Writing Creative Nonfiction: The Literature of Reality

by Gay Talese, Barbara Lounsberry

Softcover published by HarperCollins, N.Y., 1995, 339 pages.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

339 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Gay Talese is an American author. He wrote for The New York Times in the early 1960s and helped to define literary journalism or "new nonfiction reportage", also known as New Journalism. His most famous articles are about Joe DiMaggio, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.

Reviews

[Manik Sukoco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was well worth the investment and I recommend it to all aspiring writers of nonfiction. The book is a tremendous eye-opener. It blows the myth that nonfiction writing has to be dull. Dull does not sell. If you are writing nonfiction, you need to read this book. This book encompasses the art of writing nonfiction with creating dramatic interest without losing the truth of what is being written. For one thing, the author teaches that the words "creative" and "fiction" are not synonymous. You can write creative nonfiction.

[Stacy Cacciatore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Reading this book opened my eyes to reading as a writer. You can really appreciate the writing and symbolism in works when you can read the work as a perspective of a writer. I especially loved the dissection of Joan Didion's work. She is one of the best memoirists and I enjoyed understanding more about her style.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely collection of the many different voices and approaches to creative non fiction. Good for the novice reviewer or the seasoned writer wanting to jump back to basic, this is a collection of the stars of the genre, with great introductions in each section.

[Roy Kenagy]

Anthology of creative nonfiction.