Creative Nonfiction (magazine)

Creative Nonfiction

Frequency	Quarterly
First issue	1993 (1993-month)
Company	Creative Nonfiction Foundation
Country	United States
Based in	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Website	creativenonfiction.org

Creative Nonfiction is a literary magazine based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The journal was founded by Lee Gutkind in 1993 making it the first literary magazine to publish, exclusively and on a regular basis, high quality nonfiction prose. In Spring 2010, Creative Nonfiction evolved from journal to magazine format with the addition of new sections such as writer profiles, essays on the craft of writing as well as updates on developments in the literary non-fiction scene. Today, with a circulation of over 7,000, Creative Nonfiction is the largest literary magazine devoted to the genre and to serving a variety of readers, from nonfiction and journalism enthusiasts to poetry and fiction writers, editors and agents.

In its brief history, Creative Nonfiction has already achieved much acclaim. An essay from Creative Nonfiction: Issue 31, "The Writers in the Silos," was reprinted in Harper's September 2007 issue. In 2006 Toi Derricotte's essay "Beginning Dialogues" was featured in The Best American Essays, and two essays, "Road Kill" by Kate Krautkramer and "Ghost Children" by D. Winston Brown, appeared in The Best American Nonrequired Reading in 2005 and 2007 respectively.

In the past few years, Creative Nonfiction has begun to publish books in collaboration with a number of different publishers, including W.W. Norton and SMU Press.

Past Issues

Number	Year	Title	Issue Description	Contributing Authors
1	1994	Creative Nonfiction	The Premiere Issue - the one that started it all.	• Mimi Schwartz • Richard Goodman • Michael Pearson
2	1994	Poets Writing Prose	Poetry and creative nonfiction have a lot in common, deftness of word choice and the attention to detail to name a few. In this issue renowned and emerging poets cross forms to produce works of prose.	• Margaret Gibson • Adrienne Rich • Michael Stevens • Richard Hague • Charles Simic
3	1995	Emerging Women Writers	This issue features work by emerging women writers who tell intricately detailed stories while being incisive, reflective and deeply personal.	• Jeanne Marie Laskas • Lauren Slater
4	1995	Creative Nonfiction Classics	This issue brings together classic essays (and a few new ones) that have helped charter the genre and develop it into what it is today.	• John McPhee • Samuel F. Pickering • Jonathan Holden • Elizabeth Hodges • Louis Simpson • Gay Talese
5	1996	Fathers and Fatherhood	This collection gives special attention to the memory of fathers and the importance of their role in family life and the lives of the authors.	• Phillip Lopate • Hilary Masters • Moritz Thomsen • Linda Pastan • Bret Lott • Gordon Lish
6	1996	The Essayist at Work	This issue gives the reader a chance to learn more about the craft and process of writing an essay through profiles and stories about the work of authors.	• Annie Dillard • Michael Pearson • Hilary Masters • Scott Chisholm • Michael Stephens • Ellen Gilchrist • Gay Talese • Tracy Kidder • Barbara Adams
7	1996	Points of View	This issue contains examples of the potential of the genre and of how much can be accomplished with focused commitment. It also serves as a model of the varied points of view achievable in writing creative nonfiction--from the distance of immersion/reportage to the personal closeness and intimacy of poetry.	• Maxine Kumin • Mark Bowden • Charles Simic • David Hamilton
8	1997	Mostly Memoir	Just as the title implies, this issue provides a short glimpse into the lives of the writers. The authors are sharing something special and true in this collection: their own stories.	• Ellen Gilchrist • Phillip Lopate • Elizabeth Hodges • Alec Wilkinson • John McPhee
9	1997	Surviving Crisis	This issue highlights some of the most intimate, personal, and challenging moments of the authors' lives. Age, life, and disappointment are common themes throughout this collection. (Special Double Issue)	• John McPhee • Lauren Slater • Reginald Gibbons • Annie Dillard • Marjorie Gross • Scott Murphy • Richard Rodriguez • Andre Dubus • Cynthia Ozick • John Edgar Wideman
9.5	1998	The Universal Chord	Creative nonfiction essays should strike a universal chord—establish a special place, register an insight, moment, or idea that might be shared and appreciated by a larger readership. All of the essays in this issue will make readers care about what the writers care about—about a place, a time of life, a friend, or loved one. About the things which make all our lives meaningful and interesting.	• Brian Doyle • Ntozake Shange • A. D. Coleman • Madison Smartt Bell • Michael Pearson
10	1998	Style and Substance	The essays in this issue are examples of how writers can blend style and substance, while using a personal voice. The essays in this issue demonstrate the true potential of creative nonfiction.	• Lee Gutkind • Mimi Schwartz • Madison Smartt Bell • John Hales • Christopher Buckley
11	1998	A View from the Divide	This special double issue demonstrates the many ways in which aspects of the scientific world--from biology, medicine, physics, and astronomy--can be captured and dramatized for a humanities-oriented readership. This collection of essays captures a range of ideas combining literary style and intellectual substance. These works come from poets, immunologists and physicists, established writers and up-and-coming new talent. (Special issue published by University of Pittsburgh Press.)	• Susan Mann • James Glanz
12	1999	Emerging Women Writers II	This follow up issue again features work by emerging women writers who tell intricately detailed stories while being incisive, reflective and deeply personal.	• Beth Kephart
13	1999	The Brain: A Nonfiction Mystery	This issue explores attempts to live normally with damaged brains and with brains affected by drugs. All the stories are tough illustrations of the complications that interfere with life when the brain is affected even slightly and subtly.	• Floyd Skloot • David Goldblatt • James Glanz
14	2000	What Men Think, What Men Write	Although the themes of What Men Think, What Men Write significantly differ from those in the Emerging Women Writers issues, what is worth noting about this narrative nonfiction is not so much what distinguishes the men writers from the women, but more what doesn't.	• Lee Martin • C.K. Williams • Gregory Martin • Madison Smartt Bell
15	2000	Lessons in Persuasion: Writers with Pittsburgh Roots or Connections	Pittsburgh has always been--despite its industrial reputation--a great city in which to be a writer and, although Pittsburgh is not the subject of most of the essays in this issue, the featured authors are bound together by their affinity for the written word and their collective fondness for Pittsburgh. (Special issue published by University of Pittsburgh Press.)	• Annie Dillard • Lester Goran • Chuck Kinder • Hilary Masters • Diane Ackerman • Peter S. Beagle • Jan Beatty
16	2001	The Line Between Fact and Fiction	This issue explores the importance of creative nonfiction in today's literary world. These essays deal with the division between fiction and nonfiction and why the distinctions matter.	• Czeslaw Milosz • David Goldblatt • Jennifer White
17	2001	Between the Lines	This issue features essays that, among other things, take us between the lines of writers and readers. These essays are writers writing about writing, and they do it in a variety of creative and informative contexts.	• Brian Doyle • Molly Peacock • Bret Lott
18	2001	Intimate Details	The essays published in this issue represent survival and change, expressed through dramatic stories and intimacy of detail.	• Meredith Hall • Hal Herring • Samuel Pickering
19	2002	Diversity Details	In this issue, celebrated and emerging authors write essays about diversity that defy easy labels. To seek out some new voices for this collection, Creative Nonfiction teamed up with JPMorganChase to offer a $10,000 prize for narratives about the challenges faced by outsiders in a world where "normal," "regular" and "accepted" are the watchwords and all others are marginalized.	• Lee Gutkind • Francine Prose • John Edgar Wideman • Andrei Codrescu • Floyd Skloot • Jewell Parker Rhodes • Terry Tempest Williams • Richard Rodriguez
20	2003	Clarity	This issue features writers searching for clarity in their lives, and the rest of the world, as they struggle to make social and personal changes.	• Meredith Hall • Sam Anderson • Lucinda Rosenfeld • Laurie Graham • Hilary Masters
21	2003	Rage and Reconciliation	This issue features writers, both patients and doctors, exploring the current state of American health care. (This issue received generous support from the Jewish Healthcare Foundation of Western Pennsylvania.)	• Linda Peeno • Ron Grant • Beth Kephart
22	2004	Creative Nonfiction in the Crosshairs	This issue responds to the recent barrage of criticism from journalists and critics of the genre.	• Lee Gutkind • Michael Pearson
23	2004	Mexican Voices	This issue seeks to understand how nonfiction forms have evolved in regions outside of the United States–specifically, in Mexico. These essays offer the reader more than the just an understanding of the literary traditions of Mexico.	• Ilan Stavans • Juan Villoro • Alberto Ruy Sánchez • Rigoberto González • Homero Aridjis • Sergio Pitol • Ilan Stavans • Diane Ackerman
24/25	2004	In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction	This anthology features the best writing published in Creative Nonfiction over its first ten years. Culled from the 300 pieces published in the journal, themselves chosen from over 10,000 manuscripts, the stories now published in In Fact showcase the possibilities of the genre in pieces by the famous, and those surely destined to be so. Each author has also included a reflection on the process of composing the particular piece included. (Special issue published by W. W. Norton & Co. to celebrate CNF's 10 year anniversary.)	• Annie Dillard • Lauren Slater • John Edgar Wideman • Meredith Hall • John McPhee • Charles Simic • Terry Tempest Williams • Richard Rodriguez • Brian Doyle • Diane Ackerman • Mark Bowden • Floyd Skloot • Andrei Codrescu • Madison Smartt Bell • Francine Prose • Jewell Parker Rhodes • Phillip Lopate
26	2005	The Poets and Writers Issue	This issue features many writers whose work crosses the borders between literary genres, from poetry and fiction to creative nonfiction, and illustrates how the lines of division between writers may be disintegrating. The stories themselves also flirt with the idea of crossing boundaries - between life and death, between countries and cultures and languages, and between individuals.	• Lee Gutkind • Hilary Masters • Toi Derricotte • Robert Wilder • Lauren Slater • Laurie Graham • Mark O'Connor • Ira Berkow
27	2005	Writing It Short	This issue features highlights from the online creative nonfiction journal Brevity1, which challenges writers to do their best in fewer than 750 words.	• Natalie Goldberg • Dinty W. Moore • Bret Lott • Brian Doyle • Robin Hemley • Lori Jakiela • Michael Perry • David Shields • Lee Martin • Nicole Walker • Floyd Skloot
28	2006	Essays from the Edge	This issue features new voices exploring the darker side of life. These essays grapple with a difficult time in each author’s life.	• Gay Talese • Meredith Hall • Margaret Price • Adam Gussow
29	2006	A Million Little Choices: The ABCs of CNF	This issue contains a glossary of concise entries that define and explain the anchoring elements of the genre, from scene and dialogue to acknowledging your sources. (This issue has been republished, in expanded form, as Keep It Real: Everything You Need to Know About Researching and Writing Creative Nonfiction.)	• Lee Gutkind • Daniel Nester
30	2006	Our Roots are Deep with Passion: Creative Nonfiction Collects New Essays by Italian American Writers	Established and emerging writers reflect on the ways their lives have been accented with uniquely Italian American flavors. The pieces are as varied as their authors, but all explore the distinctive intersection of language, tradition, cuisine, and culture that characterize the diverse experience of Americans of Italian heritage.	• Joe Mantegna • Maria Laurino • Sandra M. Gilbert • Gina Barreca
31	2007	Imagining the Future: Writing and Publishing in 2025 and Beyond	This issue brings together voices from across the publishing spectrum—from novelists and journalists to librarians and editors—all of them speculating about the ways literature and the business of writing will change in the coming decades.	• Dinty W. Moore • David Henry Sterry • George Gibson • Robin Hemley • Phillip Lopate • Astro Teller • Heidi Julavits • Ira Berkow • Marita Golden • Dennis Covington
32	2007	The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 1	Creative Nonfiction scoured alternative publications, blogs, literary journals and other often-overlooked publications in search of new voices and innovative ideas for essays written with panache and power. (Special issue published by W. W. Norton.)	• Carol Smith • John O'Connor • Rebecca Skloot • Robin Black
33	2007	Silence Kills: Speaking Out and Saving Lives	The essays collected in Silence Kills present a compelling, and often frightening, look at the lack of communication and understanding currently plaguing the American health care system.	• Abraham Verghese
34	2008	Anatomy of Baseball	This collection of essays about the great American pastime dissects the game one element at a time to try to get at why we find ourselves in the stands or on the field, season after season.	• Yogi Berra • Kevin Baker • Michael Shapiro • Philip F. Deaver • Frank Deford • John Thorn • Sean Wilentz • Jeff Greenfield
35	2008	The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 2	Creative Nonfiction again scoured alternative publications, blogs, literary journals and other often-overlooked publications in search of new voices and innovative ideas for essays written with panache and power. (Special issue published by W. W. Norton.)	• Heidi Julavits • Vijay Seshadri • James Renner • Stefan Fatsis • Pagan Kennedy • David Bradley • Ander Monson • Carol Richards
36	2009	First Lede, Real Lead	This issue offers readers a look at the editorial process and the challenge of deciding where a story really begins.	• Laurie Rachkus Uttich • Paul Bogard • Howard Mansfield • Claire McQuerry • Anjali Sachdeva • Carrie Seymour • Maria Hummel • Ashley Butler
37	2009	The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 3	Special issue published by W. W. Norton, book format.	• Sean Rowe • Julianna Baggott • Brenda Miller • Edwidge Danticat • Gregory Orr
38	2010	Essays: Immortality	First issue in a new magazine style, no longer a journal format. Essays on "Immortality", interview with Dave Eggers, David Shields "required reading".	• Richard Rodriguez • Dave Eggers • Phillip Lopate • David Shields • Bill McKibben • Lawrence M. Krauss • Virginia Morell • Rebecca Skloot • Carolyn Forché • Todd May
39	2010	Pioneers of the Genre	This issue pays tribute to pioneers of the genre such as Norman Mailer and Gay Talese.	• Doris Kearns Goodwin • J. Michael Lennon • Lee Gutkind • Michael Rosenwald • Ayse Papatya Bucak • Rachael Button • Toi Derricotte • John Gilmore • Jim Kennedy • John Nosco • Greta Schuler • Heidi Julavits • Phillip Lopate • Robin Hemley • Peter Ginna
40	2010	The Animals Issue	Essays with a focus on animals plus an Encounter with Lauren Slater who talks about her writing process, truth, and why people get so angry with her; Phillip Lopate on the ethics of writing about other people and Sarah Z. Wexler on magazine editors' unwillingness to adopt to new technology	• Sarah Z. Wexler • Lauren Slater • Phillip Lopate • Tessa Fontaine • Jennifer Lunden • Kateri Kosek • Kelly Herbinson • Randy Fertel • Jeff Oaks • Chester F. Phillips • Susan Cheever
41	2011	The Food Issue	Stories about food and our relationship to what we eat--from pork to lasagna, and from pomegranates to toasted grasshoppers. Ruth Reichl talks about differences between men and women (in the kitchen and on the page) and how she's turning her Twitter feed into a book; Phillip Lopate shares an uncomfortable secret about teaching creative writing; and pieces are featured by Lee Gutkind, Robert Atwan, and others.	John T. Edge Ruth Reichl Lee Gutkind Phillip Lopate Robert Atwan Sharon DeBartolo Carmack Christina Manweller Liesl Schwabe Dinah Lenney Heather A. McDonald Deborah Thompson Victoria Blake Shehla Anjum Matthew Gavin Frank

Past Contributors

Diane Ackerman Roger Angell Frank Deford Annie Dillard Andre Dubus Stefan Fatsis Carolyn Forché Ellen Gilchrist Meredith Hall Heidi Julavits

Lawrence Krauss Gordon Lish Phillip Lopate Bret Lott Hilary Masters Todd May Bill McKibben John McPhee Dinty W. Moore Stewart O'Nan

Daniel Nester George Plimpton Francine Prose Adrienne Rich Richard Rodriguez David Shields Floyd Skloot Rebecca Skloot Lauren Slater Charles Simic

Gay Talese John Edgar Wideman C.K. Williams Terry Tempest Williams

CNF Books

Title	Description	Publisher	Year	ISBN
The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 2	A special issue of Creative Nonfiction that features twenty-seven essays that originally appeared in alternative publications, blogs, literary journals, and other publications.	W.W. Norton	2008	ISBN 978-0-393-33024-3
Anatomy of Baseball	Twenty new and classic essays about the American past time.	SMU Press	2008	ISBN 978-0-87074-522-5
Keep It Real: Everything You Need to Know About Researching and Writing Creative Nonfiction	Provides writers with the working parameters of the creative nonfiction genre	W.W. Norton	2008	ISBN 978-0-393-06561-9
Silence Kills: Speaking Out and Saving Lives	Twelve new essays written by physicians, patients, and family members. Explores the communication breakdown in the current American health care system	SMU Press	2007	ISBN 978-0-87074-518-8
The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 1	A special issue of Creative Nonfiction that features twenty-seven essays that originally appeared in alternative publications, blogs, literary journals, and other publications.	W.W. Norton	2007	ISBN 978-0-393-33003-8
Hurricanes and Carnivals: Essays by Chicanos, Pochos, Pachucos, Mexicanos, and Expatriates	Originally published as Issue 23 of Creative Nonfiction, this book features fifteen essays that push the boundaries between fact and fiction.	The University of Arizona Press	2007	ISBN 978-0-8165-2625-3
Our Roots are Deep with Passion: Creative Nonfiction Collects New Essays by Italian American Writers	Twenty-one essays written by established and emerging writers that explore the unique intersections of language, tradition, cuisine, and culture that characterize the diverse experience of Americans of Italian heritage.	Other Press	2006	ISBN 978-1-59051-242-5
Rage & Reconciliation: Inspiring a Health Care Revolution	Originally published as issue 21 of Creative Nonfiction, the book includes new essays and an 80- minute CD containing three essays read by professional actors and a panel discussion of the ethical dimensions of the issues raised. Produced in conjunction with Pittsburgh's Jewish Healthcare Foundation, writers tackle health care in America, including problems of patient rights and professional responsibility.	SMU Press	2005	ISBN 0-87074-503-4
In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction	Twenty-five essays, all originally appearing in Creative Nonfiction, republished in honor of the journal's tenth anniversary.	W.W. Norton	2005	ISBN 0-393-32665-9
Lessons in Persuasion: Creative Nonfiction/Pittsburgh Connections	Eighteen essays written by writers with ties to the city of Pittsburgh.	University of Pittsburgh Press	2000	ISBN 0-8229-5715-9
A View from the Divide: Creative Nonfiction on Health and Science	Seventeen essays that attempt to demonstrate the many ways in which aspects of the scientific world--from biology, medicine, physics, and astronomy--can be captured and dramatized for a humanities-oriented readership.	University of Pittsburgh Press	1998	ISBN 978-0822956853
The Art of Creative Nonfiction: Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality	Introduces the genre of creative non-fiction and the process of structuring, researching and writing creative non-fiction essay.	John Wiley & Sons, Inc.	1997	ISBN 0-471-11356-5

The CNF Foundation

The Creative Nonfiction Foundation pursues educational and publishing initiatives in the genre of literary nonfiction. Its objectives are to provide a venue, the journal Creative Nonfiction, for high quality nonfiction prose (memoir, literary journalism, personal essay); to serve as the singular strongest voice of the genre, defining the ethics and parameters of the field; and to broaden the genre's impact in the literary arena by providing an array of educational services and publishing activities.

The Creative Nonfiction Foundation was incorporated in 1994 and is a private not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The Creative Nonfiction Foundation is supported by public and private funds contributed by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Foundation, the Vira I. Heinz Endowment, and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, as well as by individual donors.

Educational Programs

The Creative Nonfiction Foundation offers a number of educational programs for teachers, students, and emerging writers.

Writing Institutes: Creative Nonfiction holds institutes throughout the year in a variety of locations and offers programs for writers at all levels of experience. Instructors include Lee Gutkind and other well-known writers, teachers, and editors. The institutes often cover a range of themes, from the basics of the creative nonfiction genre to writing memoir to travel narrative. Courses also attempt to emphasize the ethics and guidelines of the genre. CNF hosted the Mid-South Writers Conference in Oxford, Mississippi, in February 2008, and 412: The Pittsburgh Creative Nonfiction Literary Festival in October 2008.

Mentoring Programs: Creative Nonfiction’s mentoring program pairs new writers with seasoned professionals such as Rebecca Skloot and Dinty W. Moore. The goal of the mentoring program is to help new writers 1) develop their technique and approach to creative nonfiction composition; 2) revise, edit and shape their manuscript; and 3) place their finished manuscript with a publisher.

Online Courses: Creative Nonfiction provides online courses on basic techniques for research, interviewing, immersion and reporting as well as instruction on writing personal essays.

Editorial Advisory Board

A number of prominent authors, educators and media figures are members of the Foundation's Editorial Advisory Board, whose task is to help the Editorial Board sustain and guide the editorial mission of the magazine.

Diane Ackerman Buzz Bissinger Edwidge Danticat Annie Dillard Dave Eggers

Jonathan Franzen Tracy Kidder Rick Moody Susan Orlean Francine Prose

Richard Rodriguez Rebecca Skloot Gay Talese

External links

• The Creative Nonfiction Website
• Lee Gutkind's Website
• Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction¹
• Creative Nonfiction on LitList