In-Depth: Feature and Specialist Writing (11087.1)

Required texts

Prescribed texts:

Writing Feature Stories, by Matthew Ricketson and Caroline Graham, second ediiton, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2017. 

Recommended texts:

Journalism Research and Investigation in a Digital World, edited by Stephen Tanner and Nick Richardson, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, 2013.

There is a broad range of books, journal articles and media coverage about long form journalism and investigative journalism. The university's library has a good collection of references about the field as well as a developing collection of works of long form journalism. The books listed below are all held in the library, as are the books from which excerpts are taken for the readings prescribed in the week by week timetable. Some of the references below are how to guides that offer you alternative perspectives to the prescribed and recommended texts above, while others survey the field or discuss issues arising in its practice. A number of the books listed below are anthologies that contain examples of long form journalism and narrative non-fiction, which gives you an opportunity to sample the breadth of writing in the genre. Many of these books can be ordered online from various suppliers. Just search for the titles and authors on the internet.

Applegate, Edd, ed. Literary Journalism: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers and Editors. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996.

Bak, John and Bill Reynolds. Literary Journalism across the Globe. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2011.

Bly, Nellie. Around the World in Seventy-Two Days and Other Writings, edited by Jean Marie Lutes, New York: Penguin, 2014.

Cheney, Theodore. Writing Creative Nonfiction. California: Ten Speed Press, 1991.

Connery, Thomas, ed. A Sourcebook of American Literary Journalism: Representative Writers in an Emerging Genre. New York: Greenwood, 1992.

Eisenhuth, Susie and Willa Mcdonald, eds. The Writer's Reader: Understanding Journalism and Non-fiction. Cambridge, Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Gaines, William. Investigative Journalism: Proven Strategies for Reporting the Story. Washington: CQ Press, 2008.

Glass, Ira, ed. The New Kings of Nonfiction, New York: Riverhead Press, 2007.

Harrington, Walt, ed. Intimate Journalism: The Art and Craft of Reporting Everyday Life. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1997.

Harrington, Walt and Mike Sager, eds. Next Wave: America's New Generation of Great Literary Journalists. United States: The Sager Group, 2012.

Hart, Jack. A Writer's Coach: An Editor's Guide to Works that Work. New York: Pantheon Books, 2006.

Hart, Jack. Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011.

Keeble, Richard and Sharon Wheeler, eds. The Journalistic Imagination: Literary Journalists from Defoe to Capote and Carter. London: Routledge, 2007.

Keeble, Richard and John Tulloch, eds. Global Literary Journalism. New York: Peter Lang, 2012.

Keelbe, Richard and John Tulloch, eds. Global Literary Journalism, volume 2. New York: Peter Lang, 2014.

Kerrane, Kevin and Ben Yagoda, eds. The Art of Fact: An Historical Anthology of Literary Journalism. New York: Scribner, 1997.

Ricketson, Matthew. Telling true stories: navigating the challenges of writing narrative non-fiction. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2014.

Sims, Norman. True Stories: A Century of Literary Journalism. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 2007.

Tanner, Stephen, Molly Kasinger and Nick Richardson, Feature Writing: Telling the Story. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Wheeler, Sharon. Feature Writing for Journalists. New York: Routledge, 2009.

Participation requirements

None

Required IT skills

None

Work placement, internships or practicums

None

• Semester 2, 2022, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (208613)
• Semester 2, 2021, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (199675)
• Semester 2, 2020, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (195394)
• Semester 2, 2019, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (184285)