1. Home
  2. MAIS
  3. MAIS 617: Creative Nonfiction (Rev. 6)

MAIS 617: Creative Nonfiction (Rev. 6) Report a Broken Link

MAIS 617: Creative Non-Fiction is a hybrid course in which students will have a chance to do both literary criticism and creative work.

Unit 1

Required Readings
Introduction to Going Some Place: Creative Nonfiction Across Canada, by Lynne Van Luven.
Introduction to Beyond the Writers’ Workshop: New Ways to Write Creative Nonfiction, by Carol Bly
Introduction to Imagining Ourselves: Classics of Canadian Non-fiction, by Daniel Francis.
“What Is Creative Nonfiction Anyhow?” by Philip Gerard
“Me, Myself, and I,” by James Wolcott
“Becoming the Godfather of Creative Nonfiction,” by Lee Gutkind
"The Weschler Connection," by Doug Diesenhaus

Poets & Writers. New York: May/Jun 2006. Vol. 34, Iss. 3; pg. 50
Arizona State University. "The Structure of Creative Nonfiction." YouTube, uploaded by leegutkind, 31 December 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlguuzwdq_Y.
Supplementary Readings: of use throughout the course.
Gutkind, Lee. "The Creative Nonfiction Approach." Creative Nonfiction 4.
Boynton, Robert. The New New Journalism: Conversations with America's Best Nonfiction Writers on Their Craft. New York: Vintage, 2005.
Didion, Joan. Vintage Didion. New York: Vintage, 2004.
Echlin, Kim, Barbara Moon, and Don Obe, eds. To Arrive Where You Are: Literary Journalism from The Banff Centre for the Arts. Banff, AB: Banff Centre Press, 2000.
Elton, Heather, Barbara Moon, and Don Obe, eds. Why Are You Telling Me This?: Eleven Acts of Intimate Journalism. Introduction by Alberto Manguel. Banff, AB: Banff Centre Press, 1997.
Farr, Moira, and Ian Pearson. Word Carving: The Craft of Literary Journalism. Banff, AB: Banff Centre Press, 1999.
Fetherling, George, ed. The Vintage Book of Canadian Memoirs. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2001.
Forché, Carolyn, and Gerard, Phillip, eds. Writing Creative Nonfiction: Instruction and Insights from Teachers of the Associated Writing Programs. Cincinnati: Story Press, 2001.
Francis, Daniel, ed. Imagining Ourselves: Classics of Canadian Nonfiction. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 1994.
Gerard, Philip. Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life. Cincinnati, OH: Story Press, 1999.
Gutkind, Lee, ed. In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.
Gutkind, Lee, ed. The Essayist at Work: Profiles of Creative Nonfiction Writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998.
Moon, Barbara, and Don Obe, eds. Taking Risks: Literary Journalism from the Edge. Introduction by Michael Ignatieff. Banff, AB: Banff Centre Press, 1998.
Pilger, John, ed. Tell Me No Lies: Investigative Journalism and Its Triumphs. London, England: Jonathan Cape, 2004.
Robertson, Heather. Writing from Life: A Guide for Writing True Stories. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1998.
Yagoda, Ben. The Sound on the Page: Style and Voice in Writing. New York: HarperResource, 2004.

Unit 2

Required Readings
"Writing Personal Essays: On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character," by Phillip Lopate.
"Amazons," by Richard Selzer.
"Deaf Music," by Margaret Hollingsworth.
“A Jane by Any Other Name,” by Jane Wong
Mason, Tom, and Sarah Klein. "George Saunders – On Story." YouTube, uploaded by RedglassPics, 26 October 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-1xNNrABw8.

Unit 3

Required Readings
"Shackles of Truth Can't Hold Convict Lover: Whether You Call It Novel or Narrative, Simonds' Latest Takes Readers into Brave New World. Edmonton Journal 16 June 1996: F4.
"Author Credibility Key in History Tales." Edmonton Journal 31 October 1999: E13.
"Making It with Memoirs: Schultz, Hillen Tell Great Stories." Edmonton Journal 26 April 1998: F6.
“Me, Myself, and I,” by James Wolcott
“Memoir? Fiction? Where’s the Line?”, by Mimi Schwartz.
“After Daniel,” by Moira Farr.
“Seeing Myself in My Mother’s Addiction,” by Helen Knott
“Sex Work Solidarity as Healing: In Four Parts,” by Amber Dawn
“Judy Blunt – On Nonfiction Writing.” YouTube, uploaded by Pacific University, 11 January 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbZDhgPAzEA.

Unit 4

Required Readings
“Inside the Copper Mountain,” Myrna Kostash.
"From Courting the Approval of the Dead," Tracy Kidder
“Tom Wolfe. (What?) Tom Wolfe. (Can’t Hear You.) Tom Wolfe!” by Sven Birkerts
“Wolfe’s World,” by Charles McGrath.
“Wolfe in Co-Ed’s Clothing,” by Ian Brown.
“The Whole Truth,” by Peter M. Ives.
“Full Disclosure,” by Lynne Sharon Schwartz.
“Brown Girl in the Ring,” by Asna Shaikh
“Fesenjoon,” by Nedda Sarshar
Orlean, Susan. "Susan Orlean Shows How to Find Subjects for Creative Non-Fiction." YouTube, uploaded by Skillshare, 11 August 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvCHi0hkv_8.

Unit 5

Required Readings
“On Seeing and Being Seen: The Difference Between Writing with Empathy and Writing with Love,” by Alicia Elliott
“The Golden Bough,” by John Vaillant
"Laila Lalami on Truth in Nonfiction." YouTube, uploaded by LA Review of Books, 18 April 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM7OSngkLIc.

Unit 6

Required Readings
“Introduction: The Argument,” by Ben Yagoda
“The Landscape of Creative Nonfiction,” by Jocelyn Bartkevicius
“The Whole Truth,” by Peter M. Ives
“Courting the Approval of the Dead,” by Tracy Kidder
“Toward a Definition of Creative Nonfiction,” by Brett Lott
“The Other Creative Writing,” by Michael Pearson
“Collage, Montage, Mosaic, Vignette, Episode, Segment,” by Robert L. Root, Jr.
“Full Disclosure,” by Lynne Sharon Schwartz.
“Memoir? Fiction? Where’s the Line?” by Mimi Schwartz.
“Creative Nonfiction Now a ‘Fact’ of Life,” by Gordon Morash.
“True Stories, True Believers,” by Cheri Hanson.
“In Praise of Journalism,” by Myrna Kostash.
“In Cold Print: The Genre Capote Started,” by David Carr.
“The Thompson Style: A Sense of Self, and Outrage,” by David Carr.
“Tom Wolfe. (What?) Tom Wolfe. (Can’t Hear You.) Tom Wolfe!!!!!” by Sven Birkerts
“Wolfe’s World,” by Charles McGrath.
“Wolfe in Co-Ed’s Clothing,” by Ian Brown
“Gutkind Fires a Salvo for Descriptive Nonfiction,” by Barbara Lloyd McMichael.
“I Can Feel Him Breathing,” by Tara McGuire
“The Shadow Land: Indigenous Memoirs and the Question of ‘Trauma Porn’,” by Cody Caetano
"How Editors Know if Your Writing is Good." YouTube, uploaded by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, 25 September 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP_SmnCQA_Y.

Unit 7

Required Readings
“Sword swallowing on the tundra,” by Samuel Hearne.
“The Ghosts of Emmett Till,” by Richard Rubin
“Elegy for a Country’s Seasons,” by Zadie Smith
"Creative Non-Fiction #2 – with Lee Zacharias." YouTube, uploaded by LesButchart, 22 May 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWDm-4XZrF8.