Newsletter Archives - IALJS: The International Association for Literary Journalism Studies

Changing of the Guard

Literary Journalism farewells ‘Fitz’ Literary Journalism, the newsletter of the IALJS, will be saying goodbye to its current editor Jonathan D. Fitzgerald shortly as he moves on to new and exciting projects. My name is Dr Ben Stubbs, and I will be stepping in to his position with the newsletter as we move towards this…

Ben Stubbs

Excerpt: Mediating the Real: Self-Reflection in Recent American Reportage by Pascal Sigg

The following is an excerpt from the introduction of Pascal Sigg’s book Mediating the Real: Self-Reflection in Recent American Reportage (Transcript Publishing, 2024). Authors who would like to promote their books of or about literary journalism in the newsletter can email us at literaryjournalismsubmissions [at] gmail.com. In 2007, the writer David Foster Wallace described contemporary…

Pascal Sigg

Screenshot of Reading Narrative Journalism (2024)

New Edition of “Reading Narrative Journalism” Launched

As some of you have already heard, I’ve recently launched a new edition of my online digital resource, Reading Narrative Journalism (2024), which has been designed as an introduction and multimedia resource for undergraduates and beginning graduate students (with a few thoughts for teachers thrown in). The site has been updated to include more writers, a slightly fuller…

Chris Wilson

“Girl Reporter”: Tracking intergenerational trauma through the story of Eva Sommer, the inaugural winner of Australia’s first national journalism prize

In 1956, Eva Sommer, 22, won the first-ever Walkley Award, Australia’s equivalent of the Pulitzers, for her article about a stowaway with amnesia and no identification papers. Sommer discovered he was 26-year-old Jacob Bresler, a Jewish immigrant and Australian citizen, accomplishing in days what the authorities had failed to do in months. But when she…

Jennifer Martin

CFP: Proposed Volume on Literary Journalism/Creative Nonfiction in East-Central Europe

Abstracts are invited for a proposed collection on Literary Journalism/Creative Non-Fiction in East-Central Europe. The volume takes as its central concern the current shapes and forms of what is variously called literary journalism, creative non-fiction, creative documentary narrative, or reportage (among other terms) in the region. We have already received preliminary interest from an academic…

Jonathan D. Fitzgerald

Star-Studded Panels Featured at IALJS at AEJMC Washington, DC

In early August, IALJS sessions at the annual AEJMC sparkled with insight on two panels featuring a mix of accomplished world-class scholars. Washington, DC was the site of last year’s conference, which hosted two full sessions dedicated to the theme of “The Art of Fact in Science and Nature Writing.” The sessions marked the last…

David O. Dowling

New Book: “Seeking to Understand the World: Literary Journalism of Vincent Sheean” by Anish Dave

Vincent Sheean was a paradigmatic American foreign correspondent in 1930s and 1940s. He won the inaugural National Book Award for biography for his 1935 book Personal History. The book became a model for many other contemporary foreign correspondents who wrote their own personal accounts of their journalistic experiences. When Sheean died in 1975, the New York Times published…

Anish Dave

Second Call: Join Us in Creating an Interactive Map of Global Literary Journalism

Authors’ Note: We have received some great responses, and we’re beginning the process of compiling our bibliography. In the meantime, we’d like to renew our call for your help in moving this project forward. Thanks! Manuel Carvalho Coutinho and I (Fitz) are currently embarking on an ambitious project and we need your help! We are…

Jonathan D. Fitzgerald

Excerpt: Staged News: The Federal Theatre Project’s Living Newspapers in New York by Jordana Cox

The following is an excerpt from the introduction of Jordana Cox’s book Staged News: The Federal Theatre Project’s Living Newspapers in New York (University of Massachusetts, 2023). Authors who would like to promote their books of or about literary journalism in the newsletter can email us at literaryjournalismsubmissions [at] gmail.com. Not many people can say…

Jordana Cox

The priceless happiness that comes with $250

It was the night of a cold winter day—February 6, 2023. I was at home in Eskişehir, Turkey. The night had turned to frost. Suddenly, at 4:21 a.m., the phone rang pathetically. It was very late; I was scared. I felt as if I was about to hear some bad news. The person on the…

Ömer Özer

Looking ahead to “the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars” at IALJS 18 in Sydney, Australia

Willa McDonald, Matthew Ricketson and I could not be more thrilled to be together organizing IALJS-18 in 2024. It is more than 14 long years that we have battled to get on the IALJS annual conference roster. We understand that for many, we live and work on the other side of the world, and with…

Sue Joseph

Excerpt: How the News Feels by Jonathan D. Fitzgerald

The following is a short excerpt from the introduction of Fitz’s new book, How the News Feels: The Empathic Power of Literary Journalists (University of Massachusetts Press, 2023). Authors who would like to promote their books of or about literary journalism in the newsletter can email us at literaryjournalismsubmissions [at] gmail.com. Literary Journalists’ Empathic Power…

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