What happens when we go nameless

Michael Rosenwald discovers what keeps CNF’s founding editor going

In the early days of the journal, all of the submissions arrived in hard copy, and it was easy to recognize patterns having to do with the writer or the subject.

My first reaction to Creative Nonfiction’s issue 17 was to wince. The journal had the same front cover design for each issue back then, with only a color change and new number, and I suppose it was inevitable that canary yellow would come along eventually.

A few years ago, I went through a phase where I watched episode after episode of the reality show America’s Next Top Model. It was a guilty pleasure; I loved seeing the contestants pose for photo shoots in telephone booths or freshly dug graves.

I began copy editing for Creative Nonfiction in 2005, with issue 26. At that time, the journal followed the AP Stylebook, which kicked my heiney at first, especially with its twisted rules regarding italics, which drove me to the edge of insanity. I had settled in by the time we hit #28, though, and I found myself enjoying the essays as an ordinary reader.

In February 2010, we re-branded and re-launched Creative Nonfiction, transforming it from a traditional literary journal to a quarterly magazine. The redesign was quite possibly one of the most challenging—and rewarding—projects we’d tackled up to then.

A pediatric genetics resident struggles with the ethics of returning genetic results

An inherited mutation inspires a family-run patient advocacy group

What to do when your mom has cancer