Texas writing legend Pamela Colloff in conversation with Austinites (and me)

NOVEMBER 2018 — While she is now a reporter-at-large for The New York Times Magazine and writer for ProPublica, Pamela Colloff got her start years ago at Texas Monthly. There she laid out for readers—just one last time—story after story of the wrongfully convicted.

Colloff (left) answered student questions at "Seeking Justice Through Narrative Journalism."

Colloff's work does what bare bones news pieces can't. In striking, long-form narratives that require months, sometimes years of research, Pamela Colloff investigates cases of the wrongfully convicted. For interviewees who agree to go on the record, her articles can result in the unthinkable for them—freedom.

Sponsored by the Mary Alice Davis Lecture, Colloff spoke on Nov. 13 at the Belo Center for New Media. I've been following Colloff for the past few years, so the opportunity to listen to her speak and answer questions was remarkable. She was also gracious enough to take a photo with me.

"It's about making something that's never been made, the twist. That's the name of the game [in writing]."

-Pamela Colloff

A Car Trunk of Evidence: Building the case for "Hannah and Andrew"

One of her lesser-known works "Hannah and Andrew" was published at Texas Monthly in January 2002. The story of a religious Texan foster mother accused of the mysterious death of her troubled soon-to-be adopted son, "Hannah and Andrew" stands out for its attention to detail and narrative ease.

When I compare "Hannah and Andrew" to Colloff's 2012 article "The Innocent Man" for which she won a National Magazine Award in Feature Writing, it's clear to see how Colloff's writing style has grown over the years. In "The Innocent Man" parts 1 and 2, the writer is sure of herself and her craft; the characters, real people, are well-defined. The "aboutness" of the piece is certain.

But there's still a je ne sais quoi to the younger "Hannah and Andrew," an undefinable quality (perhaps an eerie familiarity?) of the piece that exists no where else to date.

In answering my question about her experience writing "Hannah and Andrew," video footage of the Q&A would certainly show a softening of Colloff's expression, almost love-like at the sound of their names. I'll have to paraphrase here, but Colloff said that the case of Hannah Overton and her deceased foster child Andrew Byrd came to her by way of a friend who was writing at the San Antonio Express-News.

The local news reporter had covered Hannah Overton's case as much as his traditional news medium would allow, and now, he was coming to Colloff to pass the baton. Only in this case, the preverbal baton was a carload of evidence. Files and files from the courts, Child Protection Services reports, and eyewitness accounts. Short on time, her friend proposed they make the exchange in front of the Texas Capitol.

"Everything was there," she said. And none of her stories of the wrongfully convicted have begun that way since.

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For reading that will make you joyfully stay up way past your self-imposed adult bedtime, check out Colloff's "The Innocent Man" part one and part two here.