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Creative Nonfiction Classics

Weird Doesn’t Even Begin to Describe It
It took my brother having his thumb almost cut off by his wife to realize what so many already knew: that maybe their marriage couldn’t be saved after…
 • 
Jerald Walker
Shamu Saved My Life. Or Did He?
It’s one of the clearest memories of my childhood: My dad changed our plans so we could go to SeaWorld, and then our original flight crashed. But why am…
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Angie Chuang
3
The Horror of Witnessing a Massive Oil Spill Up Close and Personal
The Cosco Busan oil spill in California washed ashore at a marine rescue center, of all places. But nothing could prepare the first responders for the…
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Mieke Eerkens
I Walked Barefoot Across the Middle East, Searching for Answers
After giving her baby up for adoption when she was 16, a young woman sets out on a reckless trip, losing more and more of herself along the way—until…
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Meredith Hall
5
The Long, Twisting Tale of Two Farm Boys Who Finally Got Their Big Break
A third-generation logger and his wife risked their land so their sons could pursue their music dreams. The brothers made an album almost no one…
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Steven Kurutz
2
The Inexplicable, Incomparable Bond Between Two Sisters
Here, the author details magical childhood memories of growing up with her sibling, their inevitable fracture and the beautiful way in which they…
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Kyla Buckingham
In This Family, the Automobile Represented Both Extreme Chaos and Ultimate Freedom
Cars had an outsized impact on Nancy A. Nichols’s life growing up: They liberated her and her mom, forever changed her father and briefly reunited her…
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Nancy A. Nichols
It’s Amazing What a Haircut Can Do to a Person
After spending most of his childhood with a shaved head, Jerald Walker finally swears off the cut. Much to his chagrin, it turns out the style isn’t…
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Jerald Walker
4
A Volunteer Escort Collects Stories From Outside an Abortion Clinic
After an early traumatic experience with her reproductive health, Wendy Rawlings finds herself, at 50 years old, offering support to patients at a…
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Wendy Rawlings
The Steep Cost of One Night on the Beach With a Boy
After getting pregnant at 16, the author’s community and loved ones, who turned their heads at everyone else’s mistakes, didn’t extend the same kindness…
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Meredith Hall
3
My Long Journey to Bring My Daughter Home From Skid Row
After months of waiting for my runaway teen, Stephanie, to come back, I ventured into the grittiest part of San Francisco to search for her. What I…
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Debra Gwartney
2
The Mysterious Disappearance of Otomatsu Wada
Left to fend for himself at the Gila River internment camp, a twice-widowed Japanese-American father exited his barracks one day. Where he was headed…
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ERIC L. MULLER
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