Nonfiction

Can Stricter Federal Guidelines Fix America's Literacy Crisis?

Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: Common Core State Standards, Common Core Reading, Video, Literacy, Common Core, Student Reading, Students Reading, Student Literacy, Nonfiction, Reading, Slidepollajax, Childhood Literacy, Education News

As American students continue to fall behind foreign peers, 45 states and Washington, D.C. have adopted the Common Core State Standards, a new set of ...

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"Keep Your Book Warm" and Other Tips for Fighting Writer's Block

Holly Robinson | Posted 04.30.2012

Read More: Creativity, Story, Story Board, Homer Simpson, Fiction, Narrative, Point of View, Nonfiction, Descriptive Writing, Plot, Editing, Writer's Block, Reading, Rituals for Writing, Writing Tips, Books News
Holly Robinson

No matter how long you've been writing, you've probably experienced that panic-induced paralysis known as writer's block. If you want to tame the symptoms of this debilitating condition, here are some home remedies to try.

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LiePad: Why Nonfiction Writers Must Never Change the Facts

Brandt Goldstein | Posted 05.21.2012

Read More: Steve Jobs, Fiction, Foxconn, Cultural Revolution, Katherine Boo, Jim Fingal, Reporting, Mike Daisey, The Lifespan of a Fact, Philip Gourevitch, David Sedaris, Writers, Jonathan Harr, John D'Agata, Journalism, Apple, Writing, Tracy Kidder, This American Life, Truth, Nonfiction, Ipad, Mike Daisey This American Life, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Media News
Brandt Goldstein

Can a writer working in the realm of nonfiction ever change the facts because he's Making Art or Delivering an Important Message? The view of basically every respected journalist is Hell No. But a new book takes the opposite view.

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Not Many Novels From Some Novelists

Dave Astor | Posted 05.02.2012

Read More: Short Stories, Religion, Politics, Europe, Gilead, Novels, Nonfiction, Marilynne Robinson, Death, Productivity, Novelists, Books News
Dave Astor

There are various reasons why some authors have sparsely populated canons. Some die young or relatively young. Some deal with ill health. Some feel they've said all they want to say in their minimal output.

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What's My Genre, Anyway?

Ming Holden | Posted 02.04.2012

Read More: Nonfiction, Nonfiction Writing, Writing Nonfiction, Fiction Writing, Writing Fiction, Literary Fiction, Narrative Nonfiction, Books News
Ming Holden

The appropriation of a piece of literature to a certain genre is a process descriptive of the political moment in which the text finds itself; it's indicative of what's permitted to be described as fact in a particular cultural atmosphere, whether it's intended to be or not.

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Inside This Place Not of It

Meg Waite Clayton | Posted 01.07.2012

Read More: Inside This Place Not of It, Voice of Witness, Robin Levi, McSweeney's, Margaret Atwood, Books, Nonfiction, Ayelet Waldman, Dave Eggers, Lola Vollen, Books News
Meg Waite Clayton

Author Dave Eggers and physician/human rights scholar Lola Vollen have founded a nonprofit division of McSweeney's Books called Voice of Witness, meant to empower those most closely affected by contemporary social injustice.

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It's Still Summer! Books by Bay Area Authors You'll Be Glad You Read

Dean Rader | Posted 09.13.2011

Read More: Writing, Summer Books, Books, Fiction, Go the F to Sleep, Nonfiction, Reading, San Francisco, Bay Area, San Francisco News
Dean Rader

San Franciscans are lucky to live in The City of Writing. I've prepared a little menu for you to carry along next time you visit your favorite independent bookstore. Let them serve you up a heaping helping of bookish Bay Area goodness.

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Marine's Memoir Commands Our Attention -- And Personal Investment

Greg Barrett | Posted 09.04.2011

Read More: Book Reviews, Author, Iraq War, Rye Barcott, War on Terror, Kenya, Memoir, Kibera, War Memoir, Nonfiction, New Books, London-United Kingdom, Greg Barrett, Books News
Greg Barrett

Books like Rye Barcott's It Happened on the Way to War come with a price that can't be easily discounted. You can't finish it and remain prone on the sofa.

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Can Memoir Be Trusted?

Michael Levy | Posted 06.29.2011

Read More: Greg Mortenson, Augusten Burroughs, Three Cups of Tea, Dreams From My Father, Malcolm X, Memoir, Barack Obama, China, David Sedaris, James Frey, Fiction, Nonfiction, Books News
Michael Levy

Memoir, as its Latin root indicates, is a selection of subjective, often partially forgotten, memories. Readers do not expect memoirists to be journalists. What matters is trust.

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Truth vs. Embellishment

William Dietrich | Posted 06.20.2011

Read More: Greg Mortenson, False Memoirs, Three Cups of Tea, Lying, Three Cups of Deceit, Fiction, Memoir, Nonfiction, Jon Krakauer, Books News
William Dietrich

Here's an idea: let's make memoirs true and put the made-up stuff in fiction. Ain't gonna happen. Too much money in lying. And literary bigwigs think it's sorta okay.

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The Top 25 Underrated Creative Writing MFA Programs (2011-2012)

Seth Abramson | Posted 06.18.2011

Read More: Fiction, Books News, Creative Writing, Poetry, College Rankings, Mfa, Anis Shivani, Mfa Programs, Graduate School, Nonfiction, New York City, Books News
Seth Abramson

The twenty-five programs listed here fully fund a sizable percentage of incoming students, yet still receive less attention from applicants than they deserve.

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The Top 10 Creative Writing MFA Program Websites

Seth Abramson | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mfa Programs, Books News, Mfa, Fiction, Nonfiction, College Rankings, Anis Shivani, Creative Writing, Graduate School, Poetry, Mfa-Programs, Books News
Seth Abramson

Ever since novelist Tom Kealey advised MFA applicants to consider a program's online promotional materials, young writers have been comparing notes about which program websites measure up.

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Six More Myths About the Creative Writing Master of Fine Arts

Seth Abramson | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Fiction, Creative Writing, College Rankings, Mfa, Anis Shivani, Graduate School, Poetry, Nonfiction, Books News, New York City, Books News
Seth Abramson

In an earlier article, six myths about the creative writing Master of Fine Arts were busted. Here, six more go under the ax.

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Telling the Reality Behind Fiction

Monica Edinger | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Book News, Nonfiction, Book Publishing, Creative Non-Fiction, Children's Books, Writing, Fiction, Books News
Monica Edinger

How much (or any) of their research should writers of fiction for children provide? That interesting question, posed by blogger Betsy Bird yesterday,...

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The Top 25 Underrated Creative Writing MFA Programs (2010-2011)

Seth Abramson | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Fiction, Books News, Creative Writing, Poetry, College Rankings, Mfa, Anis Shivani, Graduate School, New York City, Nonfiction, Mfa Programs, Books News
Seth Abramson

These programs fully fund 70% or more of students, yet receive less attention from applicants than they deserve.

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The Decline of the New York City MFA

Seth Abramson | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mfa, Fiction, Nonfiction, College Rankings, Anis Shivani, Graduate School, Creative Writing, New York City, Poetry, Mfa Programs, Books News
Seth Abramson

New York City MFAs are subject to a vicious circle from which some may not escape.

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Who Needs Publishers? We All Do!

Philip Goldberg | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Nonfiction, Book Publishing, Publishing, Book Publishers, Editors, Books, Self-Publishing, Fact Check, Books News
Philip Goldberg

I'm glad that self-publishing has evolved from stigma to respectability. But I'm also concerned about the future of books and the larger issue of assuring the flow of reliable information.

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7 Books Besides 'Eat Pray Love' About A Year In Somebody's Life

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Book News, Portrait of the Addict as a Young Man, A.j. Jacobs, Portrait of the Addict, Memoirs, Autobiography, Books, Slidepollajax, Nonfiction, Memoir, Book, Non-Fiction, Autobiographies, Books News

Elizabeth Gilbert got her book contract to write about a year in her life after leaving her husband, and it turned into megahit 'Eat Pray Love.' Gil...

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Doctor-Writers: What Are the Ethics?

Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Hipaa, Confidentiality, Trust, Professionalism, Writing, Trepidation, Literary Phenomenon, Patient, Morals, Emotional Reactions, Fascination and Fear, Intricacies, Veritable Epidemic, Rule of Thumb, Trafficking, Awe, Pedestal, Ethics, Literary Genre, Nonfiction, Libel, Doctor-Patient Relationship, Doctor, Starters, Country of Origin, Medicine, Expectation, Medical Profession, New York News
Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD

There is a veritable epidemic of doctor-writers out there. What is going on? Are doctors suddenly in the kiss-and-tell mode? What about confidentiality? Professionalism? HIPAA?

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Samuel Johnson Prize, Top UK Nonfiction Award, Goes To North Korea Expose 'Nothing To Envy'

AP | JILL LAWLESS | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Samuel Johnson Prize, Books, Nonfiction, North Korea, Barbara Demnick, Nothing to Envy, Literary Prizes, Books News

LONDON — A book that gives a rare glimpse of everyday life inside one of the world's most secretive states won Britain's leading nonfiction book...

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A Sober Conversation with Max Watman, Author of Chasing the White Dog, on the Rise of White Whiskey (PHOTOS)

Stefan Beck | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Drinks, Raw Whiskey, White Whiskey, Food, Nonfiction, Binge Drinking, Max Watman, Moonshine, Distillery, Whiskey, White Dog, Slidepollajax, Food News
Stefan Beck

My friend Max Watman told me he'd begun distilling moonshine in his backyard. My first thought, even before I considered the legal ramifications, was: "Why would anyone want to do that?"

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Take Off Broadway, Off Coal: Love, in the Time of Blasting

Jeff Biggers | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Dirty Coal, Love Story, Off Broadway, Publishing, Books, Nation Books, Theatre, Nonfiction, Mountaintop Removal, Strip-Mining, Coal, Narrative Nonfiction, Green News
Jeff Biggers

This is the scene, when the coal-fired electricity that lights up New York City's neon theatre district lowers on stage: We are inside the home of Ma...

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Apologies to Pearl S. Buck

Celeste Ng | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Edward P. Jones, Oprah Winfrey, Stereotypes, Chinese Culture, Arundhati Roy, The Good Earth, Fiction, The Known World, Nonfiction, Pearl Buck, Khaled Hosseini, Culture, Books News
Celeste Ng

Last weekend was Chinese New Year, a time when many people are introduced to bits of Chinese culture. So I have to make this confession: I hate The Good Earth.

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Can You Survive Being Published?

Geri Spieler | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Rejection, Publishing Companies, Martin Literary Management, Agents, Anthony Flacco, Literary Agent, Nonfiction, Nonfiction Books, Publishers, Editors, Book Review, Sharlene Martin, Books News
Geri Spieler

I highly recommend reading Publish Your Nonfiction Book to any writer of nonfiction looking to get published for the first time as well as those authors preparing for a second or even third book.

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Guns, Germs, and Steel: A Popular History of Human Evolution That Actually Contributes to Understanding

Alex Remington | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Popular Science, Books, Jared Diamond, Book Reviews, Nonfiction, Guns Germs and Steel, Collapse, Popular Nonfiction, Non-Fiction, Books News
Alex Remington

Popular nonfiction is a tricky beast. It's one thing for someone to write a memoir, or a long-form investigation that the journalist-author has perso...

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