{"id":15332,"date":"2025-04-18T13:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T13:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/?p=15332"},"modified":"2025-04-18T13:00:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T13:00:28","slug":"here-are-the-books-that-inspired-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2025\/04\/18\/here-are-the-books-that-inspired-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Here are the books that inspired you"},"content":{"rendered":" \n
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Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter,<\/em><\/a> delivered every Friday in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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***<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Dear Storyboard community, <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Forgive me in advance for sharing this potential source of procrastination and impulse buying. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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We recently asked you for your favorite books on storytelling<\/a> \u2014 and you delivered. Readers recommended more than 40 books on the craft of writing, reporting, and storytelling, across many forms and genres (and just in time for Independent Bookstore Day<\/a>). Storyboard contributor Mallary Tenore Tarpley has compiled a list<\/a> spanning nonfiction \/ journalism, fiction, podcasting, screenwriting, and telling stories onstage. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Here it is, from Aristotle to Zinsser: <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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The Nieman Storyboard guide to books on storytelling<\/a><\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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[Read the story<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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For many of you, these were the books that helped shape your own award-winning work. Like acclaimed author Maurice Carlos Ruffin, who notes, “\u2019Story’ by Robert McKee is my Bible. The book is very much about telling writers to get out of their own way.”<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Our deepest thanks to all of you who contributed suggestions and insights on how these books informed your work and inspired you. We couldn’t name everyone, but I’m grateful to this community for your generosity in sharing what you’ve learned. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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We’ll continue to update these pages over time, so keep the recommendations coming: editor@niemanstoryboard.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Letters to the Editor<\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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Last week’s newsletter \u2014 on archives, artifacts, and journalists preserving history<\/a> \u2014 generated some notable letters: <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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“I wrote a story about the old municipal dock on the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge using digital archives almost exclusively. No one had written it previously and I was inspired during COVID. Few people were researching in person (certainly not I) and I was able to research and write part of it from the comfort of home because of access to the LSU databases that held digitized newspapers that covered Baton Rouge from the early 20th Century until the present.\u00a0When COVID subsided, I began to use other sources. But your story in support of archives was most welcome \u2014\u00a0I agree completely. Libraries and archives must continue to be funded!”<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n \n

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\u2014 Author \/ writer Mary Ann Sternberg<\/a><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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“<\/em>On the archiving tip, I’ve felt the same appreciation for what Ubuweb<\/a> has done for avant garde, experimental, poetry, sound art, and other quirks (and treasures) of recorded history. It’s been around for a few decades as a teeming repository of sonic delight and import, and has recently become more active again as other ‘official’ archives disappear and\/or are dismantled. Archives as resistance, hell yeah!”<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n \n

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\u2014 Audio producer Julie Shapiro<\/a><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Links of note<\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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