Association News

Read more about the article How I Got That Story: Tracy Moore and Matt Sullivan

In the fifth installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, the Nashville Scene writers Tracy Moore and Matt Sullivan talk about their work on Nashville Cream, which garnered a first-place win in the blog category. In a city so strongly associated with country music, they chose to go a different way with the Scene's music blog, which has helped it stand out. "There's a misconception that Tennessee only covers country and honky tonk," Moore says, "So when I took over [the site], I really made the rock scene my thing."

Continue ReadingHow I Got That Story: Tracy Moore and Matt Sullivan
Read more about the article How I Got That Story: David Koon

In the fourth installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, Arkansas Times associate editor David Koon talks to Corina Knoll about his feature profile of writer Mohja Kahf, a novelist, poet and sex columnist working to change public perception of Muslim women. Koon talks about finding the story, trying to paint a true picture of a sympathetic source, and how his creative writing background informs his work. "A lot of the things I know -- how to create character, how to create mood and theme -- translate straight across to features," he says. "I think a lot of people who gravitate toward alternative journalism and do it well come from a creative-writing background."

Continue ReadingHow I Got That Story: David Koon
Read more about the article How I Got That Story: Malcolm Gay

In the third installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, Malcolm Gay, a regular freelancer for Riverfront Times, talks to Corina Knoll about his feature profile of author Qiu Xiaolong. Gay, who was formerly a Village Voice Media fellow at the East Bay Express and staff writer at the RFT, says he learned how challenging it is to write about a writer. "What they do physically and in terms of their day-to-day existence is very uneventful. So it's hard to bring drama and animation to those scenes," he says. "That's the challenge: to access that inner world and make it evident in the story."

Continue ReadingHow I Got That Story: Malcolm Gay
Read more about the article How I Got That Story: Adam Sobsey

In the second installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, the Independent Weekly's Adam Sobsey talks to Rich Knight about how he got his start as a book reviewer, his playwriting career, and the differences between his work for daily newspapers and alt-weeklies. "I often have more space in the Indy than I do when I write theater reviews for The News & Observer," Sobsey says, "so there's an opportunity for me to say more about what I'm reviewing, either specifically or more broadly."

Continue ReadingHow I Got That Story: Adam Sobsey

After a two-year hiatus, the "How I Got That Story" series today returns to AAN.org to help shed light on the processes employed by first-place AltWeekly Award winners. This year, 19 winners were interviewed by Academy for Alternative Journalism fellows, and each week, two new interviews will be published on AAN.org. These interviews will also appear in the book Best AltWeekly Writing and Design 2008, which will be available soon. To read the first installment of the series, Rich Knight's interview with Washington City Paper art critic Jeffry Cudlin, click here.

Continue Reading2008 ‘How I Got That Story’ Series Begins Today

AAN recently created a new listserv for editors to discuss coverage of the 2008 elections. To join listservs for which they are eligible, AAN members need only login to AAN.org and click on the "Listserv Registrations" link in the My AAN section on the right side of the page.

Continue Reading‘Election Coverage’ Listserv Launches

Gustavo Arellano will headline an exciting weekend of education and inspiration when AAN's annual writers workshop descends on the leafy campus of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern Univ. in Evanston, Ill. on Aug. 15-16. Writers who register by Aug. 1 will be able to participate in a personal writing critique, during which their work will be analyzed by a small group led by an experienced AAN editor.

Continue ReadingWriters Workshop Program Announced

There have been number of recent changes to the AAN CAN program, all of which are now in effect. They include:

  • New multi-week discounts and regional rates
  • A new monthly AAN CAN e-newsletter
  • A new media kit
  • A new insertion order
For more on the AAN CAN changes, read the full story. For questions, information or sales assistance on AAN CAN, contact sales and marketing director Rick Mundy at 202 289-8484 or rmundy (at) aan.org

Continue ReadingAAN Classified Advertising Network Introduces Changes

A total of 400 people descended on the Pennsylvania Convention Center and the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown two weeks ago for the 2008 AAN Convention. The three-day event featured the usual mix of presentations and panels, food and booze, and business talk and gossip between alt-weekly staffers and industry types from across North America. AAN committees and staff mostly took care of the first item, while host paper Philadelphia City Paper had the second one covered, and attendees proved themselves more than capable of handling the third on their own.

Continue ReadingWrapping Up the 31st Annual AAN Convention