Genre: Creative Non-Fiction
Level: Emerging
Instructor: Mark Abley
On the old TV series Dragnet, a police sergeant named Joe Friday supposedly uttered the famous line, “Just the facts, ma’am.” The idea behind this simple phrase is that we can grasp the truth about an event by knowing what really happened: the correct place and time, the precise individuals, the exact words.
But facts alone are like a meal of dry bread. “History matters,” wrote the American historian Jill Lepore, “but the best novels boast a kind of truth that even the best history books can never claim.” That’s because truth is not limited to measurable facts. To approach the full truth in all its complexity, we need to be able to deploy the skills of a novelist – to show the inner world of emotion as well as the outer world of facts. We need to give ourselves the permission to imagine. The result is “creative nonfiction.”
Participants in this class will explore some of the literary methods that enable fact-based writing to spring to life. We will consider what photographs reveal (and also what they do not reveal). We will ask if narratives need to move beyond the constraints of facts, and we will consider how memories feed – but sometimes inhibit – the vital work of imagination.
During the class we will read brief examples of creative nonfiction, and we’ll talk about the nature of the genre and the issues it raises. But a significant amount of the class will be spent writing. Each participant should bring at least two photographs from their own childhood or adolescence. These photos should not be headshots; each should evoke a context that has important personal meaning.
Mark Abley is the author of four books of poetry, two children’s books, and many works of nonfiction. A Rhodes Scholar and a Guggenheim Fellow, Abley was awarded a D. Litt. by the University of Saskatchewan in 2022 in recognition of his services to the Canadian literary community. He has also won a National Newspaper Award for critical writing, and has been shortlisted for international reporting.
The class is intended not only for memoir writers, but for anyone keen to explore the intersection between facts and imagination.
Date: Thursday, September 18, 2025
Time: 2:30-5:30 pm
Location: Easton Room, Kingston Marriott
Fee: $100
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