Travel. Essays. Memoirs. Poetry. Many people do not associate nonfiction with any of these topics, but they are actually what nonfiction is all about.
The NonfictionNOW Conference was held at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel and the Orpheum Theater, Nov 1 through 3.
According to the NonfictionNOW press release, the conference was a way for people to connect over different forms of prose.
“As ever with NonfictionNOW, we want to encourage lively debate, keen listening, inclusive atmospheres and playful experimentation throughout the conference,” Co-Presidents Nicole Walker and David Carlin from the Board said in a press release.
For Nicole Walker, nonfiction is more than just news writing.
“For the general public, it’s a huge genre that includes memoir, includes travel writing, writing about historical nonfiction. There is also lyric essays and essays that are really informative and full of research and also bring in personal stories,” Walker said. “What I love about nonfiction is how broad it is, not how narrow. It encompasses so much.”
The conference consisted of panels, keynote speakers such as Francisco Cantú, Gretel Ehrlich and Stephanie Elizondo Griest, and a book fair for people to explore and connect with different authors.
Writer and poet Lisa Couturier, one of the writers at the conference, chose this conference to sell her work because of the platform it provides for the genre.
“I think that a lot of people, when they think of nonfiction, they think of newspaper articles. But this is an entire world of literary nonfiction which I think reaches deeper to readers than facts and figures of typical nonfiction,” Couturier said.
The NonfictionNOW Conference has been held all around the world. Last year the conference was in Iceland, and it has also been held in Melbourne, Australia. With an art scene such as Phoenix, Board Member Angie Dell wanted this year’s conference to be in the center of another city rich with culture.
“We chose to host NonfictioNOW here in the heart of the city, offering a better glimpse into the area’s history and future, and the local businesses, organizations, and communities that are revitalizing Phoenix,” Dell said in a press release.
Board co-president, Nicole Walker, said she also wants people to get out and see what the city has to offer.
“Although people spend a lot of time in the conference hotel, we hope people go outside see what’s happening in town to recognize that Phoenix does, especially downtown, have a cultural center,” Walker said.
The NonfictionNOW Conference location for 2019 has not been released, but the conference itself will continue to provide a home for the genre.
“In terms of just giving nonfiction a home, this conference gives legitimacy and support to the whole field no matter what city it is in,” Couturier said.
Contact the reporter at ldiethel@asu.edu.
Lisa Diethelm is the Politics editor for the Downtown Devil while she studies at The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in downtown Phoenix. She grew up in California and started her journalism career in high school.
