Creative Nonfiction: Home

"On its very baseline creative nonfiction is a literary genre. Some people call it the fourth genre, along with poetry, fiction and drama. And it’s an umbrella term for the many different ways one can write what is called creative nonfiction. Memoir, for example, personal essay, biography, narrative history and long form narrative reportage may all fit under the creative nonfiction umbrella. Recently, as the genre has evolved, there have been offshoots to the genre like speculative nonfiction, auto(biographical) fiction, lyric essay, and the visual essay, to name only a few.

Writers who write creative nonfiction are very different in voice, orientation and purpose. But what they have in common is that they are, in one way or the other, writing true stories that provide information about a variety of subjects, enriched by relevant thoughtful ideas, personal insight, and intimacies about life and the world we live in.  And this scope and variety is exactly what makes creative nonfiction significant and, these days, so incredibly popular."

- Lee Gutkind

"The genre of creative nonfiction is one of the most interesting kinds of nonfiction, and a popular way to present fact-based literature. Particularly effective in historical writing, biographies and world affairs, it can often read like a novel despite being based firmly in real-world truths. It blends the factual reporting typical of journalism with more creative approaches to connect ideas, develop themes and weave a broad tapestry of narrative. Creative nonfiction can make connections between isolated facts that are real, but difficult to see when each element is viewed independently."

- Bennett R. Coles

This research guide was created by Emma Cowan, English Department Intern, Gumberg Library, March 2025. 

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New Journalism 

Literary Nonfiction started as branch of journalism to reconvey important public events to a broad audience. 

Memoir

A shared string of memories or themes in the authors life that are organized and retold.

Nature writing

A form of Creative Nonfiction that brings readers attention to the world around them. 

Travel writing

Physical descriptions of a place. 

Personal Essay

Memoirs, Narrative Essays, Braided Essays. 

Narrative History

Creative retelling of a historical event. 

Lyric Essay

Similar to prose poetry, a singing story.