Sunday 16 February 2014

What is creative nonfiction?

"Creative nonfiction" is the name given to the so-called "fourth genre" of literary writing. It's not as new as it sounds -- people have been writing in the genre for centuries -- but the name is, indeed, relatively new. Here's a working definition that we've found very useful (and concise!), by our friend Pooja, who's the editor of another Math Paper Press anthology. We hope it will help clarify any questions that you may have regarding the kind of writing we're looking for.

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What is Creative Nonfiction?
By Pooja Makhijani, for Altogether Elsewhere 
Reproduced and adapted with permission

One question that I have been asked more than once is: what exactly is creative nonfiction?

In short, creative nonfiction is the latest name for fact-based writing that includes literary journalism, essay (lyrical, personal, nature, environmental, travel, cultural, or graphic), memoir, and cultural criticism.

The genre "braids narrative telling with fictional and poetic techniques and combines portraiture and self-reflection with reportage and critical analysis." Above all, "creative nonfiction is based on actual events, characters, and places and is written with a special concern for language."

 My bookshelves are full of great examples of the genre--from The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion to The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi to Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama to back issues of The New Yorker and Harper's. But my personal library is largely US-centric.

So, I looked a bit closer to home. I asked and I searched and I browsed. Here are some of my "local" must-reads:

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Other pieces by Singapore writers that we (Ruihe and Yu-Mei) recommend:

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