Gathered in this summer’s issue are essays that reflect a wide range of creative nonfiction. I was delighted to read the selections chosen for this collection.
In partnership with the Creative Nonfiction Collective Society, we are proud to be publishing their 2025 contest winner. Karen E. Moore’s “Our Reflection in Flames” is an essay that takes the form of a diptych (a two-panel essay where each panel relates to one another). Judge Danny Ramadan states:
This genre-bending essay on loss, grief, sorrow, and the aftermath of an intense trauma is truly a masterpiece. From a craft perspective, it’s exciting in the way it uses a divided narrative to build upon its own until the image is clear. The ever-extending metaphor running throughout the piece is wonderfully executed. The use of the page’s white itself as a narrative tool, reminiscent of the work of poets, is exciting. Especially when it related to the context on the page. This turns the piece not only into a reflection by its narrative, but also by its form.
Story and structure are integral to crafting creative nonfiction. The essays selected for this special issue reflect these parameters. In this volume, readers will find flash, hermit crab, lyric, collage, and diptych essays, along with personal narratives and more traditional forms. Belonging, mental illness, religiosity, misogyny, grief, self-care, dementia, are just a few of the themes presented in the collection.
In Brian Braganza’s “Relics” we are privy to his pilgrimage from Canada to India in search of belonging amongst the ruins of his father’s childhood home.
“Among the Shards” is Lise Betteridge’s contribution. Written as a hermit crab essay, the frame of the piece encapsulates a story about grief. Another hermit crab essay included in this issue is by Maryann Martin. Entitled
“HEAVY-DUTY Fire Extinguisher (for Women), the work uses the instructions for a specialized fire extinguisher to counteract misogyny.
As well, a number of essays push back against misogyny: Alena Papayanis’s “I Could be Meaner” depicts Papayanis’s disdain of cat-calling, of having her body scrutinized under the male gaze, and the problem of girls raised to be nice and amenable. “Are There Bad Guys in Real Life” by Lina Lau captures a mother’s desire to teach her young daughters about bodily autonomy, the right to say no and how to be safe in the world.
Of special note are Line Dufour’s “Stitching Words,” a collage essay using needlecraft as a metaphor for crafting CNF, and Lorri Neilsen Glenn’s and Kim Pittaway’s “When Memories Meet Words: A Conversation about Writing Memoir.”
This is just a sampling of the true stories told so well in our summer issue. It was an honour to read the CNF submissions that represent both familiar and less well-known essay structures, and I thank all the writers who shared their stories with The Fiddlehead.
— Rowan McCandless
Creative Nonfiction Editor
