10 Essential Creative Nonfiction Titles: New, Newish, and Classic
In the proliferation of year-end book roundups, journalistic nonfiction and novels dominate the lists. And there are usually a few memoirs, especially if the author is Barack Obama or Mariah Carey.
What often gets left out are collections of essays. And of course, if a book wasn’t published that year, it won’t make the cut.
But as an avid reader of essays and a teacher of creative nonfiction, I prefer to read — and share with my students — a mix of new and not-so-new. With that in mind, here’s a list of ten nonfiction titles that stood out for me in 2020. All but one are collections of essays, and the other is a very different take on memoir. Half of the selections are anthologies that I would especially recommend to aspiring essayists and students of nonfiction who would like to delve deeper into the possibilities of the genre.
Note: The links to the books are all affiliate links. Bookshop is a new online bookstore that supports local, independent bookstores, many of which have been particularly struggling during the pandemic. Any purchases through these links will help support indie bookstores and also me, an indie writer.
