Think like a poet, write like a novelist, tell the truth.

Welcome to Literary Nonfiction Live! I’m thrilled that you’re here, and I’m looking forward to sharing with you ideas, stories, strategies, and debates (yes, even the most controversial ones) that fall under the broad umbrella of Literary Nonfiction. I’ve been working and writing in the field since 1996, before anyone ever really knew what this genre should be called. When my very first book, Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth, started winning awards and garnering attention, readers and booksellers would ask: what kind of book is this? History? Biography? Historical fiction? Well, no, not exactly. I wasn’t sure how to answer the question, although I felt quite firmly that I knew what I was doing, at least intuitively. Creative Nonfiction was a new term then and no one really knew what it meant. So I wrote a textbook, Shadow Boxing: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction, mostly to try to figure it out for myself! Now my work has expanded in all sorts of directions: Memoir, Literary Journalism, Essays, Literary Biography, Narrative Nonfiction, and (somewhat surprisingly), film! I love what I do, and I have a lot to say about it all.

But back in 1996, no one really knew what to say about Literary Nonfiction, in academia or in mainstream and independent publishing, except to say it was growing by leaps and bounds. I graduated from the University of Denver with a PhD in fiction because, well, I love fiction, and it would be another ten years before creative writing programs started to offer workshops in anything other than fiction and poetry. I was truly fortunate to study with fine fiction writers including Rikki Ducornet, Bill Wiser, and John Irving, and astonishing poets Don Revell, Susan Howe, and Bin Ramke. I have a sincere, lifelong sense of gratitude to the amazing writers who were mentors and teachers to me. Then, as I began teaching and conducting workshops myself, these threads of poetry and fiction came together into a mantra I have told my students repeatedly over the years: Think like a poet, write like a novelist, tell the truth. That is the mantra I use for my own work.

I have a lot to say about research, and many other things, but I’ll get to all that in future newsletters. I’ll also be talking about my three big projects right now: A forthcoming literary biography of Nikola Tesla; a collection of new essays; and a documentary based on Full Body Burden. (Paid subscribers will receive behind-the-scenes peeks and in-depth news and stories, along with writing tips and strategies.)

Thank you again for being here!

Kristen