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Programming
- Conference
  - 2021 Conference Sessions
  - 2021 Presenter Bios
- Webinars
CNF contest
Contact us
Blog
Resources
Member-only area
Join the CNFC

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Marion Agnew

CNFC member, writer, and editor.

Beth Kaplan

CNFC board member at large and author of three non-fiction books.

Leona Theis

2020 CBC Nonfiction Prize shortlisted writer

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A Mentor, a Mentee, and a Beautiful Residency

September 8, 2021

Congratulations to the winner of the 2021 CNFC/HLR Nonfiction Contest

July 28, 2021

Meet the 2021 Contest Shortlist!

July 21, 2021

CNFC Conference Recordings

June 4, 2021

2021 AGM Minutes Available

May 31, 2021

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Congratulations to all 15 finalists of The Fiddleh

Congratulations to all 15 finalists of The Fiddlehead’s 2021 Creative Nonfiction Contest, judged by Chelene Knight, including these CNFC members:

Margo LaPierre — "A Spectre in Blue"

Catherine Lewis — "Late Bloomer"

Rayya Liebich — "Brooch Diptych"

Darryl Whetter — "Hinge Wood"

Darryl Whetter — "My First, and Probably Only, 'Sweat'"

The winner of the $2,000 contest prize will be announced on October 1 and the winning essay will appear in the Autumn 2021 issue (289).

#cnfcontest #shortlist #cnfwriters #creativenonfiction #cnfc #writingcommunity

"Write the tale that scares you, that makes you fe

"Write the tale that scares you, that makes you feel uncertain, that is uncomfortable. I dare you. In a world that entices us to browse through the lives of others to help us better determine how we feel about ourselves, and to, in turn, feel the need to be constantly visible, for visibility these days seems to somehow equate to success. Do not be afraid to disappear, from it, from us, for a while, and see what comes to you in the silence."

- MICHAELA COEL

#quoteoftheday #writingwisdom #bebrave #creativenonfiction #CNFwriters #writinginspiration

🎉 Congratulations to CNFC member Kelly S. Thomp

🎉 Congratulations to CNFC member Kelly S. Thompson (top right) for making the CBC Nonfiction Prize long list with her submission “Dear CAF.”
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The long list was selected from more than 2,000 English-language submissions.
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The shortlist will be announced on Sept 22, and the winner on Sept. 29.
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Posted @withregram • @cbcbooks

Congratulations to the 28 writers from across Canada that have been longlisted for the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize. The winner will receive $6,000 from @canada.council and will have the opportunity to attend a two-week writing residency at the @banffcentre

The complete longlist is:

* Are You Still Dead This Summer? by Ellen Adams (Montreal)
* Sandwiches by Georges Ajami (Montreal)
* To Pluto and Back by Kayode Ajayi (Ottawa)
* One Route, Over and Over by Nicole Boyce (Calgary)
* Ma by Kirsten Dunbar (Creston, B.C.)
* The Mouse by Gena Ellett (Vancouver)
* The Archaeologist's Last Visit by Machenka Eriksen (Victoria)
* Raining Glitter by Jennifer Goodman (Ottawa)
* Whitefish by Libby Gunn (Gabriola Island, B.C.)
* Funhouse Mirrors by Alison Hughes (Edmonton)
* Bone Shadows by Basma Kavanagh (Canning, N.S.)
* Northern Spring by Barbara Mackenzie (Yellowknife)
* Gary Fisher by Yohani Mendis (Toronto)
* The Brother by Baijayanta Mukhopadhyay (Montreal)
* 1975 by Valda Organ (St. John's)
* For Sale by Lue Palmer (Toronto)
* The Time with Moiz, The Pants and the Curtain by Zahida Rahemtulla (Vancouver)
* The Pink Palace by Dawn Ruddick (London, Ont.)
* Guests, Ghosts, Hosts by Clarisse Baleja Saïdi (Toronto)
* Cut Out of Something Holy by Yvette Sin (Toronto)
* Impossible Math by Michelle Spencer (Pincher Creek, Alta.)
* Umbrella by Chanel M. Sutherland (Montreal)
* My Summer Body by Lee Thomas (Fredericton)
* Dear CAF by Kelly S. Thompson (Greenwood, N.S.)
* A Borrowed Husband by Sarah Van Goethem (Bothwell, Ont.)
* An Ounce of Care by Kasia Van Schaik (Montreal)
* The Tending of Small Gardens by Tina Wayland (Montreal)
* The Coyote and the Wren by Alice Irene Whittaker (Chelsea, Que.)

To read the longlisted entries and find out more about these writers, head to cbcbooks.ca

📣 NEW BLOG POST! CNFC member Sandra Phinney an

📣 NEW BLOG POST!

CNFC member Sandra Phinney and CNFC board member Darryl Whetter co-authored a new blog post, “A mentor, a mentee and a beautiful residency” about Sandra’s writing residency at Joggins Fossil Cliffs, in Joggins, NS., and her evolution from student to mentee, and from journalist to CNF writer.

Writes Sandra: "Already I see improvements in my writing. I spent so many years trying to be true to the journalistic style I had embraced (keeping myself out of other people’s stories) that it’s taking me time to find my voice and to provide the emotional depth/honesty required in CNF. But it’s happening, and I am finding great joy in this new venture."

Adds Darryl, "Reconnecting with Sandra in writing classes and now again across kitchen tables shingled with manuscripts was a great return for me after my recent years directing the first master’s writing program in Singapore and one of the first in Southeast Asia. I’m delighted to help mentor Sandra’s transition from professional journalism to more personal CNF, in part because I too have been blessed with some positive serendipity around CNF mentors."

To read the full blog post, follow the link in bio! 👆
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#cnf #creativenonfiction #mentor #writingmentor #writingtrue #creativenonfiction #nonfictionwriter #blog #blogpost

📣 Coming Soon: The CNFC webinar series 2021-22

📣 Coming Soon: The CNFC webinar series 2021-22

👩🏻‍💻 CNFC is thrilled to launch our new season of webinars with our first event featuring CNFC member and board member Darryl Whetter on the subject "From Hermit Crabs to Talking Skeletons: Playing with Form in CNF.”

Novelist, poet, journalist and memoirist Professor Darryl Whetter will present a workshop which introduces numerous examples and opportunities for you to splice other texts (for example, family letters, legislation, medical documentation) into your own while discovering new modes of creativity and new opportunities for making nonfiction creative.

Professor Darryl Whetter is the author of four books of fiction and two poetry collections. His most recent books are the climate-crisis novel Our Sands, from Penguin Random House, and Teaching Creative Writing in Asia, with Routledge. A Canadian, he was the inaugural director of the first Creative Writing master’s degree in Singapore. His essays have been published by Oxford University Press, Routledge, Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, The Brooklyn Rail, The Walrus, etc.

🗓 MARK YOUR CALENDAR! Saturday October 2, 2021. 2:30pm Atlantic, 1.30pm Eastern, 10:30am Pacific.

Free for CNFC members. Registration now live. Link in bio! 👆

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#cnfc #creativenonfiction #cnfwriting #workshop #writingworkshop #professionaldevelopment #webinar #creativenonfictionwriters

Congratulations to CNFC’s own Rachel Rose for ma

Congratulations to CNFC’s own Rachel Rose for making it to the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist for her story collection “The Octopus Has Three Hearts.”

From Publisher Douglas & McIntrye:

"The Octopus Has Three Hearts offers dispatches from the margins of human society. These are stories about damaged people who have committed, witnessed or survived terrible acts and who must make their way in an unforgiving world."
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Yay, Rachel! 🥳
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#gillerprize #cnfcollective #longlist

It seems that no matter how old (or young) we are,

It seems that no matter how old (or young) we are, or if we have (or don’t have) children, that back-to-school feeling seems to be as synonymous with September as changing leaves, cooler nights and pumpkin spice lattes. (Yes, I said it.)

In solidarity with all the kids writing “What I did this summer” stories for their first day of school 🍎 we’re sharing some writing prompts to get your memories reeling and your pens moving.

Writing prompts are simply a way to begin. Stick closely to the original prompt or wander off on a tangent.

But as Natalie Goldberg writes her in book Writing Down the Bones, “Don’t be abstract. Write the real. Be honest and detailed.”

Writing prompts - do you love them 👍 or not 👎?
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#writingprompt #backtoschool #creativenonfiction #writingpractice #writingmotivation

Posted @withregram • @torontowots ✨🎉✨ and

Posted @withregram • @torontowots ✨🎉✨ and reader, we're live ✨🎉✨

#WOTS2021 is here, it's ten glorious days long, and you can FINALLY take a gander at the whole official festival week lineup! Join us, September 16 to 26, to celebrate the stories that connect us

link in our bio, and here:
https://toronto.thewordonthestreet.ca/event-directory/festival-week/

The writers in Joy Castro’s collection “Family

The writers in Joy Castro’s collection “Family Troubles: Memoirists on the Hazards and Rewards of Revealing Family” (including CNFC’s @susan.olding ) speak from a diverse range of perspectives as they explore ethical dilemmas, explain their practical strategies for each step of the writing and publishing process, and examine the barriers - internal and external - against writing about family.

Writes Joy Castro: “Write, I tell my students. You cannot predict what will offend someone, so just write. You can always revise, emend, edit.”

For those of you who write about family, how have you learned to navigate these murky waters? Where do you draw the line between your story and someone else’s? How have your reconciled the risks of exposing a family secret? How do you distinguish “memory” from “truth” and “fact”?

#wednesdaywisdom #cnfc #creativenonfiction #creativenonfictionwriters #memoir #writingcraft

📣 The Creative Nonfiction Collective Society an

📣 The Creative Nonfiction Collective Society and The Humber Literary Review are pleased to announce the winner for this year’s creative nonfiction contest.

🏆 Congratulations to Becky Blake!

Blake’s submission (Ingenue) is “an account of a young actress’s coming to consciousness as she performs her first professional role. It’s a quietly serious story told in a funny, observant voice, beautifully paced, told in scenes and dialogue and details and with a clear POV that all bring it off the page,” according to our contest judge, journalist Ian Brown.

Becky Blake is two-time winner of the CBC Literary Prize. Her debut novel, Proof I Was Here, was published in 2019 by Wolsak & Wynn. Becky teaches creative nonfiction at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Education. She is currently working on a second novel and a memoir-in-essays.

The contest prize includes a payment of $750 and publication in The Humber Literary Review.

#creativenonfictionwriters #creativenonfiction #cnf #writing #cnfc #writingcontest

“We expect ourselves to work quickly. We tell ou

“We expect ourselves to work quickly. We tell ourselves that if our writing takes so long, we might not be cut out for the writing life. We might equate our worth as writers with the number of pages we write rather than the quality of our work… But let’s imagine what we might gain from becoming slow writers, from allowing ourselves to really be in our work and with our work... Let’s imagine how we might grow as writers if we work in a slow writing way rather than rushing through our work trying to accumulate a pile of pages.”

I used to berate myself for writing CNF slowly. I’d percolate and ruminate, write in fits and starts, linger amongst differing themes and ideas until, until almost magically, I had my first draft. While unsettling, I’ve discovered this is part of my process, my way of figuring out what I think and feel. As DeSalvo writes, “Reflection takes time, quiet and patience” - time I need to get as close to the (or perhaps my) “truth.”

Deadlines aside, do you feel pressured to write quickly? Or have you found ways to create space and give yourself permission to explore?

#slowwriting #cnf #creativenonficton #nonfictionwriters #wednesdaywisdom #creativenonfictionwriters

📣 The Creative Nonfiction Collective Society an

📣 The Creative Nonfiction Collective Society and The Humber Literary Review are pleased to announce the 2021 contest short list!

Congratulations to the finalists:

Becky Blake (Ingénue) is a two-time winner of the CBC Literary Prize. Her debut novel, Proof I Was Here, was published in 2019 by Wolsak & Wynn. Becky teaches creative nonfiction at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Education. She is currently working on a second novel and a memoir-in-essays.

Hilary Fair (Your Plans to Leave Tomorrow) has taught in the Sarah Selecky Writing School and worked in publishing for The Walrus Magazine. In between, she became a potter while studying Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy. She identifies now as a re-emerging emerging writer. Her work has been published in Change Seven and short-listed in several contests.

Carla Harris (A Slowest Growing Up) is a disabled queer writer, performer and interdisciplinary artist from Treaty 4 territory, living in Regina Saskatchewan. They teach improvisation and creative experimentation, rooted in poetry, music, art and theatre. Harris is currently working on a poetry manuscript and a play, in unconfined #CripTime.

Višnja Milidragović (Dressing Up) is a (CNF) writer, Canadian (im)migrant, (lucid) dreamer, and a wanderer at heart (even when her body is in stillness). Born in the former Yugoslavia (current-day Bosnia), she finds home (today) on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Sel̓íl̓witulh Nations (Vancouver). She is currently writing her first memoir.

We expect to announce the winner next week.
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#creativenonfictionwriters #creativenonfiction #cnf #writing #writingcommunity #writingcontest #cnfc

Today and every day, as writers if we chose to tel

Today and every day, as writers if we chose to tell other people's stories (which has its own set of considerations), we have a responsibility to tell them with care, cultural context and deep listening.

“The paramount purpose of literature focusing on a specific cultural group should be to present the culture in a realistic and insightful manner, with the highest possible degree of verisimilitude. However, the body of literature on Indigenous Peoples mostly fails to achieve this standards… The failure comes from a colonial practice of transmitting “information” about Indigenous Peoples rather than transmitting Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives about themselves."

Excerpt from Dr Gregory Younging’s Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples (Brush Education, 2018) (Publisher’s link in bio 👆)

Told within the framework of 22 style principles, the guide includes advice on culturally-appropriate publishing practices, how to collaborate with Indigenous Peoples, when and how to seek the advice of elders, terminology to use and avoid, and case studies of best practices.

More than a style guide, it's a vital part of our reconciliation.
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Further resources:
📖 National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Reports (link in bio 👆)

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#indigenousliterature #indigenousauthors #truthandreconciliation #amreading #NIHM2021 #elevatemarginalizedvoices #TRC

June is Pride month, but it’s about more than ra

June is Pride month, but it’s about more than rainbows and parades - it’s an invitation to expand our minds and our language, to challenge biases and assumptions, to widen our connections and communities.
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Reading books by LGBTQ2S+ authors is a place to start.
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In the final pages of CFNC member Cooper Lee Bombardier’s memoir Pass With Care (Dottir Press, 2020) they write of the “duty” of trans people writing memoir to “write fearlessly and non-didactically.” In this collection of lyrical essays and poetry, Bombardier did just that.
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What have you read lately from the LGBTQ2S+ community? What’s on your TBR pile or must-read lists?
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Let us know! 👇
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#representationmatters #diversityinliterature #readwidely #pridemonth #lgbtauthors #cnfc #creativenonfictionwriters #creativenonfiction

It's the weekend - the perfect time to catch up on

It's the weekend - the perfect time to catch up on your conference viewing! 🍿

Remember: The 2021 CNFC Virtual Conference recorded sessions are available for registered attendees ONLY until July 5, 2021. Follow the link (in bio! 👆) to access the login page and check your email from June 4 for the password!

Got FOMO from missing out on this year's conference? ☹️ Don't worry - plans for 2022 in Edmonton are in the works!" 😁

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#creative #nonfiction #conference #virtualconference #writingcraft #writingcommunity #writerslife #creativenonfiction #CNF #professionaldevelopment #thepowerofstory

👋🏻 👋🏽👋🏿 Hey, CNFC conference goe

👋🏻 👋🏽👋🏿 Hey, CNFC conference goers!!
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The 2021 CNFC Virtual Conference recorded sessions are available for registered attendees to view.... but ONLY until July 5, 2021. Follow the link (in bio 👆👆) to access the login page and check your email from June 4 for the password!
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And if you missed out on this year's conference, don't worry - plans for 2022 in Edmonton are in the works!
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#creative #nonfiction #conference #virtualconference #writingcraft #writingcommunity #writerslife #creativenonfiction #CNF #professionaldevelopment #thepowerofstory

📚MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: . New CNFC member Valerie C

📚MEMBER SPOTLIGHT:
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New CNFC member Valerie Chelangat runs Tusome Books, an online bookstore that celebrates authors connected to Africa, Asia (Asia-Pacific, East and West Asia) and Canadian Indigenous peoples. Tusome also carry books written by and/or including themes affecting other marginalized communities such as people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and LGBTQ+. Tusome [too-so-meh] is a Kiswahili word that means ‘Let us read.’ Kiswahili is a language spoken in several African countries.

Welcome, Valerie!
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#indigenousbooks #indigenousauthors #letsread #queerlit #disabilityvisibility #bipocauthors #representationinbooks #representationmatters #readingdiversely #tusomebooks #nationalindigenouspeoplesday

Posted @withregram • @the_fold . From the Festi

Posted @withregram • @the_fold
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From the Festival of Literary Diversity: Four stunning reads for this month and all year long.

[ID: Graphic showcases four Indigiqueer titles celebrating Indigenous History Month and Pride Month. Titles are LOVE AFTER THE END Ed. Joshua Whitehead, NEDI NEZU by Tenille Campbell, A HISTORY OF MY BRIEF BODY by Billy Ray Belcourt, and IT WAS NEVER GOING TO BE OKAY by Jaye Simpson.]

#PrideMonth #IndigiqueerLit #IndigenousHistoryMonth

Important advice from @juliacameronlive . . . #wr

Important advice from @juliacameronlive
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#writing #writinglife #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #writersinspiration #creative #nonfiction #cnf #creativenonfictionwriters #creativenonfiction #wednesdaywisdom

A #fridayfun writing assignment from The Pocket Mu

A #fridayfun writing assignment from The Pocket Muse by Monica Wood.
Play around a little and change the someone to you. Feel free to share what you write.

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#writing #writinglife #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #writersinspiration #creative #nonfiction #cnf #creativenonfictionwriters #creativenonfiction #fridayfunwriting

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