Nieman Conference

2002 Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism

November 8 - 10, 2002
Hyatt Regency Cambridge Hotel
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

A Note about the Schedule

A conference schedule remains a work-in-progress: A title or two may change or a speaker call in sick. But here's the program, and it's an exciting one. If you feel frustrated that each choice means giving up another good choice, we've done our job.

We've scheduled each speaker for at least two sessions, so you're sure to catch your favorites. We've also contracted with a company to tape every session; tapes will be sold during the conference, and afterward, on our Web site.

There is NO REGISTRATION NECESSARY FOR SPECIFIC SESSIONS this year. Just register for the conference and show up.

At our location -- the Hyatt Regency Cambridge, 575 Memorial Drive in Cambridge -- you'll find it easy to meet others attending, to discuss, network, share ideas, locate lunch and supper companions. The Nieman Foundation will provide attendees light breakfast and box lunches on Saturday and Sunday. Hors d'oeuvres Friday, too. Friday evening and during lunches there'll be readings (and films and radio pieces) by our speakers.

Our informal cafe sessions were so well attended last year that we've added six more. Please bring your cup of coffee and join your colleagues in discussions on career-building, getting published, the history of narrative, and more.

We're looking forward to seeing you


Friday November 8	12:00 to 5:30	Registration Hyatt Lobby
	2:30 to 3:30	Madeleine Blais Subjects That Signify: Telling stories that matter in the long run* Cafe Sessions Lane DeGregory: Starting a Career in Newspaper Narrative and Sticking To It Susan Eaton: Telling Stories Out of School: How to handle your beat narratively John Hartsock: A Critical Look at the Academic Work Done on Narrative Journalism An Annotated Reading of New Work Mitchell Zuckoff: Structural Transformation of "Naia": Serial into book Adrian Nicole LeBlanc: Jessica Grows Up: Years through moments
	3:45 to 4:45	Jan Winburn and Lisa Pollak Me and My Writer, Me and My Editor: Getting by with the help of friends Cafe Sessions Joe Mackall and Dan Lehman: Find a Home for Your Stories in Literary Journals and Magazines Lynn Franklin: The Loneliness of Writing: A discussion of how writers can manage isolation and learn from each other Charlotte Renner: "He Do the Police in Different Voices": How a literary scholar made her way to deadline radio narrative An Annotated Reading of New Work Ted Conover: Over the Andes and Through the Woods Jim Collins:** More Than a Game
	5:00 to 6:00	Keynote Molly Ivins How to Be Truculent, Charming, Right and Get Away With It for Decades in a Medium That Prides Itself on Impersonality and Objectivity and Always Telling the Truth
	6:15 to 7:30	Readings Katherine Boo Ted Conover Debra Dickerson Molly Ivins Mark Kramer Errol Morris Adrian Nicole LeBlanc Introduction by Bob Giles
	7:30 to 8:30	Mixer: Hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar


Saturday November 9	8:00 to 10:00	Registration and continental breakfast Hyatt Lobby
	8:30 to 9:00	Welcome Bob Giles Mark Kramer The Poynter Institute The Boston Globe The Oregonian
	9:15 to 10:45	Keynote panel: How to Move Narrative Beyond Mawkishness and Mayhem* Katherine Boo Roy Peter Clark Jon Franklin Molly Ivins The Kitchen Sisters Mark Kramer Jan Winburn
	11:00 to 12:15	Ted Conover Participatory Reporting: Sending myself to prison and other places tough and posh Roy Peter Clark The Narrative of Persuasion: Making the case for social justice and political reform* Richard Rodriguez Where What's Personal Meets What's Public* Anne Fadiman How Do You Write a 300-Page Book When You've Never Written Anything Longer Than an Article: One author's journey Debra Dickerson** The Craft of Memoir: Sculpting with family scenes
	12:30 to 1:45	Lunch and readings Elijah Anderson Roy Peter Clark Anne Fadiman Melissa Fay Greene Tom Hallman Richard Read Peter Turnley Isabel Wilkerson Introduction by Bob Giles
	2:00 to 3:15	Errol Morris Boring Lecture #7: Earplugs supplied Anne Fadiman, Adam Hochschild and Richard Rodriguez The Art of Essay: Crafting complex ideas engagingly Isabel Wilkerson The Journalism of Empathy: How to be caring and factual at the same time Melissa Fay Greene and Adrian Nicole LeBlanc Huge Projects: From research to reality* Mark Kramer Pace, the Ultimate Mystery: A manual of cliffhanging
	3:30 to 4:45	Roy Peter Clark, Malcolm Gladwell, Mark Kramer, Errol Morris and Isabel Wilkerson Exploding Events: How to tell big stories through small moments* The Kitchen Sisters, Peter Turnley and Tom Hallman Scene v. Scene: A writer, photographer and producers compare techniques for scene-setting Ted Conover and Richard Read Connecting the Dots: Where to start, how to end and where to go in between Jan Winburn Short Features: When, how and how to edit Jon Franklin** All Stories Are About People: The relationship between character and action
	5:00 to 6:15	Keynote Malcolm Gladwell The Case Against Profiles
	8:00 to 9:00	Cafe sessions Bob Batz The Storytellers: How to start a narrative writers group in your newsroom Mike Lenehan Consider the Alternatives: Placing narrative in alternative weeklies


Sunday November 10	8:30 to 10:00	Registration and continental breakfast Hyatt Lobby
	9:00 to 10:00	Keynote Gerald Boyd The Editorial Processes of "How Race Is Lived in America" and "Portraits of Grief": What they taught The New York Times and what they suggest about editing and organization**
	10:15 to 11:30	Jack Hart, Tom Hallman and Richard Read One Editor, Two Writers, Three Pulitzers: How we work Madeleine Blais and Morgan Entrekin How to Work With Your Writer; How to Work With Your Publisher Melissa Fay Greene Reconstructing the Scene Peter Turnley Visual Storytelling and Moments in the Human Condition* Elijah Anderson Reporting and Field Research: Parallels between journalism and social science
	11:30	Welcome Harvard President Lawrence Summers
	11:40 to 12:50	Lunch and readings Madeline Blais Jon Franklin Malcolm Gladwell Adam Hochschild The Kitchen Sisters Lisa Pollak Edward O. Wilson Introduction by Bob Giles
	1:00 to 2:15	Gerald Boyd, Debra Dickerson, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc and Elijah Anderson Writing About Race* Adam Hochschild Turning Personal Experience into Narrative Without Being Self-Centered Morgan Entrekin From Idea to Book Katherine Boo Seven Ways of Keeping the Reader With You While You Lead Them Through a Dense Forest* Tom Hallman Doing Narrative Under the Radar: Short pieces to start on
	2:30 to 3:45	The Kitchen Sisters Intimate History: Composing the personal stories that animate America Elijah Anderson, Jon Franklin and Edward O. Wilson Narratives of Science and Society* Jack Hart How to Nurture Narrative in the News Organization Adrian Nicole LeBlanc Getting In There and Staying In There: How to hang out and get the story when the only way to get the story is hanging out Lisa Pollak** Learning to Think Like a Storyteller: Finding the stories from everyday life*
	4:00 to 5:00	Keynote Edward O. Wilson Science Meets Story: Selecting what counts
	5:00 to 5:15	Wrap-up Mark Kramer
		* = This panel has at least a passing relationship to the conference's Beyond Mawkishness and Mayhem theme. ** = This panel has at least a passing relationship to the conference's second theme: moving from soloists to teams -- integrating narrative to the processes of the supporting organization.

The Nieman Foundation Program on Narrative Journalism
Harvard University
E-mail: Nieman-narrative@harvard.edu
Web page: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/narrative
Conference phone: (617) 384-9903

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University
Lippmann House, One Francis Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Telephone: (617) 495-2237
Fax: (617) 495-8976
© 2008 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College