Creative Nonfiction is a literary magazine based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The journal was founded by Lee Gutkind in 1993, making it the first literary magazine to publish, exclusively and on a regular basis, high quality nonfiction prose. In Spring 2010, Creative Nonfiction evolved from journal to magazine format with the addition of new sections such as writer profiles and essays on the craft of writing, as well as updates on developments in the literary nonfiction scene. As of 2023, the magazine has ceased publication, with no information provided about when or if they will resume publication. However, in a 2024 interview, Gutkind said, "Creative nonfiction is now one of the fastest-growing disciplines in both academia and publishing." After Creative Nonfiction went on an indefinite hiatus, a partnership between Creative Nonfiction and Narratively was announced.
Work originally printed in Creative Nonfiction has been reprinted in The Best American Essays, The Best American Travel Writing in 2013, The Best Women's Travel Writing in 2013, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. In 2014, Creative Nonfiction ranked 23 on the Pushcart Prize list of nonfiction literary magazines. Creative Nonfiction was a finalist for the 2014 AWP Small Press Publisher Award and a finalist in the "Best Writing" category for the Utne Independent Press Award in 2011.
__TOC__
Past issues Number Year Title Issue Description Selected Contributing Authors1 1994 Creative Nonfiction The Premiere Issue - the one that started it all. Christopher Buckley Philip Garrison Richard Goodman Carolyn Kremers Michael Pearson Natalia Rachel Singer Mimi Schwartz 2 1994 Poets Writing Prose Poetry and creative nonfiction have a lot in common: deftness of word choice and the attention to detail, to name a few. In this issue, renowned and emerging poets cross forms to produce works of prose. Christopher Buckley Margaret Gibson Richard Hague Judith Kitchen Donald Morrill Adrienne Rich Charles Simic 3 1995 Emerging Women Writers This issue features work by emerging women writers whose powerful narratives promise to shape the future of the creative nonfiction genre. Jane Bernstein Diana Hume George Kathryn Rhett Jeanne Marie Laskas Lauren Slater 4 1995 Creative Nonfiction Classics This issue brings together classic essays (and a few new ones) that have helped charter the genre and develop it into what it is today. Jonathan Holden Lisa Knopp John McPhee Samuel F. Pickering Louis Simpson Gay Talese 5 1996 Fathers and Fatherhood This collection gives special attention to the memory of fathers and the importance of their role in family life and the lives of the authors. A. D. Coleman Gordon Lish Bret Lott Phillip Lopate Hilary Masters Anne Morgan Gray Linda Pastan John T. Price Moritz Thomsen Pam Widener 6 1996 The Essayist at Work This special issue gives the reader a chance to learn more about the craft and process of writing an essay through profiles and stories about the work of authors. Jane Bernstein Melinda Corey Wendy Lesser Michael Pearson Natalia Rachel Singer Alice Steinbach Kathleen Veslany 7 1996 Points of View This issue contains examples of the potential of the genre, serving as a model of the varied points of view achievable in writing creative nonfiction—from the distance of immersion/reportage to the personal closeness and intimacy of poetry. Mark Bowden David Gessner David Hamilton Maxine Kumin Brenda Marie Osbey Sherry Simpson Charles Simic 8 1997 Mostly Memoir Just as the title implies, this issue provides a short glimpse into the lives of the writers. The authors are sharing something special and true in this collection: their own stories. Michael Berberich Ellen Gilchrist Elizabeth Hodges Phillip Lopate John McPhee Kay E. Morgan Donald Morrill Kathryn Rhett Alec Wilkinson 9 1997 Surviving Crisis This special double issue highlights some of the most intimate, personal, and challenging moments of the authors' lives. Age, life, and disappointment are common themes throughout this collection. Raymond Abbott Jeff Gundy Priscilla Hodgkins Bill Roorbach 9.5 1998 The Universal Chord The essays in this issue strike a universal chord by registering an insight, moment, or idea that might be shared and appreciated by a larger readership, making the readers care about what the writers care about: a place, a time of life, a friend, or a loved one. Brian Doyle Ntozake Shange A. D. Coleman Madison Smartt Bell Michael Pearson 10 1998 Style and Substance The essays in this issue are examples of how writers can blend style and substance while using a personal voice, demonstrating the true potential of creative nonfiction. Madison Smartt Bell Becky Bradway Christopher Buckley John D'Agata Susan Fromberg Schaeffer Mimi Schwartz Connie Wieneke Lucy Wilson Sherman S.L. Wisenberg 11 1998 A View from the Divide This special double issue demonstrates the many ways in which aspects of the scientific world can be captured and dramatized for a humanities-oriented readership. This collection of essays captures a range of ideas combining literary style and intellectual substance. These works come from poets, immunologists and physicists, established writers and up-and-coming new talent. (Special issue published by University of Pittsburgh Press.) Luanne Armstrong Gerald N. Callahan Laura S. Distelheim Susan L. Feldman Philip Gerard James Glanz Mara Gorman Alison Hawthorne Deming Susan Mann Scott Sandford Carol Sandford 12 1999 Emerging Women Writers II This follow-up issue again features work by emerging women writers who tell intricately detailed stories while being incisive, reflective, and deeply personal. Valerie Boyd Stephanie Byram Norma V.L. Clarke Ruth Deming Beth Kephart Caroline Nesbitt Charlee Brodsky Debra Anne Davis Karen Rile Leaf Seligman Phyllis Raphael 13 1999 The Brain: A Nonfiction Mystery This issue explores attempts to live normally with damaged brains and with brains affected by drugs. All the stories are tough illustrations of the complications that interfere with life when the brain is affected even slightly and subtly. Greg Bottoms Marilyn A. Gelman James Glanz Ronald Pies Floyd Skloot 14 2000 What Men Think, What Men Write What is worth noting about this narrative nonfiction is not so much what distinguishes the men writers from the women, but more what doesn't. The best of this work tells a story, defines character, provides (journalistic) information, allows for reflection, and establishes a personal voice. Madison Smartt Bell Orman Day Charles Fanning Peter LaSalle Gregory Martin Lee Martin J. David Stevens Robert Vivian C.K. Williams 15 2000 Lessons in Persuasion: Writers with Pittsburgh Roots or Connections Pittsburgh has always been—despite its industrial reputation—a great city in which to be a writer, and the featured authors are bound together by their affinity for the written word and their collective fondness for Pittsburgh. (Special issue published by University of Pittsburgh Press.) Diane Ackerman Peter S. Beagle Jan Beatty Keely Bowers Malcolm Cash Jack L. Daniel Annie Dillard Lester Goran Chuck Kinder Hilary Masters Steward O'Nan Natalie L.M. Petesch Richard F. Peterson Leslie Rubinkowski Kathleen Veslany Elissa Wald 16 2001 The Line Between Fact and Fiction This issue explores the methods in which nonfiction writers utilize the fiction writer's toolbox without crossing the blurry divide between reality and imagination. Joe Bonomo Andrea Hollandy Budy D. Mercer Bufter Roy Peter Clark David Goldblatt Tzivia Glover Debra Gwartney Madeline G. Levine Barbara Lounsberry Czeslaw Milosz Corinne Platt Dov Siporin 17 2001 Between the Lines This issue features essays that, among other things, take us between the lines of writers and readers in a variety of creative and informative contexts. Stephen Benz Andy Couturier Brian Doyle Daniel Hayes Elena Passarello Bret Lott Molly Peacock David Rompf Michael Rosenwald 18 2001 Intimate Details The essays published in this issue represent survival and change, expressed through dramatic stories and intimacy of detail. Aine Greaney Philip Gerard Meredith Hall Hal Herring Jennifer Jeanne Patterson Samuel Pickering Ruthann Robson 19 2002 Diversity Dialogues In this issue, celebrated and emerging authors write essays about diversity that defy easy labels. To seek out some new voices for this collection, Creative Nonfiction teamed up with JPMorganChase to offer a $10,000 prize for narratives about the challenges faced by outsiders in a world where "normal," "regular" and "accepted" are the watchwords and all others are marginalized. Faith Adiele Andrei Codrescu Judyth Har-Even Patricia Frisella Shara McCallum Francine Prose Jewell Parker Rhodes Richard Rodriguez Floyd Skloot John Edgar Wideman Terry Tempest Williams20 2003 Clarity This issue features writers searching for clarity in their lives, and in the rest of the world, as they struggle to make social and personal changes and challenge their lives and their established communities. Jane Bernstein Laurie Graham Meredith Hall Joyce Reiser Kornblatt Hilary Masters Margaret Overton Jana Richman Lucinda Rosenfeld Frank Soos 21 2003 Rage and Reconciliation: Inspiring a Health Care Revolution This issue features writers, both patients and doctors, exploring the current state of American health care. (This issue received generous support from the Jewish Healthcare Foundation of Western Pennsylvania.) Karen Wolk Feinstein Beth Kephart Nancy Linnon Deborah McDonald Natalie Smith Parra Linda Peeno Ruthann Robson 22 2004 Creative Nonfiction in the Crosshairs This issue responds to the recent barrage of criticism from journalists and critics of the genre. Laurie Lynn Drummond Diana Hume George Kate Krautkramer Brenda Miller Michael Pearson Sallie Tisdale Theodore Weesner 23 2004 Mexican Voices This issue seeks to understand how nonfiction forms have evolved in regions outside of the United States–specifically, in Mexico. The essays offer the reader—through dramatic scenes, richly observed characters, and lively, philosophical meditations—more than just an understanding of the literary traditions of Mexico. Diane Ackerman Kathleen Alcalá Homero Aridjis Susan Briante Rigoberto González Hugo Hiriart C.M. Mayo Sergio Pitol Sam Quinones Alberto Ruy Sánchez Ilan Stavans Juan Villoro 24/25 2004 In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction This anthology features the best writing published in Creative Nonfiction over its first ten years. Culled from the 300 pieces published in the journal, themselves chosen from over 10,000 manuscripts, the stories now published in In Fact showcase the possibilities of the genre in pieces by the famous, and those surely destined to be so. Each author has also included a reflection on the process of composing the particular piece included. (Special issue published by W. W. Norton & Co. to celebrate CNF's 10 year anniversary.) Diane Ackerman Madison Smartt Bell Mark Bowden Gerald N. Callahan Andrei Codrescu Annie Dillard Brian Doyle Judyth Har-Even Philip Gerard Meredith Hall Phillip Lopate John McPhee Francine Prose Jewell Parker Rhodes Jana Richman Ruthann Robson Richard Rodriguez Leslie Rubinkowski Ntozake Shange Charles Simic Floyd Skloot Lauren Slater John Edgar Wideman