The Power of Narrative 2023: Full Schedule

6:30pm EDT

Opening Keynote at CitySpace: A conversation with the team behind NPR's Emedded: Capital Gazette

Speakers

Kelly McEvers

Journalist

Kelly McEvers is a two-time Peabody Award winning journalist and former host of NPR’s flagship news magazine, All Things Considered. She spent much of her career as an international correspondent, reporting from Asia, the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East. She is the creator... Read More →

Chris Benderev

This American Life

Chris is currently a producer with This American Life. Before that, he reported "Capital Gazette," a five-part documentary series on NPR's Embedded podcast that followed a group of mass shooting survivors over a three year period. In his dozen years at NPR, Chris was a founding producer... Read More →

Selene San Felice

Axios

Selene San Felice is a reporter Axios, writing the Tampa Bay newsletter. She is formerly a features and enterprise reporter at The Capital in Annapolis, where she survived the newsroom shooting on June 28, 2018. She, along with her colleagues at the paper, received a Pulitzer Prize... Read More →

Friday March 17, 2023 6:30pm - 8:00pm EDT
CitySpace 890 commonwealth avenue, boston, ma 02215

Keynote

8:15am EDT

Coffee and light breakfast

Saturday March 18, 2023 8:15am - 10:15am EDT

Lunch

9:00am EDT

Keynote: Mark Kramer

Saturday March 18, 2023 9:00am - 10:00am EDT
George Sherman Union

Keynote

10:15am EDT

Crafting the Personal Essay

The personal essay is a playground for the mind. When you're writing an essay from personal experience, you can leap from a knockout line of poetry to an evocative scene on a subway platform. As thinkers and readers, we're always looking for patterns and unusual connections in the world around us, even when we don't realize we’re doing it. As essayists, we use the writing process to pin down those connections and figure out what they might mean to us—and to our readers. How do we get from idea to essay? How do we craft something meaningful out of our lives and the "evidence" we collect as we live them? In this talk, I'll explore the challenges and rewards of crafting a personal essay—the labor and joy and (normal) frustration of it—from the first spark to the ending epiphany.

Speakers

Hillery Stone

Essayist

Hillery Stone has published essays in The New York Times, Guernica, and Electric Lit, among other publications. She taught essay writing at New York University for ten years. Though a devoted reader and teacher of poetry, she loves the personal essay above all else (except her ch... Read More →

Saturday March 18, 2023 10:15am - 11:15am EDT

Breakout

10:15am EDT

Evoking Place: Writing for the senses while writing against stereotypes

Alizeh Kohari and Jina Moore Ngarambe have been writing for decades about places that are foreign to their audiences. They'll glean their best tips for evoking a strong sense of place without exoticizing the people or cultures that inhabit them. They'll also talk about the writer-editor relationship behind great narrative journalism like Alizeh's "The End of the Empress," which Jina edited at Guernica.

Speakers

Alizeh Kohari

Journalist

Alizeh Kohari is a Pakistani journalist who currently divides her time between Karachi and Mexico City. Her reporting has appeared in The New York Review of Books, Harper’s, Wired, The Atlantic, and others. She was most recently a fellow at Coda, investigating biometric surveillance... Read More →

Saturday March 18, 2023 10:15am - 11:15am EDT

Breakout

10:15am EDT

Pitch Panel: Magazines

Our editors will listen and react to story ideas, offering helpful feedback and suggestions for how to get that writing assignment.

Submit your fully-formed pitch for a magazine story to srkess@bu.edu by Friday, March 3.

Due to limited time, we'll select about six pitches. Those with selected pitches will present their ideas to the panel on Saturday, March 18.

Speakers

Francis Storrs

The Boston Globe Magazine

Francis is editor of the Globe Magazine, the award-winning news, narrative, and lifestyle magazine in the Sunday Boston Globe. In previous roles, he's been a deputy editor of the magazine, editorial director of Tufts University alumni publications, and a writer and editor at Boston... Read More →

Erick Trickey

Editor

Erick Trickey is a deputy editor at Experience Magazine, where he’s written about climate change, COVID-19, penguins, and the Korean DMZ. He teaches Boston University’s popular Magazine Writing course. He’s written about national politics and the future of cities for Politico... Read More →

Seyward Darby

The Atavist Magazine

Seyward Darby is the editor in chief of The Atavist Magazine, an award-winning publication that specializes in narrative longform journalism. She is the author of Sisters in Hate: American Women and White Extremism, which was a finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize. Her writing... Read More →

Saturday March 18, 2023 10:15am - 11:15am EDT

Breakout

10:15am EDT

Shining Light on Dark Stories

Covering people who've faced or witnessed fearful circumstances beyond their control requires empathy, ethics, and self-care, along with insights into how trauma impacts both the brains and bodies of you and your sources. Jessica DuLong’s talk, SHINING A LIGHT ON DARK STORIES, will draw upon her background as an author, journalist, and book collaborator, interviewing people facing trauma, grief, post-traumatic stress, and related conditions. She will offer up guidance based her own experiences with both primary and secondary trauma and share tangible tools, guidelines, and resources collected from experts in the field.

Speakers

Jessica DuLong

author, "SAVED AT THE SEAWALL: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift"

Jessica DuLong is a Brooklyn-based author, journalist, editor, and book collaborator/coach. Her longstanding interest in trauma further intensified while reporting her book, "SAVED AT THE SEAWALL: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift," the definitive history of the world’s largest... Read More →

Saturday March 18, 2023 10:15am - 11:15am EDT

Breakout

10:15am EDT

The Challenge of Covering China

Reporting on China has long been one of the most challenging and crucial of journalistic assignments. Foreign correspondents have confronted war, revolution, isolation, internal upheaval, and onerous government restrictions as well as barriers of language, culture, and politics. Nonetheless, American media coverage of China has profoundly influenced U.S. government policy and shaped public opinion not only domestically but also, given the clout and reach of U.S. news organizations, around the world. Former CNN Beijing bureau chief Mike Chinoy, author of "Assignment China: An Oral History of American Journalists in the People's Republic," will discuss how multiple generations of American journalists have covered China, and what lessons their experiences hold for understanding the country today.

Speakers

Mike Chinoy

U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California

Mike Chinoy is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California based in Taiwan. Previously, he spent 24 years as a foreign correspondent for CNN, serving as the network’s first Bureau Chief in Beijing and then as Senior Asia Correspondent... Read More →

Saturday March 18, 2023 10:15am - 11:15am EDT

Breakout

11:30am EDT

Headline Keynote: Jennifer Senior

Saturday March 18, 2023 11:30am - 12:45pm EDT
George Sherman Union

Keynote

12:45pm EDT

Lunch

Lunch on your own.

The George Sherman Union Food Hall on the first floor is home to numerous food spots including: Greens & Grains (salads and grain bowls), Rhett’s (burgers and chicken sandwiches), Charles River Bread Co. (deli sandwiches), and Panda Express.

Other nearby lunch spots include Pavement Coffeehouse (736 Commonwealth Ave), LifeAlive Organic Cafe (888 Commonwealth Avenue), and Chipotle Mexican Grill (876 Commonwealth Avenue).

Saturday March 18, 2023 12:45pm - 1:45pm EDT

Lunch

2:00pm EDT

Keynote Panel: Amber Payne and Deborah Douglas

Speakers

Deborah Douglas

The Emancipator

Deborah D. Douglas is co-editor in chief of The Emancipator. She previously served as the Eugene S. Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Professor at DePauw University, senior leader with The OpEd Project, amplifying underrepresented expert voices, and founding managing editor of MLK50... Read More →

Amber Payne

The Emancipator

Amber Payne was a 2021 Nieman fellow at Harvard University. She formerly served as managing editor of BET.com, leading editorial and digital video strategy; executive producer of Teen Vogue and Them; and, in 2015, launched NBCBLK, a section of NBCNews.com dedicated to elevating the... Read More →

Saturday March 18, 2023 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
George Sherman Union

Keynote

3:15pm EDT

Demystifying the Court: Telling stories about how Supreme Court rulings affect real people, and about the real people who sit on the Court

Speakers

Kimberly Atkins Stohr

The Boston Globe

Kimberly Atkins Stohr is a senior opinion writer and columnist at The Boston Globe, and lead columnist for The Emancipator, a joint venture by Globe Opinion and the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research that reimagines 19th-century abolitionist newspapers to reframe the... Read More →

Saturday March 18, 2023 3:15pm - 4:15pm EDT

Breakout

3:15pm EDT

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Reporting a narrative nonfiction feature means gathering a tremendous amount of information. Especially with longform storytelling, the task can feel daunting. How do you capture quotes, illuminating details, and your own observations at the same time? How do you make sense of it all and start shaping what you’ve learned into an actual story? Do you really have to “kill your darlings” to make your work better? This talk will offer advice on how to put key aspects of any narrative project into practical perspective. I will bring my experience as both a reporter and editor of longform to bear on the discussion and will invite attendees to share their insight as well. The goal is to provide tools a writer can use to make a colossal task more manageable without sacrificing creativity.

Speakers

Seyward Darby

The Atavist Magazine

Saturday March 18, 2023 3:15pm - 4:15pm EDT

Breakout

3:15pm EDT

Narrative Can Save You. It saved me.

From the Middle East and back home again, how telling stories can get you through some of the hardest moments in your career. And life.

Speakers

Kelly McEvers

Journalist

Saturday March 18, 2023 3:15pm - 4:15pm EDT

Breakout

3:15pm EDT

The Power of Persuasion: Getting Vulnerable People to Talk to You

This presentation covers a very difficult and complicated terrain on how to tell very complicated stories and getting some of the most vulnerable subjects to come forward and share their stories.

Speakers

Meghan Irons

The Boston Globe

Meghan E. Irons is an investigative reporter on the elite Spotlight Team at the Boston Globe, where she has been reporter for the past 20 years. At the Globe, she was a lead reporter on the award-winning "68 Blocks" series and "Valedictorians Project,'' which was a finalist for the... Read More →

Saturday March 18, 2023 3:15pm - 4:15pm EDT

Breakout

3:15pm EDT

When To Move from Reporting to Writing

Writing long articles and books requires reporting about people and situations over an extended period of time. How do you know when it is time to shift from gathering information to looking for patterns and meaning and starting to write? Amy Dockser Marcus, who writes features for The Wall Street Journal, will offer strategies for figuring out when it is time to start writing and how to begin. She will draw on her experiences writing her new book, "We the Scientists: How a Daring Team of Parents and Scientists Forged A New Path for Medicine," which follows a community of patients, families, and scientists for over a decade.

Speakers

Amy Dockser Marcus

The Wall Street Journal

Amy Dockser Marcus is a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal. She won a Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting in 2005 for a series of stories about cancer survivors. Ms. Dockser Marcus is the author of "We the Scientists: How A Daring Team of Parents and Doctors Forged A New Path... Read More →

Saturday March 18, 2023 3:15pm - 4:15pm EDT

Breakout

4:30pm EDT

A Thousand Words

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If that’s the case, maybe we should all quit writing and grab our cell phones. And yet, our words continue to flow. How exactly does an image ‘say’ all those words? What stories are best conveyed through words, and what through moving imagery? We’ll look at this idea by comparing the narrative documentary to the approach of John McPhee and other literary journalists. In the process we’ll discover the hidden ‘grammar’ of moving pictures: time and sound.

Speakers

Mary Jane Doherty

Boston University

Mary Jane Doherty, Boston University Associate Professor Emerita, specializes in her innovative approach to the Narrative Documentary. Her recent feature films, Secundaria and Primaria, on children growing up within Cuba's ballet program, received theatrical award screenings... Read More →

Saturday March 18, 2023 4:30pm - 5:30pm EDT

Breakout

4:30pm EDT

Dozens of Tips on How to Make Good Storytelling Terrific

Speakers

Kelly McEvers

Journalist

Jessica DuLong

author, "SAVED AT THE SEAWALL: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift"

Meghan Irons

The Boston Globe

Mark Kramer

author, "Telling True Stories"

Mark Kramer is a writer, professor, and leader in the international movement to bring narrative journalism into books, magazines, documentaries, broadcasts, podcasts, and news media. He teaches an independent master class for mid-career writers with longform projects. It explores... Read More →

Amy Dockser Marcus

The Wall Street Journal

Saturday March 18, 2023 4:30pm - 5:30pm EDT

Breakout

4:30pm EDT

Finding Story in the Archive

In his books, Keith O'Brien has put readers in the cockpits of doomed airplanes in the 1920s; in the middle of hostage standoffs in the 1970s; and in secret meetings with Pete Rose and his bookies in the 1980s. And he's done it, at times, strictly through documents. Some of the best stories are hidden away in boxes, dusty file cabinets, library archives, and courthouse record rooms. How do you do you find these documents? Where do you go? And how do you use these records to bring the past back to life in vivid detail on the page? Come with Keith as he takes you deep into the archive.

Speakers

Keith O'Brien

Author

Keith O'Brien is the New York Times bestselling author of FLY GIRLS, PARADISE FALLS, and a forthcoming book about the rise and fall of Pete Rose, to be published next year. His work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and the Washington Post and he is a longtime contributor... Read More →

Saturday March 18, 2023 4:30pm - 5:30pm EDT

Breakout

4:30pm EDT

How To Write The Best Profile

You can't write around your subject. You can't avoid the hard questions. You may even drive your subject nuts. But in the end, if you do it right, you'll write the final profile of this subject anybody needs to read. This is a how to from the approach to the final paragraph.

Speakers

Geoff Edgers

The Washington Post

Geoff Edgers is the Washington Post's national arts reporter. During his time at the Post, he's profiled a range of subjects, including Chevy Chase, Ava DuVernay, and Roseanne Barr, as well as doing projects on the music industry's enabling of R. Kelly, the man who stole a Stradivarius... Read More →

Saturday March 18, 2023 4:30pm - 5:30pm EDT

Breakout

5:45pm EDT

Closing Keynote: Brian Stelter

Saturday March 18, 2023 5:45pm - 6:45pm EDT
George Sherman Union

Keynote

6:45pm EDT

Reception

Please join us for a closing reception in the Ziskind Lounge.

Heavy appetizers will be served, and each attendee will receive one complimentary drink ticket.

Books written by our speakers will be for sale in the Ziskind Lounge from 6-8pm, and some of our speakers will be available to sign books during the reception.

Saturday March 18, 2023 6:45pm - 7:45pm EDT

Lunch