Creative Nonfiction: The Final Issue: The Best of Thirty Years of Creative Nonfiction [Paperback]

The very best writing from one of Americas most groundbreaking literary magazines.

When Creative Nonfiction debuted in 1994, the literary genre it championed was largely the target of skepticism or downright ridicule. But at a time when few editors were interested in the personal essay, the magazine doggedly explored new ideas and fresh modes of expression, and over the next three decades, its contributors pioneered what would come to be known as the fourth genre.

The thirty-two essays collected here bring together some of the finest work Creative Nonfiction published over its seventy-eight issues. Read Pulitzer Prize-winner Charles Simics boyhood remembrances of the bombing of Belgrade, Carolyn Forches haunting, lyric catalog of her daily life as she faced down a cancer diagnosis, and John Edgar Widemans meditation on the photo of a murdered boy his same ageEmmett Tilland how the image haunted him forever. Here, you'll find work by such luminaries as Adrienne Rich and John McPhee, but also essays from more contemporary voices like Brian Broome, Elizabeth Fortescue, and Anne McGrath.

With an introduction by Lee Gutkind, Creative Nonfictions founder and editor, this collection captures the evolution of a genre and the amazing work of the little magazine that helped make it all happen.

Lee Gutkind?has been called the Godfather behind creative nonfiction by?Vanity Fair. He founded?Creative Nonfiction?magazine in 1994 and is the editor or author of more than thirty books. He lives in Pittsburgh, PA.

Table of Contents:

Introduction?Lee Gutkind

Meander?Mary Paumier Jones?

The Necessity of Poetry?Charles Simic?

How Does a Poet Put Bread on the Table??Adrienne Rich?

Taking Care?Jane Bernstein?

The Conching Rooms?John McPheel'