How Jim Dwyer found the words to write about 9/11

The late New York Times reporter showed how literary techniques could deepen journalism without sacrificing rigor

When I see the bylines of certain reporters, I will read whatever they write. Jim Dwyer of The New York Times is one of those. Jim became, in my mind, the prose-poet of 9/11, the journalist who has, with a special decency and power, managed to chronicle the lingering effects of a horrible day.

Jim won an ASNE Distinguished Writing Award for his short stories about specific objects that became relics of the Twin Towers disaster: a squeegee used to escape an elevator, a family photo found in the rubble, a paper cup used to give water to a thirsty survivor.