve been tweeting down Storyboard’s top 10 posts for the year. In case you haven’t been following along, here they are, all in one place (in reverse order):
10. Internet phenom Maud Newton’s “Why’s this so good?”:
“Raymond Chandler sticks it to Hollywood.”
9. Chris Jones, Esquire writer at large, talks with Nieman [...]
December Editors’ Roundtable: Vanity Fair on U.S. money trouble
Our last Roundtable of 2011 considers “California and Bust,” in which superstar business reporter Michael Lewis turns his keen eye away from analyzing European financial problems, looking instead toward the mountain of debt in his home country. The story ran in the November issue of Vanity Fair.
Tom Huang
Sunday and enterprise editor, The Dallas Morning News
In [...]
