Yesterday, a gathering of journalists, writers, scientists and others interested in the fine art of telling a science story, met at the Paley Media Center in New York, to hear from successful authors about their skills and experiences with science storytelling.

This Science Storytellers session is just one in a series of events at the Paley Center, all with the same goal: to explore the process of transforming science into innovative, evoking stories, whether for the page, screen or stage.

For some, the art of telling a science story is both a passion and a vocation, and attending today’s session were arguably some of the world’s most renowned scientists with literary expertise. All were keen to share their personal accounts, revealing their goals and aspirations about how to teach others about the scientific world via entertaining narratives.

The first session featured a the panel of authors of some of the most well-known science books:

James Watson: Most famously known for successfully proposing the double helical structure of DNA along with Francis Crick

Steven Pinker: Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard

Siddhartha Mukherjee: Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University

Edward.O. Wilson: Most known for his pioneering studies of ants.

Brian Greene: Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia University and also co-founder of the World Science Festival.

Often science can be complicated and difficult to explain, but the aim of the session was to investigate how scientists overcome these adversities to become successful storytellers. James Watson spoke in detail about writing The Double Helix. He explained how he was able to capture the personalities of the scientists he worked with and not always in the most favorable of lights. In his personal account he was able to include scandal and emotion, mixing rivalry with science to tell a lively, engaging story.

Members of the panel then discussed their literary inspirations which ranged from newspapers and books to the London Times Obituary section, prompting Edward O Wilson to reveal that:

Science as a story is complicated.

This statement led to a frank discussion on the ways scientist-storytellers can create gripping work which can provide a wider range of audiences with an entrance into otherwise unfathomable scientific subjects.

After a short intermission, the previous panel was then joined by Pulitzer prize-winning journalists, all familiar with the exciting field of science writing. They included:

Jonathan Winer: Author of Long for this World: The Strange Science of Immortality

Deborah Blum: Author of the Prisoner’s Handbook

Natalie Angier: Columnist for the New York Times

Timothy Ferris: Author of The Science of Liberty

These journalists’ roles are to transform some of the most unusual and difficult scientific work into writing so unforgettable that people from all walks of life can appreciate the science.

The main focus of their discussion was to highlight the ways they are helping to shift science to its rightful place: the centre of popular culture. Conversations revealed that the skill of being able to explain science to a barman (or barmaid) is critical, but what is most important is not to dumb-down writing, but to embrace science in its entire splendor.

Overall, the session provided a great insight into how authors craft their narratives and unsurprisingly was an entertaining and often witty discussion. To find out more about this event and its participants, WSFTV will shortly be uploading a live stream from the discussion so you can watch it for yourself.

If you want to read more highlights from the World Science Festival, you can find a summary of all our coverage here.