A Dialogue with Prize-Winning Reporters Emily Feng and Sarah A. Topol
Moderator: Barry Siegel, founding director of UCI's Literary Journalism Program
Free and open to the public.
The topics covered will include the challenges that NPR reporter Feng has faced covering breaking news stories in China, the focus of her acclaimed debut book, and the Middle East, and that Topol, a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, has faced during investigations that have taken her everywhere from Southeast Asia to Belarus. All three participants have won prestigious prizes. Topol's 2024 long form story on a Russian deserter, for example, won both Polk and Poynter awards as well as the Michael Kelly Prize. Feng's awards include the 2022 Shorenstein Journalism Award and a 2025 citation from the Overseas Press Club. Siegel, who was based at the Los Angeles Times before coming to UCI where he is now founding director of the Center for Storytelling, is a Pulitzer Prize winner.
The event will be introduced by Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Distinguished Professor of History and co-director of the Forum for the Academy and the Public.
Sponsored by UCI Illuminations, as well as UCI's History Department, Forum for the Academy and the Public, Literary Journalism Program, and Center for Storytelling.