What is Creative Nonfiction?

• According to the Creative Nonfiction Collective (CNFC), creative nonfiction (also known as narrative nonfiction) employs writing techniques more often seen in fiction to engage the reader. Names, places, dates, objects, quotations and other concrete objects in the written account can be verified from other sources.

What is Creative Nonfiction?

• Carolyn Yoder, Senior Editor, History and World Cultures at Highlights for Children, explains, “The difference between straight nonfiction and creative nonfiction has to do with structure. Straight nonfiction relies solely on the parts--the facts for the most part--and not on the whole. Creative nonfiction is all about the whole--how the parts make it up. Creative nonfiction, like fiction, is all about story or theme. Creative nonfiction tends to have strong characters, strong sense of place, rich details, obvious themes, conflicts, arcs--everything.”

What is Creative Nonfiction?

• Alternatively known as “literary journalism” or “literature of fact”, creative nonfiction is that branch of writing which employs literary techniques and artistic vision usually associated with fiction or poetry to report on actual persons and events…..The genre, as currently defined, is broad enough to include nature and travel writing, the personal memoir and essay, as well as “new journalism”, “gonzo journalism” and the “nonfiction novel”. –Bruce Hoffman, University of Pittsburgh English Department (from Bruce Dobler’s Creative Nonfiction Compendium)

Some examples of creative nonfiction are:

• narrative history• biography• travel writing• cultural criticism• personal essays• memoirs• literary journalism• science writing• and much more!

What does it all mean for teachers and students?

Creative Nonfiction:• is character driven • is written using verifiable facts• is a combination of creative imaginings and factual evidence• is a way to “humanize” the experience for kids when learning

about historical figures• allows for richer connections and adds deeper understandings to

past events and people• “grabs” the attention and piques curiosity of readers• formats vary widely (graphic novel, picture book, novel, poetry)• includes text features that mimic nonfiction writing: glossaries,

copies of original documents, photographs, headings, subtitles, historical notes, maps, author’s notes, suggested reading, etc.

• includes text features that mimic fiction writing: chapters, characters, plots, story arcs, settings, themes, conflicts, narrator, etc.

Four Pictures by Emily Carrby Nicholas Debon

Published 2003 by Groundwood Books

• Four Pictures by Emily Carr focuses on four paintings that express different periods of Carr's life. Debon’s illustrations, done in gouache and India Ink, make the character of Emily Carr come alive. The medium is a perfect way to express the qualities of Carr's work as well as to describe her unconventional life.

• Debon bases his biography on The Complete Writings of Emily Carr as well as several other books about her life. The book includes a brief biography of Carr as well as information on each of the four paintings.

BRAVE DEEDS How One Family Saved Many from the Nazis by Ann Alma

Published 2008 by Groundwood Books

• This is book about bravery in a difficult time. During the last year of World War II the Nazis didn’t allow transportation of food and fuel into Holland. The result was the Dutch Hunger Winter. Many people died of exposure and starvation. Frans and Mies Braal hid twenty-six people including Jews, a downed Canadian airman, starving children and others hiding from the Nazis.

• The book includes a glossary, historical notes and maps, many photographs, scans of original documents as well as suggestions for further reading.

Ryan and Jimmy And the Well in Africa That Brought Them Together

by Herb ShovellerPublished 2006 by Kids Can Press Ltd.

• Ryan and Jimmy is the story of a six-year-old Canadian boy’s determination to build a well in Africa and the series of life-altering events that followed. News of his determination and the ripple effect of his actions inspire others. Now, both Ryan and Jimmy have travelled all over the world, raising awareness about the importance of clean water.

• The book is full of photographs and maps, scanned letters and drawings as well as official documentation of Ryan and Jimmy’s journey and inspiring story.

Curriculum Connections

History

Art

Music

DramaAnd

Dance

WritingCharacter

Development

Media

Geography

OralVisual

Communication

Science

Reading

Creative Nonfiction

Two National Awards for Creative or Literary Nonfiction

Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-fiction

The Charles Taylor Prize

• The Charles Taylor Prize commemorates Charles Taylor’s pursuit of excellence in the field of literary non-fiction. Inaugurated in 2000, the prize will be awarded to the author whose book best combines a superb command of the English language, an elegance of style, and a subtlety of thought and perception. The prize consists of $25,000 for the winner and $2,000 for each of the runners up as well as promotional support to help all shortlisted books stand out in the national media, bookstores, and libraries. Authors whose books have been shortlisted for the prize will be brought to Toronto for the awards ceremony. The winner will be invited to read at the International Festival of

Authors, held in October at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. 

Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction

• The Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction was the only such award in Canada until 2000. The $3,000 annual award was established by the writer and literary journalist Edna Staebler in 1991 to encourage and recognize the Canadian writer of a first or second published book. The book must have a Canadian locale or a particular Canadian significance.

• Creative non-fiction is literary rather than journalistic. The writer does not merely give information, but intimately shares an experience with the reader by telling a factual story with the devices of fiction, original research, well-crafted interpretive writing, personal discovery or experience, the creative use of language or approach to the subject matter, dialogue, and narrative.

• The Edna Staebler Award is sponsored and administered by Wilfred Laurier University.

Bibliographyhttp://cnfcollective.blogspot.com/-Creative Nonfiction Collective (CNFC)http://www.susantaylorbrown.com/creativenf.html-Creative Nonfiction: A True Story Well Told by Susan Taylor Brownhttp://www.class.uidaho.edu.druker/coursegoals.htmhttp://www.class.uidaho.edu/druker/nonfic.html-Phil Druker, Department of English/University of Idaho on creative nonfictionhttp://www.pit.edu/~bdobler/readingprt.html-Bruce Dobler’s Creative Nonfiction Compendiumhttps://www.wlu.ca/homepage.php?grp_id=2529https://www.wlu.ca/page.php?grp_id=2529&p=11279-Wilfred Laurier University, Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fictionhttp://www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca/-The Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-FictionFour Pictures by Emily Carr by Nicolas DebonRyan and Jimmy And the Well in Africa That Brought Them Together

By Herb ShovellerBRAVE DEEDS How One Family Saved Many from the Nazis

By Ann AlmaThe Strongest Man in the World by Ann AlmaWhy Things Don’t Work Series by David WestScience Verse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith