Blog

Why I Write: CNFC members reflect on why they write, and how they keep going

Nancy Dutra loves writing, reading, and occasionally singing about the human condition. She is a contributing author to SOCAN Words and Music magazine and is a freelance writer and editor. Her album, “Time Will Tell,” charted on the Euro-Americana Roots Music List and received favourable reviews from CBC, Exclaim, NOW, and No Depression. ___ When I speak, I’m verbose and repetitive. When I write, however, I’m concise. With each successive draft, my point of view gets sharper, more straightforward, more precise.…

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How winning the 2015 CNFC contest changed me

Kirsten Fogg is a bilingual Australian-Canadian journalist, editor and award-winning essayist who has been shaped by living in four countries and by the suicide of her 16-year-old brother. Her essays have been published in journals including Creative Nonfiction and The Malahat Review and adapted by ABC Radio National Australia. Her journalism has appeared in various world media. She has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction (2022). Sign up to her newsletter here:  Writer out of Residence and connect with her on…

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Interview with Angus MacCaull about the new CNFC Memoir Book Club

Wanda Taylor, CNFC’s Vice-President, is an award-winning author, journalist, and college professor. She writes both fiction and nonfiction across children’s and adult markets. She has bylines in numerous publications, including Quill & Quire and the Globe and Mail. Additionally, her features, essays, and poems have been published across Canada, the US, and the UK. Her newest nonfiction book is set for release with Nimbus Publishing, Spring 2024. Angus MacCaull is a recent graduate of the King’s College MFA in creative…

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Interview with Beth Kaplan

Christopher Moore and Beth Kaplan have both served on the CNFC board and the conference committee. With the release of Beth’s new book Midlife Solo, a memoir-in-essays, they felt the membership might be interested in their conversation about the nuts and bolts of putting together an essay compilation. __ Christopher Moore: Beth Kaplan has taught nonfiction writing at two Toronto universities for decades and is the author of three previous memoirs as well as a number of other works. All…

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Interview with 2024 CNFC Contest Judge, Lisa Bird-Wilson

Interview with 2024 CNFC Contest Judge, Lisa Bird-Wilson Volunteer Margaret Lynch interviews 2024 CNFC/HLR Contest Judge, Lisa Bird-Wilson who shares her thoughts on writing, reading, and what she’s looking for in contest submissions. Lisa Bird-Wilson is a Saskatchewan Métis and Cree writer whose work appears in literary magazines, newspapers, and anthologies across Canada. Her most recent book, Probably Ruby (2021), is published internationally and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, for the Amazon First Novel Award,…

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Autobiographical Poetry

Autobiographical Poetry: Interview with Kate Rogers About Hollay Ghadery: Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian writer living in Ontario. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions (2021) and winner of The Canadian Bookclub Award for nonfiction/memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box, came out Radiant Press in 2023 and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, is scheduled for release with Gordon…

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Interview with Colleen Brown

Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian writer living in Ontario. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions (2021) and is a finalist for The Canadian Bookclub Awards. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box, came out Radiant Press in 2023 and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, is scheduled for release with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024. Hollay is a poetry…

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Not Just Mine To Tell

Mary Fairhurst Breen is the author of the memoir Any Kind of Luck at All and the children’s books Pride and Persistence: Stories of Queer Activism and Awesome Andie’s Best of the Block. As a queer feminist author, writing is Mary’s current form of activism after decades spent working for social change and protesting for equal rights. She lives in Toronto. __ In 2021 I published a memoir, after years of revisions necessitated by both life events and intense consultations with interested parties. The people whose…

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2023 Contest Shortlist

Congratulations to the five writers who’ve made the CNFC-HLR nonfiction contest shortlist! Our judge, Donna Morrissey, had some tough choices to make. According to her, the finalist selection process was difficult because the calibre of writing in each of the longlisted pieces was quite high. 2023 CNFC-HLR nonfiction contest shortlist:   Anita Allen – “Funhouse” Raymond Gariepy – “The Unborn and Born Dead are Yet Among Us” Rayyan Kamal – “Departure Lounge” Dhana Musil – “By Association” Laura Ollerenshaw –…

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2023 CNFC-Humber Literary Review CNF Contest Longlist

The Creative Nonfiction Collective Society and The Humber Literary Review are pleased to announce the long list for this year’s creative nonfiction contest. Congratulations to the following writers! Anita Allen – Funhouse Carmen Farrell – Closet Full of Monsters Raymond Gariepy – The Unborn and Born Dead are Yet Among Us Rayyan Kamal – Departure Lounge Ivy Lerner-Frank – Mercy Dhana Musil – By Association Laura Ollerenshaw – Of Least Concern Adelle Purdham – Wild Horses Laura Wershler – To…

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