Current Issue / Issue 75 Spring 2021
This milestone issue features some of our favorite prizewinning essays. These curious, beautiful, nuanced stories about everything from surviving lightning strikes to the relief of solving medical mysteries consider the many perils, as well as the tremendous power, of living in a body.
Plus, brief excerpts from some of the phenomenal interviews we’ve published over the years, with advice and reflections on craft from writers including Dave Eggers, Leslie Jamison, Patricia Hampl, and many others.
Including essays by
Explore Issue 75Recent Essays
Mouse
My six-year-old daughter named the hamster Mouse. I’m not sure if the name is meant to be funny, or if it indicates some confusion on her part. Mouse is dying. He’s on his back and his eyes are closed, so at first I thought he was already dead.Rango
We had a funeral for Rango today. It was an altogether perfectly sad and gloomy setting for the memorial. The clouds wept with us, and the rain slithered into our coats and down our backs and filled our boots.Just a Big Cat
On the second day of jury selection, we sit on wooden benches at the back of the courtroom. Over and over, the judge thanks us for our patience while reminding us of our civic responsibilities. We nod like obedient children.
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CNF Education
Writing can be lonely. Often, what we need most as writers is a network of focused peers and professionals who can provide constructive feedback, keep us motivated, and inspire us to do our best work. You don’t have to write alone.
From online classes to webinars, all year round, CNF offers a variety of ways you can connect with the broader creative nonfiction community and learn new skills, generate new writing, stay focused, and create your best work.
About the Genre
What is Creative Nonfiction?
Dive in with CNF Founder and Editor, Lee Gutkind
Creative Nonfiction magazine defines the genre simply, succinctly, and accurately as “true stories well told.” And that, in essence, is what creative nonfiction is all about.
In some ways, creative nonfiction is like jazz—it’s a rich mix of flavors, ideas, and techniques, some newly invented and others as old as writing itself.
True Story
Each pocket-size issue our monthly mini-magazine showcases one exceptional longform essay by one exceptional writer.
