Literary journalism — Library — Austin Woerner's Memory Palace

Susan Orlean, "The American Man, Age Ten"

This classic essay takes the form of the journalistic profile piece—usually used to write about “important” and “unusual” people—and turns it on its head, using it instead to delve into the life of someone utterly ordinary: a “typical” ten-year-old American boy.

susan-orlean-american-manAustin WoernerMarch 12, 2020Susan Orlean, Creative Nonfiction, Literary journalism, Character profiles

Joseph Mitchell, "The Old House at Home"

Joseph Mitchell’s classic piece of literary journalism, published in 1940, paints a vivid portrait of a neighborhood saloon in New York’s Lower East Side.

mitchell-old-house-at-homAustin WoernerMarch 12, 2020Joseph Mitchell, Writing about places, Creative Nonfiction, Literary journalism, WOC190

Susan Orlean, "Shortcuts"

Journalist Susan Orlean paints a portrait of her neighborhood hair salon.

susan-orlean-shortcutsAustin WoernerOctober 31, 2019Susan Orlean, Creative Nonfiction, Literary journalism, Writing about places, Character profiles, WOC190

E. B. White, "Here is New York"

E. B. White’s classic essay published in 1948, one of the most famous literary essays about New York City.

white-here-is-new-yorkAustin WoernerOctober 31, 2019Literary journalism, Memoir, Creative Nonfiction, E. B. White, Writing about places, WOC190

Joseph Mitchell, "Professor Sea Gull"

Joseph Mitchell’s famous 1942 profile of Joe Gould, the Greenwich Village eccentric who claimed to be writing a voluminous “Oral History of Our Time.”

mitchell-professor-sea-guAustin WoernerSeptember 28, 2019Annotated edition, Joseph Mitchell, Creative Nonfiction, Literary journalism, Character profiles

Susan Orlean, "The Maui Surfer Girls"

Susan Orleans profiles a group of free-living teenage surfer girls in Hawaii.

susan-orlean-maui-surfer, character profilesAustin WoernerJuly 31, 2019Annotated edition, Susan Orlean, Creative Nonfiction, Character profiles, Literary journalism, WOC190

Rick Bragg, "In a Louisiana Bayou Town, Uncle Pat is the Law"

Journalist Rick Bragg paints a vivid picture of the life of a small-town policemen in the rural South.

rick-bragg-uncle-pat-is-t, character profilesAustin WoernerJuly 10, 2019Rick Bragg, Creative Nonfiction, Literary journalism, Character profiles, WOC190

Rick Bragg, "Savoring a Sweet Taste of Southern Summers"

Journalist Rick Bragg writes an ode to sweet iced tea, the archetypal Southern drink.

rick-bragg-southern-summeAustin WoernerJune 12, 2019Rick Bragg, Creative Nonfiction, Literary journalism, Writing about objects, WOC190

Peter Hessler, "River Town"

Rivertown is Peter Hessler's memoir of living and teaching in rural Sichuan province as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1990s. It is one of the most widely read accounts in the English-speaking world of living in China as a foreigner.

Hessler - River TownAustin WoernerAugust 5, 2018EAP101, EAP101 Fall 2019, Peter Hessler, Literary journalism, Creative Nonfiction, Memoir, Writing about language learning

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