Issue 52 / Summer 2014
52 / Telling Stories that Matter
The power of narrative
Creative Nonfiction #52 explores the uses of storytelling—our oldest and perhaps most effective art form—in non-literary fields such as law and medicine. A special essays section features collaborations between writers and science policy scholars who teamed up to tell stories about topics including a curatorial crisis at the Smithsonian; a pediatric geneticist’s decision to share potentially life-changing information with one of his patients; and one legislative aide’s quest to save the Chesapeake Bay from the dietary supplement industry.
Plus, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sheri Fink reflects on the years of careful reporting behind her bestseller, Five Days at Memorial, and we look at the explosion in live storytelling series.
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What’s the Story #52
"The stories we tell have to matter—not only personally, but to the world at large"Narrative Medicine, Narrative Humility
Bringing satisfaction and joy back to an ancient professionWriting for Life
Narrative case studies can keep prisoners off Death RowKnowing that Truth is Complicated: An interview with Sheri Fink
Journalist Sheri Fink talks about deep reporting, building timelines, and whether there’s a difference between “scientific truth” and “narrative truth”Thinking, Writing, Publishing
Can creative nonfiction effectively communicate much more esoteric and futuristic content, like science policy—that is, the responsibilities and decisions that come part and parcel with technological innovations?Collective Forgetting
Inside the Smithsonian's curatorial crisisWhat Fish Oil Pills are Hiding
One woman's quest to save the Chesapeake Bay from the dietary supplement industryA Doctor’s Dilemma
A pediatric genetics resident struggles with the ethics of returning genetic resultsLosing, Yet Winning, in Life’s Genetic Lottery
An inherited mutation inspires a family-run patient advocacy groupLittle Cell, Big Science
The rise (and fall?) of yeast researchTell Me a Story: Is This a Golden Age of Live Storytelling?
What's the reason behind live storytelling's exploding popularity?What Was My First Line Again?
Graham Shelby reflects on lessons learned while preparing for a turn in the spotlight at The Moth MainstageDon’t Borrow Trouble
What to do when your mom has cancerNarrative Data
“Once the numbers get large enough the data can say anything”