The Home of the Fictional Tribune •
The Home of the Fictional Tribune •
I am Michael Anthony Krikorian, the creator of The Fictional Tribune and, quite fittingly, the “Fictional Journalist.”I was born in Chinatown, Los Angeles, at the French Hospital to Armenian parents. I love saying that.
My father, a World War II pilot, attended Manuel Arts High School in South-Central Los Angeles. He met my mother at a gas station at 90th and Normandie—a chance encounter that changed everything. One of the greatest lessons my father taught me, even as a young boy, was the power of his favorite word: imagination.
Imagination.
That word became a cornerstone of my life. I often think of the opening lines of Frank Sinatra’s song “Imagination,” written by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Johnny Burke: “Imagination is funny. It makes a cloudy day sunny. Makes a bee think of honey, just as I think of you.”
It’s no surprise that imagination also became my favorite word. It ultimately led me to The Fictional Tribune and, in a broader sense, the concept of “Fictional Journalism.”
The roots of Fictional Journalism trace back to 1974, when I was first paid for my writing. Cycle News published my piece about motocross—a genre that never entertained fiction. Yet there it was: my story about the “Motocross Mafia” conspiring against Belgian world champion Joel Robert. A few months later, they published another fictional article of mine, this time about a Russian motocross school in Stalingrad.
That brief success was followed by 18 years of rejection slips.
Ironically, what brought me back to being published wasn’t Fictional Journalism but real journalism. My cousin Greg Krikorian, then a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, got me a job as a “stringer,” covering City Council meetings at City Hall. For $60 a week, I wrote digests in the heart of the Times newsroom. My desk sat just 30 feet from the iconic “City Desk” sign.
It was an incredible experience. Over time, I earned the chance to report on a part of Los Angeles I knew well: Watts, the city’s toughest and proudest community. I developed close relationships with many residents, especially gang leaders, and became known as the “Watts Bureau Chief.” My pod mate, Matea Gold, was the “East L.A. Bureau Chief.” Today, Matea is the Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief for the New York Times. And me? I’m the Bureau Chief for The Fictional Tribune.
The real catalyst for my return to Fictional Journalism came with The Mozza Tribune, an in-house newspaper I write for my girlfriend of 23 years, Nancy Silverton. Nancy’s restaurants—Pizzeria Mozza, Osteria Mozza, and Chi Spacca in Los Angeles, as well as other Mozzas around the world—are the perfect stage for my stories.
I write about the staff, the happenings, and the heartbeat of these places. It’s an absolute joy for me, and the staff loves it too. I think you’ll get a kick out of it as well.
Imagination has carried me through this journey—from Cycle News to The Los Angeles Times, to Watts, and now to The Fictional Tribune. It’s funny and, as Carole King would say, “some kind of wonderful” how life unfolds when you follow a single word.
10 OF MY REAL
JOURNALISM STORIES
I couldn’t write The Fictional Tribune without my career as a real journalist. Here’s 10 articles that make me proud.
The Namesake
Lives New York Times Sunday Magazine
[Click Here]
War of the Roses
Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine 1988
[Click Here]
War and Peace in Watts
LA Weekly, 2005
[Click Here]
Night of 130 Teenagers
Lives New York Times Sunday Magazine
[Click Here]
My Improbable Redemption
Los Angeles Times Opinion, 2012
[Click Here]
Finding That Song
Lives New York Times Sunday Magazine
[Click Here]
Coming Face to Face with Sudden Tragedy on the Streets of L.A
Los Angeles Times, Metro
[Click Here]
A Gay Leader Emerges in the ‘HOOD
LA Weekly
[Click Here]
“Eat it and don’t ask”;, War Soup in Karabakh
CivilNet, Armenia
[Click Here]
“The Day That Kicked Biker’s Wild Image Into High Gear”
LA Times
[Click Here]