S206.

First-Person Journalism: How Do You Make a Personal Voice Believable?

Virtual
Saturday, March 26, 2022
1:45 pm to 2:45 pm

 

Forget objectivity. Journalists increasingly use a first-person point of view in feature articles, commentary, and essays. Personal stories engage readers, especially on digital sites. But in the Disinformation Age, a first-person perspective also promises more honesty about who's doing the observing or deciding which stories to tell, helping to address implicit bias. A diverse panel of journalists and essayists discuss how to build trust with readers by crafting a believable first-person voice.



Outline & Supplemental Documents

Event Outline: AWP_panel_-_First-Person_Journalism_-_outline.pdf
Supplemental Document 1: First_Person_Journalism_AWP_Flyer.pdf
Supplemental Document 2: AWP_2022_-_First-Person_Journalism_-_full_bios.pdf
Supplemental Document 3: AWP_2022_-_First-Person_Journalism_-_additional_material.pdf

Participants

Moderator:

Martha Nichols is cofounder of Talking Writing, a nonprofit digital magazine. A longtime journalism instructor at Harvard University Extension School, she is the author of the guide First-Person Journalism and editor of Into Sanity, an anthology of personal essays about mental illness.

Moni Basu is an award-winning journalist who teaches narrative nonfiction at the University of Florida. As a senior digital correspondent for CNN, Basu specialized in intimate storytelling about complex topics. She is the author of Chaplain Turner's War, a 2012 e-book about the Iraq War.

Damon Young's debut memoir, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir In Essays, is a tragicomic exploration of the angsts, anxieties, and absurdities of existing while Black in America. It won the Thurber Prize for American Humor and Barnes & Noble's Discover Award.

Kent Jacobson has taught in prisons and a Bard College program for low-income women in inner-city Massachusetts. His creative nonfictions appear in the Dewdrop, Hobart, Talking Writing, Lucky Jefferson, and elsewhere; his focus is often on matters of race and class.

Lewis Raven Wallace is a journalist based in Durham, North Carolina; the author and creator of The View from Somewhere book and podcast; and a cofounder of Press On, a southern movement journalism collective.

#AWP24

February 7–10, 2024
Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Convention Center