NonfictioNOW: An Update from the Board

Dear NonfictioNOW community,

We hope you are all managing to keep safe and well in these very difficult times.

We are pleased to announce that NonfictioNOW will be going ahead in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, in early December 2021.

Given the ongoing uncertainties around travel and the global Covid-19 pandemic, the conference is likely to look a little different than our pre-pandemic plans. There will be a face-to-face conference event in Wellington, welcoming local, national and—pending travel restrictions—international delegates. We think this will inevitably be a little more intimate than previous NonfictioNOWs. We also hope to enable meaningful global participation for those unable to travel in person to Wellington, via video livestreaming and other digital means, and will be investigating best ways to make this happen within our resources.

We will be in a position to announce more details on timelines, schedule and registration in the new year, most likely after February.

At this point we are delighted to be able to re-confirm our three wonderful keynotes: Behrouz Boochani, Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, and Mary Cappello.

We are excited to support Tina and Ingrid and the entire Aotearoa New Zealand Steering Committee in leading the vision for a fabulous, reality-conscious and reality-expanding NonfictioNOW in 2021.

Sincerely,

Nicole, David, Pat, Tina, Ingrid, Wendy, Elena, Heidi, Ingrid, Laurel, Matt, Pat, Robin, and Runar

The NonfictioNOW Board

Thank you for attending NonfictioNOW 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona

Thanks so much to all of you who joined us at NonfictioNOW in Phoenix. With 500 attendees from around the world, it was a memorable three days of conversation, listening and reflection. It was lovely to see many familiar faces and to welcome all the newcomers.  We’re so glad that the conference continues to be a source of new insight into nonfiction and all of the vital questions that are enmeshed with its making and reception. 

Once again, we want to thank the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, and Arizona State University, as host organizations, and the Phoenix steering committee, Angie Dell, Matt Bell, and Ashley Wilkins, without whose hard work none of it would have happened. We also thank our conference partners RMIT University, Northern Arizona University, Whiting Foundation, the Humanities at ASU, as well as all of our other sponsors and book fair partners.

On the final evening in Phoenix, after the remarkable keynote presentation by Stephanie Elizondo Griest, we were thrilled to be able to announce that the next NonfictioNOW Conference will be held in December 2020, in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. Summertime in the southern hemisphere!

The 2020 NonfictioNOW will be hosted by Massey University and coordinated by Ingrid Horrocks and Tina Makereti.

We hope you will start making plans now to devise a way to come to Wellington in 2020 for a conference informed by the many and diverse cultures of the Asia Pacific, in a beautiful location. We will aim to encourage as many funding opportunities as we can find to assist people without access to their own funding.

Nicole Walker and David Carlin, on behalf of the Board

NonfictioNOW photos courtesy of Scott Morris