Issue #60, Childhood
Summer 2016
This summer, we're taking a look through the rear-view mirror at childhood—and, in the process, examining how it shapes us into our adult selves. The writers featured in Creative Nonfiction #60 recount formative childhood experiences that leave indelible memories: stomping through a snowstorm to Sunday mass; discovering a dead body in the woods; touring beautiful homes they’ll never live in; or trying, desperately, to dance their way to junior high popularity. Here we have kid-dom in all its messy glory: the good, the bad, and the biting truth.
Plus, fifteen contemporary nonfiction authors discuss the books that made them writers; how to write about your kids without messing them up (too much); the link between addiction memoirs and coming-of-age stories; Tiny Truths; and more.
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"What's the Story?" by Lee Gutkind
From the Editor -
"Before We're Writers, We're Readers" by Randon Billings Noble
15 nonfiction authors on the true (or mostly true) stories they read as kids -
"I Survived the Blizzard of '79" by Beth Ann Fennelly
A deadly snowstorm shuts down the city, and the author's family heads to church -
"Writing Motherhood" by Marcelle Soviero
Parenting blogs and magazines have become ubiquitous, but is the literature of motherhood still undervalued? -
"True Empathy or Understanding is Rare"
A conversation with our "Childhood" essay contest winner Judith Barrington -
"The Red Caboose" by Brian Broome
The white kids liked to watch him dance, but only from a distance
Table of Contents
From the Editor Lee Gutkind ... read more
Before We're Writers, We're Readers Randon Billings Noble ... read more
I Survived the Blizzard of '79 Beth Ann Fennelly ... read more
The Walk Home Judith Barrington
The Red Caboose Brian Broome ... read more
Sunday Drive Kristi Murray Costello
Suds Brendan M. Collins
We Wanted Everything Kyla Buckingham
Dangerous [Language] Sara Hendery
Writing Motherhood Marcelle Soviero ... read more
How to Write About Your Kids Without Messing Them Up Joe Oestreich
Addiction Memoir, or Coming-of-Age Story? Kenneth R. Rosen
[See: n, Below] Carrie Barker
Tiny Truths
Contributors
Carrie Barker
Carrie Barker's nonfiction has been named winner and runner-up of two Norton Writer's Prizes and has appeared in publications such... read more
Judith Barrington
Judith Barrington’s Lifesaving: A Memoir was the winner of the 2001 Lambda Book Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand... read more
Randon Billings Noble
Randon Billings Noble is an essayist. Her collection Be with Me Always was published by the University of Nebraska Press in March 2019, and... read more
Brian Broome
Brian Broome is an English and creative writing major at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Find him at www.brianbroome.com. read more
Kyla Buckingham
Kyla Buckingham lives in New York City and works on open access journals at John Wiley & Sons. Previously, she was a developmental... read more
Brendan M. Collins
Brendan M. Collins is a recent graduate of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he studied English with a concentration in... read more
Kristi Murray Costello
Kristi Murray Costello is an assistant professor of writing studies and the director of the Writing Program and Writing Center at Arkansas... read more
Beth Ann Fennelly
Beth Ann Fennelly, Poet Laureate of Mississippi, teaches in the MFA Program at the University of Mississippi. Fennelly has published three... read more
Sara Hendery
Sara Hendery is from North Carolina but currently resides in Chicago. She is an assistant editor for Hotel Amerika literary magazine and is... read more
Brenda Miller
Brenda Miller is the author of five essay collections, most recently An Earlier Life. She also co-authored Tell It Slant:... read more
Joe Oestreich
Joe Oestreich is the author of two books of creative nonfiction: Hitless Wonder: A Life in Minor League Rock and Roll and Lines... read more
Kenneth R. Rosen
Kenneth R. Rosen works and writes for the New York Times. Find him at kennrosen.com and on Twitter @kenneth_rosen. read more
Marcelle Soviero
Marcelle Soviero is the owner and editor of Brain, Child magazine. Her essays have appeared in numerous places including Salon,... read more
Julie Marie Wade
Julie Marie Wade is the author of nine collections of poetry and prose, most recently Same-Sexy Marriage: A Novella in Poems. She... read more
Lee Gutkind
Lee Gutkind, recognized by Vanity Fair as “the Godfather behind creative nonfiction,” is the founder and editor of Creative... read more
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