The literary genre known as creative nonfiction (CNF) has grown in popularity in recent years, and one brilliant and consistent source of great CNF is Hippocampus Magazine. The online literary magazine has been going strong since its debut in 2010.
In today’s Friday Five, Donna Talarico, the magazine’s founder, publisher and managing editor, provides her insights on CNF and the magazine she founded.
- How would you define creative nonfiction, and how does that differ from what some of us would consider the standard nonfiction genre of, for example, essays or journalism?
The best way I can describe the type of creative nonfiction that we publish at Hippocampus Magazine is that it’s true stories with literary elements that you’d find in fiction. The best memoirs I encounter read like novels: authentic dialogue, descriptive scene-building, tension. All that good stuff. Now, CNF (as we call it for short) is broad and would encompass things like literary journalism, reported memoir (like Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks), and prescriptive nonfiction (a cousin of self-improvement or DIY books, but with a personal story weaved in.)
- How would you describe the appeal of CNF?
That’s an interesting question. It’s such a broad genre that it’s almost hard to answer! But I would say people are drawn to the more personal subgenres of creative nonfiction (memoir, lyric essays, etc.) because they are interested in humanity. They’re looking for relatable stories (for instance, someone loses a loved one so they turn to a memoir about loss) or stories that get them out of their comfort zones to learn more about people NOT like them. Like fiction, good memoir can also allow people to get lost in another world. For instance, travel/self-discovery memoirs like Wild and Eat, Pray, Love have been wildly successful and helped open a gateway to memoir for people who weren’t yet as familiar with the genre.
- How did you become interested in CNF and, in particular, Hippocampus Magazine?
Oh, I’ve always loved true stories. I was a journalism major in college, and worked as a stringer for a local paper and its sister alt-weekly. I quickly went from covering board meetings to uncovering stories of people in our area and wrote lots of human interest stories. I founded Hippocampus Magazine in 2010 while in my MFA program when I realized there was a gap in online literary journals that focused exclusively on creative nonfiction. We’re 140 issues in, and it’s been incredible. The team has grown, and I’ve learned to ask for help. It’s important to note that this is a volunteer-run publication. We all have full-time jobs outside of publishing and we donate our time and even help subsidize the publication when needed because we’re THAT passionate about CNF!
- What kinds of submissions are you looking for for Hippocampus?
Our submission guidelines say it best. In short, true stories that move us. On a more technical standpoint, we look for essays up to 4,000 words; and our flash category (microessays) have a word-count limit of 800. We are not looking for academic essays, editorials/commentary, or satire. We also have a small press division that’s reopening for submissions in August 2024, and for that we look for full-length memoirs and essay collections, and are open to hybrid forms as well.
- What advice would you offer to someone wanting to write creative nonfiction?
To read creative nonfiction! That’s the number one thing. To read the genre/subgenres. Second, I would tell people not to get hung up on “trends” or what people “say” you should be writing or publishing: to write the story only YOU can tell.
- Follow Hippocampus Magazine on Twitter/X: @Hippocampusmag.
- Follow Donna Talarico on Twitter/X: @donnatalarico.
- Discover five ways to support Hippocampus and magazines like it.
Andy writes! 
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