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New Trends in Nonfiction Writing and Publishing An Interview with Judith Nies
***PLEASE NOTE: the library will be open only for the Literary Festival events. Regular library services will remain unavailable.
Narrative nonfiction is the new term for what was once called literary journalism. The writer’s voice — informal, frank, human, ironic and always trustworthy — is the key characteristic. Based on fact and well-sourced, it is not academic and is aimed at a wider audience. What gives narrative nonfiction power is that the story is true.
In the transition from journalism to narrative nonfiction, the genre has adopted the literary characteristics of memoir (first person), history (“Boys in the Boat”), the whodunit (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) and techniques of the novel (descriptions of setting and character). Poet and Professor Emerita Claire Keyes will sit down with Judith Nies for an in-depth conversation about new trends in nonfiction writing and publishing.
Award-winning writer Judith Nies is the author of four nonfiction books. “Unreal City: Las Vegas, Black Mesa, and the Fate of the West” was selected by Amazon as one of the Best 100 Books of 2014, a “top ten nonfiction” pick by Bloomberg News, a “Southwest Book of the Year” by Arizona librarians and is currently proposed for a 10-part video streaming series. “Native American History” (1996) won the Phi Alpha Award in international history. Nies has also been recognized with the Black Mountain Institute/Kluge Scholars Award at the Library of Congress and University of Nevada Las Vegas, and a Radcliffe Institute fellowship.
In her career, Nies has also taught nonfiction writing at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Her current nonfiction project? A study of how residents of 17th century Salem, Marblehead and Barbados earned their living. She currently makes her home in Marblehead. Visit judithnies.com for more about this noted talent.
Claire Keyes is Professor Emerita at Salem State University, where she taught English for 30 years. Her poems, essays and reviews have appeared in such journals as Valparaiso Review, Calyx, Blueline and The Women’s Review of Books. She is the author of two collections of poetry: “The Question of Rapture” (Mayapple Press) and “What Diamonds Can Do” (WordTech). Her chapbook, “Rising and Falling,” won the Foothills Poetry Competition. A second chapbook, “One Port,” was recently published by Derby Wharf Books. She lives in Marblehead, where she conducts a monthly poetry salon at Abbot Public Library.
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