In Fact The Best of Creative Nonfiction Author:Lee Gutkind (Editor) Twenty-five arresting selections from the groundbreaking journal that defined a genre. — Creative nonfiction, also known as narrative nonfiction, liberated journalism by inviting writers to dramatize, interpret, speculate, and even re-create their subjects. Lee Gutkind collects twenty-five essays that flourished on this new ground, all ori... more »ginally published in the journal he founded, Creative Nonfiction, now celebrating its tenth anniversary. Lauren Slater is a therapist in the institution where she was once a patient. John Edgar Wideman reacts passionately to the unjust murder of Emmett Till. Charles Simic tells of wild nights with Uncle Boris. John McPhee creates a rare, personal, album quilt. Terry Tempest Williams speaks on the decline of the prairie dog. Madison Smartt Bell invades Haiti. Many of the writers are crossing genres—from poetry and fiction to nonfiction—symbolic of Creative Nonfiction's scope and popularity.
A cross section of the famous and those bound to become so, this collection is a riveting experience highlighting the expanding importance of this dramatic and exciting new genre.
Introduction: Notes for young writers / Annie Dillard --
The creative nonfiction police? / Lee Gutkind --
Three spheres / Lauren Slater --
Looking at Emmett Till / John Edgar Wideman --
Shunned / Meredith Hall --
An album quilt / John McPhee --
Dinner at Uncle Boris's / Charles Simic --
Prayer dogs / Terry Tempest Williams --
What is it we really harvestin' here? / Ntozake Shange --
The Brown study / Richard Rodriguez --
Killing wolves / Sherry Simpson --
Being Brians / Brian Doyle --
Language at play / Diane Ackerman --
Finders keepers: the story of Joey Coyle / Mark Bowden --
Notes from a difficult case / Ruthann Robson --
Adventures in celestial navigation / Philip Gerard --
Leaving Babylon: a walk through the Jewish divorce ceremony / Judyth Har-Even --
Gray area: thinking with a damaged brain / Floyd Skloot --