Earlier this month, some of the country’s best writers met in Cambridge, Massachusetts for the 2003 Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism to share their best work. We bring you the first part of a series of readings from those writers, delivered in the authors’ own voices, as part of an annual On Point tradition.

Guests:

Susan Orlean, staff writer, The New Yorker Magazine. Her book “The Orchid Thief” about orchid poachers in Florida was recently made into the movie “Adaptation”

Jacqui Banaszynski, associate managing editor, special projects at The Seattle Times and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

Thomas French, staff writer, The St. Petersburg Times and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

Sonia Nazario, projects reporter, The Los Angeles Times. Her story, “Enrique’s Journey”, won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for feature reporting.

Adrienne Nicole LeBlanc, journalist and author of the bestselling book, “Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble and Coming of Age in the Bronx”

Cynthia Gorney, associate dean at the University of California Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and a former staff writer for The Washington Post

Victor Merina, senior fellow, University of Southern California’s Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism