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About Jack Hart

During his quarter century at The Oregonian, the Pacific Northwest’s largest newspaper, Jack Hart served as managing editor, training editor, and writing coach. He edited four Pulitzer Prize finalists, including winners in explanatory journalism and feature writing. He also edited a portion of the work recognized with the 2001 Pulitzer Gold Medal for Public Service and the 2006 breaking-news Pulitzer. Along the way he developed an international reputation for his work with narrative nonfiction.

Hart, who earned his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin, was a tenured faculty member and acting dean of the journalism school at the University of Oregon, and taught at five other universities. He’s also served as visiting faculty at the American Press Institute and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. He has conducted writing workshops throughout the English-speaking world.

In addition to dozens of articles for popular magazines, academic journals, and trade publications, Hart’s work includes The Information Empire, a history of the Los Angeles Times; Wordcraft: The Complete Guide to Clear, Powerful Writing, (published earlier as A Writer’s Coach); Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction; and  Skookum Summer: A Novel of the Pacific Northwest. His column, “The Writer’s Workshop,” ran in Editor & Publisher magazine for a decade.