examples of creative nonfiction essays

25 Great Nonfiction Essays You Can Read Online for Free

Alison Doherty

Alison Doherty is a writing teacher and part time assistant professor living in Brooklyn, New York. She has an MFA from The New School in writing for children and teenagers. She loves writing about books on the Internet, listening to audiobooks on the subway, and reading anything with a twisty plot or a happily ever after.

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I love reading books of nonfiction essays and memoirs , but sometimes have a hard time committing to a whole book. This is especially true if I don’t know the author. But reading nonfiction essays online is a quick way to learn which authors you like. Also, reading nonfiction essays can help you learn more about different topics and experiences.

Besides essays on Book Riot,  I love looking for essays on The New Yorker , The Atlantic , The Rumpus , and Electric Literature . But there are great nonfiction essays available for free all over the Internet. From contemporary to classic writers and personal essays to researched ones—here are 25 of my favorite nonfiction essays you can read today.

“Beware of Feminist Lite” by  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The author of We Should All Be Feminists  writes a short essay explaining the danger of believing men and woman are equal only under certain conditions.

“It’s Silly to Be Frightened of Being Dead” by Diana Athill

A 96-year-old woman discusses her shifting attitude towards death from her childhood in the 1920s when death was a taboo subject, to World War 2 until the present day.

“Letter from a Region in my Mind” by James Baldwin

There are many moving and important essays by James Baldwin . This one uses the lens of religion to explore the Black American experience and sexuality. Baldwin describes his move from being a teenage preacher to not believing in god. Then he recounts his meeting with the prominent Nation of Islam member Elijah Muhammad.

“Relations” by Eula Biss

Biss uses the story of a white woman giving birth to a Black baby that was mistakenly implanted during a fertility treatment to explore racial identities and segregation in society as a whole and in her own interracial family.

“Friday Night Lights” by Buzz Bissinger

A comprehensive deep dive into the world of high school football in a small West Texas town.

“The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Coates examines the lingering and continuing affects of slavery on  American society and makes a compelling case for the descendants of slaves being offered reparations from the government.

“Why I Write” by Joan Didion

This is one of the most iconic nonfiction essays about writing. Didion describes the reasons she became a writer, her process, and her journey to doing what she loves professionally.

“Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Roger Ebert

With knowledge of his own death, the famous film critic ponders questions of mortality while also giving readers a pep talk for how to embrace life fully.

“My Mother’s Tongue” by Zavi Kang Engles

In this personal essay, Engles celebrates the close relationship she had with her mother and laments losing her Korean fluency.

“My Life as an Heiress” by Nora Ephron

As she’s writing an important script, Ephron imagines her life as a newly wealthy woman when she finds out an uncle left her an inheritance. But she doesn’t know exactly what that inheritance is.

“My FatheR Spent 30 Years in Prison. Now He’s Out.” by Ashley C. Ford

Ford describes the experience of getting to know her father after he’s been in prison for almost all of her life. Bridging the distance in their knowledge of technology becomes a significant—and at times humorous—step in rebuilding their relationship.

“Bad Feminist” by Roxane Gay

There’s a reason Gay named her bestselling essay collection after this story. It’s a witty, sharp, and relatable look at what it means to call yourself a feminist.

“The Empathy Exams” by Leslie Jamison

Jamison discusses her job as a medical actor helping to train medical students to improve their empathy and uses this frame to tell the story of one winter in college when she had an abortion and heart surgery.

“What I Learned from a Fitting Room Disaster About Clothes and Life” by Scaachi Koul

One woman describes her history with difficult fitting room experiences culminating in one catastrophe that will change the way she hopes to identify herself through clothes.

“Breasts: the Odd Couple” by Una LaMarche

LaMarche examines her changing feelings about her own differently sized breasts.

“How I Broke, and Botched, the Brandon Teena Story” by Donna Minkowitz

A journalist looks back at her own biased reporting on a news story about the sexual assault and murder of a trans man in 1993. Minkowitz examines how ideas of gender and sexuality have changed since she reported the story, along with how her own lesbian identity influenced her opinions about the crime.

“Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell

In this famous essay, Orwell bemoans how politics have corrupted the English language by making it more vague, confusing, and boring.

“Letting Go” by David Sedaris

The famously funny personal essay author , writes about a distinctly unfunny topic of tobacco addiction and his own journey as a smoker. It is (predictably) hilarious.

“Joy” by Zadie Smith

Smith explores the difference between pleasure and joy by closely examining moments of both, including eating a delicious egg sandwich, taking drugs at a concert, and falling in love.

“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan

Tan tells the story of how her mother’s way of speaking English as an immigrant from China changed the way people viewed her intelligence.

“Consider the Lobster” by David Foster Wallace

The prolific nonfiction essay and fiction writer  travels to the Maine Lobster Festival to write a piece for Gourmet Magazine. With his signature footnotes, Wallace turns this experience into a deep exploration on what constitutes consciousness.

“I Am Not Pocahontas” by Elissa Washuta

Washuta looks at her own contemporary Native American identity through the lens of stereotypical depictions from 1990s films.

“Once More to the Lake” by E.B. White

E.B. White didn’t just write books like Charlotte’s Web and The Elements of Style . He also was a brilliant essayist. This nature essay explores the theme of fatherhood against the backdrop of a lake within the forests of Maine.

“Pell-Mell” by Tom Wolfe

The inventor of “new journalism” writes about the creation of an American idea by telling the story of Thomas Jefferson snubbing a European Ambassador.

“The Death of the Moth” by Virginia Woolf

In this nonfiction essay, Wolf describes a moth dying on her window pane. She uses the story as a way to ruminate on the lager theme of the meaning of life and death.

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Essays About Creative Non-Fiction: Top 5 Examples and 10 Prompts

Check out our essay examples and writing prompts guide if you’re writing essays about creative non-fiction.

Creative non-fiction is a skilled and artistic way of telling stories based on true accounts, facts, and interviews. It can include essays, long-form articles, or books. Writing creative non-fiction can be very challenging when writing a literary work as it combines in-depth research and authentic, creative storytelling.

This work requires great attention to detail and getting the facts straight while keeping your readers engaged with your imaginative writing style. In short, authors of creative non-fiction enjoy the best — as well as the paramount challenges — of both the journalistic and poetic worlds. 

5 Intriguing Essay Examples

• 1. Whatever You Write, There You Are  by Kristen Martin

2. The 5 Rs Of Creative Nonfiction Story by Lee Gutkind

3. svetlana alexievich’s nobel prize is a huge win for nonfiction writing by katy waldman, 4. africa’s cold rush and the promise of refrigeration by nicola twilley, 10 great writing prompts on essays about creative non-fiction, 1. whatever you write, there you are   by kristen martin.

“Creative nonfiction can take many forms, be it a meandering lyric essay or long-form narrative journalism, and its practitioners don’t always agree on how creative one can be with the truth.”

For the most part, the authors of creative non-fiction have to constantly choose between sharing their personal experiences and the universal. While creative non-fiction seems biased toward the latter, authors surprisingly understand their inner selves more deeply when they embark on an outward journey to explore material facts. Nine creative non-fiction authors share their experiences of this so-called “backdoor memoir” phenomenon.

“What is most important and enjoyable about creative nonfiction is that it not only allows but encourages the writer to become a part of the story or essay being written. The personal involvement creates a special magic that alleviates the suffering and anxiety of the writing experience; it provides many outlets for satisfaction and self-discovery, flexibility and freedom.”

Gutkind lets readers into his 5R techniques of being a creative non-fiction journalist. These Rs are real, reflection, research, reading, and riting. This immersion journalist, whose extensive experience included participating in an open-heart surgery as a wallflower observer, talks about the main elements of creative non-fiction while writing one along the way.

“After conducting hundreds of interviews, she arranges people’s intimate testimonies into a choir of almost impersonal witness; the resulting works have been called “novels-in-voices,” immersions in experience that are governed by a fierce, purposeful intellect.”

The Swedish Academy surprised the world in 2015 as it awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature to a creative non-fiction writer, marking a first in half a century since it happened. The move makes a resounding statement in the literary world on the essence of reportorial documentation after years of its unacceptance and criticism as a literary work.

“Over the next four or five hours, as the heat of the day sets in, gradually wilting the cassava leaves and softening the tomatoes, these men will cover hundreds of miles, carrying food from the countryside to sell in markets in the capital, Kigali.”

In this remarkably creative non-fiction, a journalist poignantly and painstakingly chronicles the daily hardships in Rwanda, where men rise before dawn and help bring food to the market in the next town, often just in the nick of time before spoilage. Twilley immerses in Rwanda and its cold chain problem, interviewing scientists, cold economy experts, and policymakers who all work toward making refrigeration happen for the African country. 

5. Legends Of The Fall by Chiqui Jabson Chua

“In the foothills of western Kyoto, towering bamboo trees sway in the mild wind, turning the sunlight into a delicate jade. Nearby, temples and villas sit amid fine gardens and, not too far uphill, a town pulsates with living traditions from ancient Japan.”

This article is an enjoyable descriptive non-fiction piece, giving us a Kyoto tour in early fall and autumn. We follow the author on her commute through an urban neighborhood, up to the mountain, and into one temple after another. With the author’s vivid imagination and ingenuity for words, the readers are led on to a journey in Japan as though they are experiencing firsthand the stillness of Kyoto’s green trails and the serene beauty of its mountainous landscape. 

1. Types of Creative Non-Fiction Writing

List down the many types of creative non-fiction and explain how they simultaneously promote the presentation of facts and creative storytelling. Like this guide, you may also find your best picks for each type of creative non-fiction. 

2. Creative Non-Fiction Writing Tips

Taking tips from some of the essay examples above, determine the common denominators in the authors’ techniques in producing creative non-fictional works. Then, explain how these techniques helped the authors achieve their desired effects.

3. A Personal Memoir

If you were to write your memoir, what events would you be putting in the spotlight? For your essay, imagine how you would structure your memoir. You can choose either a sad or joyous event. What matters the most is to describe memorable experiences so that you can narrate them in exact detail. To ensure your essay will enthrall your readers, read our storytelling guide . 

4. A Travel Guide and Experience Essay

Traveling creates wanderlust, a desire to feed yourself with new information and experiences. For this easy, recall a trip, or embark on a new adventure. First, write about the culture of the place and the people around you. Next, describe the place and culture and share the most important lessons you have learned from this adventure. Finally, describe the other future adventures you’d like to go on.

5. Business Writing

Business writing is not a usual source of attraction for several writers — especially for writers who chose to write because they despised math. There are joys never imagined in weaving stories from numbers. In this essay, offer your readers some tips to enjoy and make a profit in writing creative non-fictional pieces about business.

6. A Memorable Family Gathering

For this writing prompt, recount a memorable gathering with family and relatives. To make this pass as creative non-fiction, first detail the purpose of the gathering, the settings, and the decorations as vividly as you can. Then, describe each family member present and their unique qualities that make them unforgettable. Finally, recount the conversations and the emotions surging in you as they chattered away. 

7. The Story Behind A Painting

Pick a painting that captivates you the most and try to peel into its layers of meaning by researching its history, the stories, and the people that inspired the painter of the work. Next, try to mull the connection between the painting’s story and yours. This could explain what made you entranced at first glance. 

8. Creative Non-Fiction Works You Love

If there are creative non-fiction literary works that have shaped who you are today, talk about them in your essay and elaborate on the reasons you have admired the author’s thoughts. Then, convince your readers to pick up this book to see their self-transformation. 

9. An Unforgettable Lesson In Class

Some classroom lessons succeed in keeping us engrossed in learning. Some could form the foundations of a hobby, while some could be our first step toward a professional career path. In this essay, reminisce on a class lecture you will never forget. Explain briefly what the subject matter was at the time and what your professor said about it that was forever etched on your memory. 

10. The Person Who Inspires You the Most

Each of us has an idol we look up to as an inspiration to reach our goals, whether a historical figure, a fictional character, or a living personality. Share yours and write a piece of creative non-fiction about their story as a hero. Then, point out their qualities, achievements, or advocacies that made you realize your bigger ambitions, find confidence, and believe in yourself. 

If you liked this article and want to put these ideas into practice, check out our round-up of storytelling exercises .

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Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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10+ Nonfiction Essay Examples [ Creative, Personal, Descriptive ]

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Creative Nonfiction: True Stories Well Told

Why dramatic technique is not enough to write great creative nonfiction: You need an unwavering blend of hard-won facts and the drive to find them.

Although demanding, creative nonfiction is rich territory for writers. It’s attractive to journalists and fiction writers alike, a place to exercise strengths – like the research skills of a reporter or the dramatic technique of a novelist – and build skills you don’t currently have.

Or, if you’re willing to do the work , you just make creative nonfiction your thing from the start by taking classes, attending workshops, or pursuing an appropriate MFA.

Creative Nonfiction Definition

Creative nonfiction is a broad category, chock full of an array of subcategories. Memoir and essays, of course, but also (it’s a long list) writing about things like food, travel, crime, music, and history. A subgenre can be broken down further. For example, under travel/adventure, you can find disaster nonfiction: think Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer’s terrifyingly vivid, detailed journalism from the top of Mount Everest.

The controversy long dogging creative nonfiction (a.k.a. literary nonfiction, narrative nonfiction, narrative journalism, etc.) is in its defining properties. As Lee Gutkind, founding editor of Creative Nonfiction magazine, described in his 2012 book, You Can’t Make This Stuff Up: The Complete Guide to Creative Nonfiction – From Memoir to Literary Journalism and Everything In Between , one of the chief complaints about the term “creative nonfiction” is that the word “creative” must suggest that “making things up” is OK.

Gutkind succinctly argues that the “creative” in creative nonfiction refers to literary craft, not yarn-spinning fabrication.

“In some ways, creative nonfiction is like jazz,” Gutkind writes. “It’s a rich mix of flavors, ideas, and techniques, some of which are newly invented and others as old as writing itself.”

He continues: “The goal of creative nonfiction is to make nonfiction stories read like fiction so that your readers are as enthralled by fact as they are by fantasy. But the stories are true.” Any belief that the word “creative” gives the writer license to “make up facts and embellish details” is, Gutkind states sharply, “completely wrong.”

Creative Nonfiction & Facts

In his book, Gutkind explores one of the more sensational episodes of the debate, when Alex Heard, longtime editorial director of Outside magazine , found certain anecdotal stories in the books of David Sedaris beyond belief. He was a fan of Sedaris, but his editor’s sensitivity to the implausible tripped an alarm. Heard proceeded to don a fact-checker hat and went about interviewing Sedaris’ friends and relatives.   And Sedaris himself. There was a there there, and Heard’s work culminated in a 2007 piece for The New Republic , entitled “This American Lie.”

Heard started off with the following:

“‘The events described in these stories are real,’ humorist David Sedaris wrote in the introductory note to Naked , his 1997 collection of nonfiction essays. The New York Times was convinced: When Naked hit the best-seller list, it categorized the book as nonfiction.”

One story from Naked that Heard fact-checked was Sedaris describing how, when he was 13, he volunteered at a mental institution and ultimately was bit by an elderly patient. In his research, Heard talked to a registered nurse who would have been working at the hospital at the time and faxed her a copy of the story. “He’s lying through his teeth!” she said back to Heard, listing a number of factual errors in the story.

Spurred by the nurse’s revelations, Heard drove on with the project, checking on other stories within the Sedaris canon – each presented as nonfiction – with a “fleet of e-mails and idiotic-sounding cold calls to dig deeper.” Some out-there stories, to Heard’s surprise, turned out to be true. But he also uncovered a number of “outright fabrications” that “collapsed like a shaky Jenga tower.”

Sedaris admitted to Heard that he sometimes made stuff up – that it’s all about telling “good stories.” Sedaris justified his position by saying if he were to find out that Frank McCourt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela’s Ashes had been cooked up, he wouldn’t care because he liked the story so much.

To which Heard responded, “OK, but last time I checked, you’re supposed to call that fiction.”

No Free Pass

As you can imagine, the New Republic story sparked debate about what the boundaries are or should be for humorists like Sedaris. Should humorists – in the interest of presenting larger truths – be granted more latitude than other creative nonfiction writers when it comes to facts?

“Real stories, factual stuff, reported accurately and skillfully, can evoke many emotions, from humor, to tragedy, to fear,” writes Gutkind in his analysis. “It doesn’t follow that humorists alone should receive a free pass – and a shortcut to larger truths.”

For my part, I agree with Heard and Gutkind, if only for my own enjoyment as a reader. The first (and second) time I read “Ticket to the Fair” by David Foster Wallace, his hilarious account of the 1993 Illinois State Fair for Harper’s Magazine , I loved it – in part, I imagine, because I grew up in Iowa and once spent a week at the Iowa state fair, selling magic tricks for a magic supplies store. I was 15 at the time, and it remains one of the weirdest experiences of my life, from seeing what was then called a “freak show” to being around “carnies” to going to a Styx concert (this was in 1978). Still, some of the stuff in “Ticket to the Fair” was so funny it was hard not to wonder if Wallace the novelist couldn’t help himself. That said, I wanted his anecdotes to be real because this is what fueled the humor. Unfortunately – for me anyway – my suspicions were at least partly confirmed when I read D.T. Max’s biography on Wallace. This is when I initially found out that one of the characters in Wallace’s story – referred to as “native companion” – was not his high school prom date as told in the story but a manufactured version of a woman Wallace had been dating at the time. From then on, I wasn’t sure what to believe and what not to believe in Wallace’s nonfiction.

(By the way, Josh Roiland does an impeccable job of analysis on the subject of Wallace’s role in creative nonfiction in his study , “I’m Not a Journalist – I’m More Like a Novelist With a Tennis Background.”)

Learning the Craft

How exactly do you get on the right path with creative nonfiction? This was my key question when I reached out to the nonfiction editor at the Newfound Journal , Ploi Pirapokin , who teaches for the Creative Nonfiction Foundation. Ploi has an MFA in creative writing from San Francisco State and is accomplished both in fiction and nonfiction. She also teaches classes at the University of Hong Kong, the UCLA Extension writers program, and WritingWorkshops.com .

As both a writer and a teacher, how do you define creative nonfiction? What kind of boundaries are there?

To quote Creative Nonfiction magazine , creative nonfiction is “True stories, well told.” I had an amazing press run with journalists last year for a viral Twitter thread about witnessing a fight featuring Thai Power Rangers at a ramen restaurant in Oakland. I was able to see, in real time, how journalists collected evidence and worked with the restaurant to write their story within 24 hours.

Here’s what I learned: Don’t lie about checkable facts. When in doubt, leave it out. Admit what you did in-page in off-record interviews, to your editor; hell, even admit in your writing that your memory is fallible. The draw of nonfiction is that it’s true, and you had access to that truth and lived to tell it. You always have the freedom to present and express the story in any way, shape, or form that speaks to you based on the facts that were researched or given. Readers enter your nonfiction work with the belief that what you say happened, which is why you have the responsibility as the voice to your story to be held accountable for shining a light to it.

Can you describe your path into the nonfiction work you do? Were there particular writers or teachers who inspired you to build the skills you use?

The allure of being a fiction writer, especially if you’re marginalized in any way, is that everything that you write that appears believable and sincere – especially if it features your culture, ethnicity, any autobiographical information, gender, or sexual identity – will be considered nonfiction.

When I started submitting my short stories over 10 years ago, sometimes panelists, jurors, and editors would ask me if I was writing nonfiction, which inspired me to try it. At the time, I wrote from a place of wanting to prove that my fiction was equal to my nonfiction in craft, heart, and intention. Over time, nonfiction became my playful reprieve from fiction that supplemented my creative practice, but that’s when I saw that nonfiction is more egalitarian of a genre to write in than fiction and much more accessible to the public than short stories.

It’s normal to wonder if an author can write such an accurate and honest story without having endured the exact situation themselves, but does investigating into the parallels between the writing and the author’s life really satisfy our search for the truth? What happens after you’ve found that truth? What can you do with it?

I found personal essays, memoirs, and lyric essays freeing to construct, given that I already had themes, research, and experiences I wanted to explore, and my desire to connect and be in conversation with others has always outshone my desire to simply be seen or recognized.

Coming from Asia, aka “The Cultural Pioneers of Gaslighting,” it was profound when Vievee Francis [a poet and professor at Dartmouth College], one of the first authors I shared my nonfiction with, said my feelings were valid. [Author of Lamdba Literary Award nominee Boy Erased ] Garrard Conley inspired me to stand up for what I write – no opposition to my truth will ever feel as destructive as erasing myself again. That gave me the courage to react and participate with contemporary writers who push on form and structure to extend the possibilities of nonfiction and who constantly show us that our imagination is essential to our real, off-the-page lives and for a better world.

When you teach a class in creative nonfiction, what kind of key objectives do you have in mind?

I’m drawn and connected to nonfiction that features our humanity.

We lie. Make mistakes. Respond in petty ways. Cause unintentional and intentional harm. Have blind spots, coping mechanisms, and flaws that contextualize our intentions, behaviors, actions, and even regrets.

Naturally, we avoid sharing our worst selves on the immortal page and wish that the act of confessing and the sensational content of our perceived sins will be enough for our writing to resonate with others. Hiding and prostrating oneself to hordes of strangers you know will judge you, unfortunately, is not sustainable – that’s how you become bitter or resentful.

When teaching, my main objective is to create a community of humility and acceptance. If we can practice compassion, vulnerability, and patience in workshop, it will show up in our writing, and we’ll feel freer to bloom on the page. More than anything, we learn to be more compassionate and patient with ourselves, in our reflections, in how we want to remember things, and how we may want to be remembered as full human beings.

What advice do you have for the new writer who is embarking into creative nonfiction?

Separate a writing career from the actual writing. Writing is a process, and we only catch the highlights of someone’s career when they are on the up and up. No one is on your radar when they’re hibernating to write a book for 15 years or if there’s a personal life matter they must attend to.

What alleviates the pressure for me is as writers, there are hundreds of authors (your worldwide, global co-workers and colleagues) and published examples you can draw inspiration from to help guide or shape your work – as a template, as a launching pad. Your first draft may make zero sense to anyone but yourself. That doesn’t mean you should never write again. If you keep revising, you’ll discover new approaches to language, structure, and tone that could better express what you’re trying to say.

There’s sadly no shortcut to writing something that stands the test of time and has its own life once it has left your fingertips. Rewriting, re-remembering what happened, and repositioning where you are writing from (your distance to the subject matter, the story) takes time, and you deserve to give yourself that space to dream.

T.J. Murphy is the editor of The Writer. Follow him on Twitter @tjmurphywriter.

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CREATIVE NONFICTION CRAFT ESSAYS

On autobiographia: yours, mine, and ours, a craft essay by ian clay sewall.

A LESSON FROM MY THIRD-GRADE SELF: On Writing from the Heart, a Craft Essay by Vivian Conan

COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS: on Lewis Hyde’s Advice for Creativity, and How I Became an Artist in the Modern World, a craft essay by Geoff Watkinson

WANTED: TWO WRITERS MUSE ON THE ART OF SAYING NO by Beth Kephart and Stephanie Weaver

SPECULATIVE MEMOIR: MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE a craft essay by Laraine Herring

MAKING THE READER FEEL SOMETHING. PLEASE. SHOW AND TELL, A Craft Essay by Shuly Xóchitl Cawood

ON REVISION: From story to STORY, With a Little Help from a Doomed Vole and Robert McKee, a Craft Essay by Lea Page

LISTEN, STORY, TELL. (NOT ALWAYS TELL) A Nonfiction Craft Essay by Aileen Hunt

INTO THE WOODS: What Fairy Tale Settings Can Teach Us About Fiction Writing, a Craft Essay by Dana Kroos

BUILDING MY AUTHOR PLATFORM WITHOUT A SMARTPHONE A Craft Essay by Mallory McDuff

THREE SECRETS TO CREATE THE WRITING LIFE YOU WANT, a craft essay by Lisa Bubert

THE BELL DINGS FOR ME: On Writing with a Typewriter, a craft essay by Toby Juffre Goode

YOU DON’T NEED AN ANNA MARCH IN YOUR WRITING LIFE to Know About Getting Burned, a Craft Essay by Anthony J. Mohr

FOUND IN TRANSLATION: How my Memoir of Life Overseas Turned into a Novella, a Craft Essay by Ele Pawelski

IS MEMOIR AUTOMATICALLY THERAPEUTIC? A Craft Essay on Writing About Mental Health by Leslie Lindsay

THROUGH GIRL-COLORED GLASSES A Craft Essay on Gender and Writing by Dina Honour

FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF FOR WRITERS When Dealing with Negative Feedback, a craft essay by Floyd Cheung

TURNING OUT THE LIGHTS: On Cuba, Writing, and the Ecstasy of Planetary Topography, a craft essay by Tim Weed

LIES I TELL MY STUDENTS, a creative nonfiction craft essay by Liz Stephens

CHILD’S PLAY: How Creative Play Helped Unlock My Nonfiction Writing, a craft essay by Megan Culhane Galbraith

ACROSS THE DIVIDE AND BACK: How Writing Poetry Is Changing My Nonfiction, a craft essay by Vivian Wagner

BECOMING AN OUTLAW Or: How My Short Fiction Became a Memoir, a craft essay by Andrea Jarrell

IN THE MINES, A Craft Essay on Creative Nonfiction by Linnie Greene

THE MAN ON THE COUCH AND THE MAN WHO SPEAKS POEMS by J.G. McClure

THANK YOU, JUDGE JUDY by Jen Karetnick

The Electric Typewriter

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Category: Essays

Decomposition by sara mann, september 10, 2023.

The night before my mother died, I sat on a stool beside her bed writing the artist statement for her last show.

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Cats Gymnastics by Brittany Ackerman

No one had ever had a birthday party like mine. I was allowed to invite ten girls from my fifth-grade class to an overnight party at Cats Gymnastics.

St. Anthony’s Mistake by Olivia Flaherty-Lovy

Last fall, I learned my mother had stopped praying.

In the Senate We Read Dante and I Loved Him by Donovan Dennis

We — the U.S. Senate’s thirty teenage pages—were divided according to our sponsoring senator’s party.

My Mother’s Bath Time Story by Yuko Iida Frost

July 11, 2023.

In the early evening, my mother and father packed soap and towels into their wooden buckets, we slipped on our winter jackets, and the three of us walked to the nearest bath house.

I’m OK by Harrison Reed

When the world shut down, we made Old Fashioneds.

Seder Night by Sabena Stark

One of us was going to get smacked. My sister Susie and I knew it and were kicking each other under the table to keep from laughing..

Picardo Pilgrimage by Adrienne Ross Scanlan

It’s been two years since I walked during Yom Kippur…fasting and light-headed and hungry amid temptations of raspberries sweet and crimson and left too long on the vine.

In Observance of My Hometown by Danielle Shorr

May 16, 2023.

I woke up…to a barrage of text messages from friends… It was 10 a.m., and I was contextless.

The Letters You’ll Never Read by Romila Santra

You are talking—it’s not really your fault that to everyone besides Ma, Baba and me, your sounds don’t hold meaning.

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