Creative Nonfiction Newsletter
for Serious Writers & Readers

MISSISSIPPI OR BUST

Something is brewing in Oxford, Mississippi, home to Ole Miss, and it may be the best thing to happen to Oxford since John Grisham. On Saturday, September 29, Lee Gutkind will be teaching The Five R's Writing Institute--an intensive, day-long course that defines the genre and presents all the basic elements of creative nonfiction, including structure, voice, tone, writing in scenes and using background information and descriptions. The course will also include a discussion of ethical issues inherent to nonfiction writing, as well as tips for marketing finished work. For a complete course description and registration details, visit our Institute page. The registration deadline is September 15 and space is limited, so sign up now!

WHY CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS?

CNF has taken the plunge and we can now be found on myspace.com--yet another place where you can visit us, become our friend and learn about all the latest Creative Nonfiction news and updates, not to mention networking with fellow readers and writers. You can find us by using the search function on myspace.com: our screen name is Creative Nonfiction and our email address is information@creativenonfiction.org.

CREATIVE NONFICTION BLITZ

At this exact moment thousands of copies of Issue 32/The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 1 are landing in readers' mailboxes, on nightstands and in book bags. They can also be found in bookstores around the country. This issue is full of surprising stories--from a mysterious death to competitive eating--and samples some of the most delectable creative nonfiction we could find from around the country. If you don't yet have a copy, be sure to get your hands on one and stay on top of the ever-changing, always interesting world of CNF. Plus, if you subscribe now, you will automatically receive The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol 1 now, and Vol. 2, due out next summer, as part of your subscription.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE...

Creative Nonfiction will be debuting not only a new logo, but also our new website by the end of the month. These are exciting times around the office as we plan to debut a more user-friendly presence on the web. Fear not, the signature Creative Nonfiction paper-tear logo will remain, but in an updated version, and now our readers and website perusers will have a streamlined, informative experience at Creative Nonfiction's new digs on the world wide web.

CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH?

Lee Gutkind makes himself crystal clear in the Poets and Writers article "Editors Who Can Handle the Truth." The feature by Sara Weinman explores the growing creative nonfiction genre: "Telling a story of real-life experiences is a simple enough pursuit. As in fiction, the aim is to compel readers to keep reading, to teach them something new, to open a window on a previously undiscovered world. In the hands of master practitioners like E. B. White, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John McPhee, Nora Ephron, and Anne Fadiman, that's exactly what nonfiction narratives do. And, as three recently published and entirely different collections amply demonstrate, there are growing numbers of quality chroniclers of truth out there. Finding their work is relatively easy. Categorizing it is another matter." Click here to read the entire article. Also you can even weigh in on what you prefer the genre to be called: creative nonfiction, literary nonfiction, narrative nonfiction, or who-cares-as-long-as-it's-true nonfiction (we admit a bias here).

ROBOT EVOLUTION

Listen to Lee Gutkind sound off on the way technology is shaping the evolution of our species through a podcast of Are We Alone?, a radio science magazine broadcast by the SETI Institute. Click here to hear Lee's August 13 interview to learn "how your Blackberry may be changing the brains of future generations," and whether we are "engineering our own successors through robotics."

TAKE NOTE

September 30 - October 6 is Independent Publisher Week. Fact: 78% of the titles published in the U.S. come from small/self-publishers. As a nation, we are full of intrepid entrepreneurs and struggling artists all striving to practice their craft while earning a living. Independent Publisher Week honors those in the publishing business who work hard to give new authors a chance at personal and literary success. Creative Nonfiction publishes journals and books filled with intriguing stories by talented up and coming creative nonfiction writers. Please support our goal of discovering and highlighting these writers by becoming a subscriber.