Thembi Ngubane is one of the most compelling characters we’ve encountered in a nonfiction narrative. She is an exceptionally likable narrator, both open in her feelings and poised in her dignity. She is heroic in her approach to her disease and her relationships with those around her. Joe Richman, executive producer of Radio Diaries, gave [...]
Contributor Archives: Nell Lake
In an Instant, a Junkyard of Humanity
We admired the cinematic quality of this piece. Raghavan moves his lens from image to image, providing vivid concrete detail, at times moving in close, at other times stepping back for a wider view. We liked that he establishes the first person right away. Structurally, the piece begins in media res, then moves to background, [...]
The Good Fight
This is a classic narrative of overcoming obstacles. We liked Earls’ use of Bea’s hands as a unifying motif. Bea’s character is engaging in part because she is atypical, at least to most middle-class readers: the girl who fights. Earls captures well Bea’s complexity, her challenges and aspirations.
Best Men
This series was written and reported by Thomas Farragher and Patricia Wen. It recounts the experiences of a couple and their two sons. One son is straight, the other gay. Both marry during the same summer. Farragher and Wen follow the sons in their relationships and the parents in theirs and along the way provide [...]
Band of Brothers
This piece is about guilt, loyalty and the relationship between ordinary Americans and soldiers fighting in Iraq. It’s also a good test case for the "It’s not about you" principle of first-person pieces. There’s a lot of self-referencing here, but we found Nusbaumer’s use of the "I" mostly effective (we might have cut the reference [...]
Spy Robert Schaller’s Life of Secrecy, Betrayal and Regrets
This is an engaging reconstruction. It’s very explicitly reconstruction, with its retrospective and explanatory quotes. It’s a tale of a man reflecting on his life, telling his story, after many years of keeping it to himself. This is part of the story’s appeal. Still, we mused on what a more purely narrative, in-the-moment reconstruction would [...]
Disposable Workers of the Oil and Gas Fields
Scenes, character, a human voice and the first person soften and enliven the investigative approach in this piece about gruesome deaths on Western oil and gas fields. Lacking clear statistical evidence, Ring builds his case against the industry through narrative: "Death in the Western oil and gas fields is a story best told through people, [...]
Casualties of Conscience
Not long after reading this quasi-narrative about U.S. soldiers who have deserted the military, we came across a piece in The New York Times about increased prosecutions of such deserters. The Times piece is not at all narrative; it offers analysis and background on the issue of military desertion. The two make an interesting pair: [...]
Learning Their Lessons
Here’s what Sandoval e-mailed us about this story: “Most young journalists believe they have to spend six months or so to publish a quality narrative piece. But that’s not always the case. While this was not a daily narrative, I also did not have the luxury of weeks to finish it. “I found the story [...]
Facing Life With a Lethal Gene
Katharine Moser asks for a genetic test to determine if she will eventually develop Huntington’s disease. She learns she does carry the gene mutation that caused the death of her grandfather and other relatives. Harmon follows Moser as she struggles to integrate this knowledge into her life. The reporter crafts a moving and illuminating account [...]
