This weekend, Pulitzer Prize winners and best-selling authors will convene here at BU for the Journalism Department‘s annual conference, The Power of Narrative: The Rebirth of Storytelling. There, some of the nation’s most celebrated writers will discuss the art and future of narrative nonfiction.

2011 speakers include:

• Jill Abramson, Managing Editor, The New York Times
• Kate Medina, Executive Editor, Random House
• Susan Orlean, Author, The Orchid Thief
• Hampton Sides, Author, Hellhound on His Trail
• Douglas Starr, Author, The Killer of Little Shepherds; Professor, College of Communication
• Gay Talese, Journalist & Author
• Isabel Wilkerson, Author, The Warmth of Other Suns; Professor, College of Communication
• And many more…

The conference takes place today and tomorrow in the Kenmore Classroom Building. For registration information and a complete schedule of conference events visit here.

When Disaster Strikes: Reporting and Responding is an international conference that will explore the collaboration and tension between journalists and public health workers at times of crisis. The event, featuring a keynote speech by NBC’s Kerry Sanders, will mark the first annual collaboration of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and Boston University’s Center for Global Health and Development, School of Public Health and College of Communication. A wide range of experts from the fields of global health, NGOs and journalism, as well as citizens and volunteers, will focus on the many layers of crisis in post-earthquake Haiti, to establish strategies for journalists and aid workers to function collaboratively.

Moderated by BU alum and founder of Help a Reporter Out (HARO), Peter Shankman (COM ’94), the panel featured experts from the traditional news world, PR and the blogosphere, and included Tom Fiedler, Dean of the College of Communication (COM); Lisa van der Pool, broadcast editor and reporter at The Boston Business Journal; Adam Gaffin, founder and editor of Universal Hub; and Steve Quigley, Associate Professor of Public Relations at COM.

Watch the complete event below and check out a recap from BU Today.

A  new educational program announced today between The Boston Globe and Boston University’s College of Communication (COM), will enable BU journalism students to cover Boston-area neighborhood and town news for Boston.com’s “Your Town” websites as part of their studies within COM.

According to a press release, the new program will launch later this fall and will be coordinated by BU professors and Globe editors.  ”Your Town” sites act as digital town centers, offering a highly localized news experience for readers.

Tom Fiedler, dean of COM, said the agreement expands the school’s commitment to providing students with real reporting experience while supplying in-depth coverage of news affecting the greater Boston area.

“This program offers benefits for both community residents, who gain from increased news and information about their neighborhoods, and our students, who learn journalism by doing it under the guidance of our faculty and Globe editors,” Fiedler said in the release.

“The free traffic in articles that news organizations have put significant money into developing is unsustainable in the long term. This moves the Internet and media closer to a consumer-paid model.”

Contact Lou Ureneck, 617-353-4095, lureneck@bu.edu

Conservative columnist Robert “Prince of Darkness” Novak, who died of brain cancer at 78, left an indelible impression on most.  Journalism professors and former journalists Robert Zelnick (ABC News) and Elizabeth Mehren (Los Angeles Times) can reflect on Novak and his impact on the news industry.

Contact Robert Zelnick, 617-353-5007, bzelnick@bu.edu

Contact Elizabeth Mehren, 617-358-4806, emehren@bu.edu

Contact Anne Donohue, 617-353-3418, adonohue@bu.edu

As a former long-time ABC News foreign correspondent, College of Communication journalism Professor Robert Zelnick can offer unique perspective on the decision by the Iranian government to free American journalist Roxana Saberi.

“The freeing of Roxana Saberi, a courageous journalist whose three months imprisonment rightly triggered international outrage, shows that even Iran cannot be completely tone deaf to world opinion.  But I would be cautious before reading into this event a new Iranian responsiveness to President Obama’s personal diplomacy or a willingness to yield in its effort to develop nuclear weapons.  One happy ending does not validate a foreign policy steeped in myth.”

Contact Robert Zelnick, 617-353-5007, bzelnick@bu.edu