Narrative Nonfiction: July 2009

Friday, July 24, 2009

Call for submissions

Dear Writers,
We are now seeking submissions for our fall edition. The deadline is September 21st. The Rio Grande Review is a nonprofit bilingual publication run by students of the MFA in Creative Writing at The University of Texas at El Paso. All genres and visual art forms are considered for publication. Prose: 5,000 words, Poetry: 10 pages. We accept works in English and/or Spanish.
To view our complete submissions guidelines, visit our website at www.riograndereview.com
We look forward to reading your submissions!
Sincerely,
Rio Grande Review EditorsSahalie, Miranda & Silvana

RIO GRANDE REVIEW
University of Texas at El Paso
PMB 671500
W. University Avenue
El Paso, Texas 79968
(915) 747-7012
editors@riograndereview.com www.riograndereview.com

Humans Want Stories

As a journalist, I'm interested in telling a story that's true, but in a way that makes it as compelling as fiction. As a person, I'm drawn to quirkiness, whether it's in the living, the dead, or the inanimate. In the mid-90s, I had a good career going as a freelance writer and editor, but I was getting restless in what I was writing. Out of nowhere, I got a flier for the first Mid-Atlantic Writers' Conference on Creative Nonfiction, featuring John McPhee. I went to see McPhee because I knew he was famous (I did manage to read something of his before the conference). And I learned about creative nonfiction (CNF), which is sometimes easier to define by listing what it's not: not poetry, not fiction, not pyramid-structured straight journalism. CNF tells stories that are true using the tools of fiction (dialogue, story arc, suspense, etc.). It's a type of writing that has been variously called literary journalism, feature writing, literary nonfiction, and nonfiction narrative. Next, I got a master of fine arts (Goucher, class of '99) in creative nonfiction. After the MFA, there's just a leap into more writing. I firmly--concretely, granitely, drought-hardened-mud firmly--believe that blogs ought to be more than navel gazing. In this blog, I'll post information pertinent to the craft of writing narratives that are true. Current arguments. New books. Resources. Notes from my MFA classes. Places online to poke around. Stick with me. Although I can't promise a tidy ending, we'll see where this goes.

Narrative Nonfiction

Friday, July 24, 2009

Call for submissions

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Gay Talese's Writing Day

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