Feature Writing with The New York Times

(EGL 320 W)

Whether it is the profile of a crafty silver thief, the inside story of life inside the West Wing, or an article about a farmer who’s won the biggest pumpkin contest three years running, the best feature writing combines elements of both journalism and literature. In this course, students will look at the tools and strategies employed by writers of each genre, and highlight how feature writers at newspapers and magazines seamlessly combine the two. Co-taught by Chanan Tigay and Karen Crouse, this course will offer students the opportunity to read and learn from features written by some of the very best reporters around. Then we will try our own hands at it—through a series of assignments that will culminate in writing full-fledged feature stories of our own.

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Chanan Tigay, Journalist

Chanan Tigay received an MFA in fiction from Columbia University and has taught writing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Tigay has contributed to publications such as Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, and the San Francisco Chronicle. He has covered the Israel-Palestinian conflict for the Jerusalem Bureau of Agence France-Presse; 9-11 for United Press International; and the United Nations for the Jerusalem Report. He is currently at work on a novel.

Karen Crouse,

Karen Crouse has been a sports columnist for The New York Times since June 2005, covering the New York Jets. Prior to joining the Times, she worked as a sports columnist for four years at the Palm Beach Post. Crouse grew up in Santa Clara, California, and started her newspaper career in Savannah, Georgia, at the Savannah News-Press.