Excited to have a guest post from @mallarytenore.bsky.social for this week's @niemanstoryboard.org newsletter. It includes a reminder and link for the Kari Howard Fund for Narrative Journalism, which is accepting applications until July 12. niemanstoryboard.org/2026/07/03/e... #journalism

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: Remembering @newyorker.com's Mark Singer, plus: Susan Morrison, @timherrera.bsky.social, @anandwrites.bsky.social niemanstoryboard.org/2026/06/26/r... #longreads #booksky

Our Friday newsletter: A Juneteenth reading list, featuring @jamellebouie.net @errinhaines.bsky.social, Hanif Abdurraqib, Michael Hurd, @texasmonthly.bsky.social @texashighways.bsky.social @19thnews.org niemanstoryboard.org/2026/06/19/j...

“This is the narrative structure I envisioned for the book from the start, looping between personal anecdotes and more observatory reporting.” niemanstoryboard.org/2026/06/10/b...

I hadn't looked at my Body Weather book proposal in years, and it was really fun to consider it from a craft perspective with Erika Hayasaki. Thanks to @niemanstoryboard.org for publishing it! @beaconpress.bsky.social

In 2024, author Lorraine Boissoneault won the Lukas Work-in-Progress Award for "Body Weather: Notes on Chronic Illness in the Anthropocene." Now she shares what it took to complete her book in this new @niemanstoryboard.org annotation with Erika Hayasaki. @lodrinkswater.bsky.social

Our Friday newsletter: Inside Lorraine Boissoneault's award-winning book proposal for “Body Weather.” niemanstoryboard.org/2026/06/12/i...

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org, with links and stories from @erininthemorning.com @tommytomlinson.bsky.social @mallarytenore.bsky.social @mindahoney.bsky.social @michellekrupa.bsky.social @rahawahaile.bsky.social @coletteshade.bsky.social niemanstoryboard.org/2026/06/05/s...

“When you change that perspective, what you get is a really, completely different story,” O’Brien said. “And maybe more important than that, you get a completely different cast of characters.” @keithob.bsky.social

The New Yorker staff writer talks about finding the right story structure and working with a family to access medical records and journals. niemanstoryboard.org/2026/05/28/r...

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: @mallarytenore.bsky.social on @rachelaviv.bsky.social's Pulitzer finalist story, plus @jamiattenberg.bsky.social's #1000wordsofsummer, @nazriahi.bsky.social on rejection, and Paul Kix on editor feedback. niemanstoryboard.org/2026/05/29/p...

“I need to invest in the story,” O’Brien said. “If people aren’t calling me back, maybe what I need to do is just go to French Lick."

“I wanted it to read as smoothly and as perceptively as fiction as possible, and for it to be really rooted in character and story.”

“One of the big questions of the series was like, what is the first episode? Even as I say that question out loud, my stomach gets a certain layer of acid to it,” Abumrad said. “Because we lived with that question for so long.”

“We have notepads. We go out and ask people questions. We are trying to be a reflection of what we see. We're just people like you. We're just observers. ... There are a lot of people who are just curious and just want to tell good stories.”

"I am constantly rehashing events and conversation in my own head, so writing this way feels totally natural to me. The internal dialogue is my true voice – it’s the way I talk, negotiate and process with myself."

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: National Magazine Award winners, @atavist.com @drewphilp.bsky.social @foodandwine.com, @sarahlkaufman.bsky.social niemanstoryboard.org/2026/05/22/s... #booksky #longreads

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: Time to get outside. Plus: @keithob.bsky.social @jlussenhop.bsky.social @propublica.org @brendanomeara.bsky.social @rusty.todayintabs.com niemanstoryboard.org/2026/05/15/y...

With so many significant pieces published each year, how do the Pulitzers get chosen in the first place? Last week's @niemanstoryboard.org newsletter dives into the details: https://niemanstoryboard.org/2026/05/08/behind-the-scenes-pulitzer-juror/

"These are the decisions that are in part responsible for the hundreds of men being flown across the country to rural detention centers."

A matrix of spreadsheets and physical calendars can help a writer organize notes, track scenes and visualize a story timeline.

I'm currently reading this particular book and it's excellent if you're looking for a recommendation.

Yup.

“When I was a younger editor, I resisted getting drawn into long conversations and kept things on email because I was trying to be efficient. But the more I have taken the time to be like, ‘Hey, can we actually just hop on the phone to talk about this?’”

"I knew I needed people who readers were going to want to spend a lot of time with. I had three characters in the proposal but four in the book. One from the proposal ended up in the book."

“I’m lucky to be small enough to escape too much notice,” she said, “and I've mastered the art of invisibility when I need to.”

What are the ingredients that make a memorable podcast?

“On a really, really basic level, the entire story is about him throwing a bowling ball. So why not start with the way he throws a bowling ball?"

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: Behind the scenes with Pulitzer jurors Erika Hayasaki and @mindahoney.bsky.social. niemanstoryboard.org/2026/05/08/b...

Journalists, authors, producers, filmmakers, and Nieman Storyboard readers share more than 40 books that inspire their work.

"Don't start from the grant; start from the story.”

"John Woodrow Cox has worked to master the art of helping children talk about a fraught but rarely covered subject — the long-term physical and psychological effects of being victims and witnesses of gun violence. His mantra: ‘Always go and always stay.’”

"In feedback after feedback, I found myself asking the question: What is the heart of your story? Why do you care about these characters, this event?"

“I think a lot of these more local decisions get ignored because they seem routine or boring or small compared to what happens on a federal level.”

My Friday newsletter @niemanstoryboard.org: More lessons from @powerofnarrative.bsky.social, Erika Hayasaki on reported essays, @emilygouldnymag.bsky.social on the internet's "load-bearing" blog posts, @naokan.bsky.social's history of New Yorker short stories. niemanstoryboard.org/2026/05/01/y...

Yes. The greater the detail, the more focused on a single person, the more universally relevant it becomes.

“Every reporter has one of those story ideas simmering on the back burner that they simply can’t let drop. For Raquel Rutledge, it started with a house fire.”

"Conclusions, though, bedevil me. What are they supposed to accomplish? You’ve already followed me to the end of the story, so the act of seduction has succeeded; what do I do with you now? How do we say goodbye?"

“I’ve long believed that the more intimate you can make a story, the more universal it becomes.”

“The idea was to go to an ordinary place where something extraordinary happened. Something traumatic or life-transforming happened there.”

Peabody Winner: The New Yorker's Sam Wolson on ‘Cleared by Fire’ and Interactive Storytelling

"I remember like at one of our last meetings, you know, just laughing out of nowhere. And Jad's like, ‘What are you laughing at?’ I'm like, ‘Dude, you did it. You made a documentary that we could dance to.’" niemanstoryboard.org/2026/04/23/j... #podcasts #journalism

“There was this deeper history I've always been interested in, the way any of us are formed by our family lineage, the way families come to new places.” @praddenkeefe.bsky.social

"My proposal was probably 80 pages and had character sketches of people I thought would be my primary protagonists. I did find it harder to get people to talk to me for a book proposal rather than an actual book." @greenwell.bsky.social

"My grandmother had 11 children. I spoke with all the daughters. I didn't interview her sons. I really wanted to get the story through the gaze of the women and the daughters." @sasha-bonet.bsky.social

"Acknowledgments are a unique window on the writing process. Thompson walked me through who made the cut and why." @elongreen.bsky.social with Wright Thompson

"For everybody in the story that made the final cut, there were many more who didn’t get that far, who had other reasons for not wanting to talk, and a good many of them were trauma." @johnarchibald.bsky.social

This was such a fun piece to work up! Thanks to @markarms.bsky.social for letting us go wonky on sound design and ID taboos in audio storytelling.

"This episode was born from recognizing a pattern. Which was that people talk about being at the Shrine, and the experience of falling into a kind of hail of music. We just kept hearing that." Great new podcast annotation by @bartona104.bsky.social niemanstoryboard.org/2026/04/23/j...

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: @bartona104.bsky.social on "Fela Kuti: Fear No Man." Plus: @atrubek.bsky.social on nonfiction publishing, @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social on access, @sidneyhillman.bsky.social awards. niemanstoryboard.org/2026/04/24/m... #podcasts #longreads