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ARTICLES AND REVIEWS: READ ABOUT DEADHOUSE IN THE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, THE FAIRMONT TIMES-WEST VIRGINIAN, AND THE PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW.

Narrative journalism consists of meticulous reporting and skillful storytelling.  Narrative journalists immerse themselves in the lives of their subjects, spending days, weeks or years doing background research, interviews and observation.  The writing is marked by vivid, detailed scenes and complex characterization.  This form of writing is sometimes referred to as literary journalism, creative nonfiction or immersion reporting.  Whatever the name, narrative journalism means true stories, artfully told.

John Temple, a journalism professor at West Virginia University, has worked within this genre throughout his career.  For various newspaper stories, he spent months shadowing the parents of a premature infant, a ballerina and several recovering drug addicts in a halfway house.  In 2005, he published two narrative journalism books, one as co-editor and another as author.  Cancer Stories: Lessons in Love, Loss and Hope is a book written by Temple’s journalism students.  In Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner’s Office, Temple chronicled the exploits of a diverse team of death investigators at a coroner’s office in Pittsburgh.