The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power

Creative nonfiction is a genre of writing that combines elements of both literature and nonfiction. It involves telling true stories using literary techniques typically associated with fiction, such as vivid descriptions, dialogue, narrative structure, and character development. While creative nonfiction employs literary techniques, writers of creative nonfiction are expected to conduct thorough research, interview subjects, and fact-check their work to ensure its veracity. In addition to works like The Address Book, the genre of creative nonfiction includes memoirs, personal essays, travel writing, and even some forms of journalism. The term is credited to Lee Gutkind, whose journal Creative Nonfiction, founded in 1993, helped to popularize the genre. Prominent examples of creative nonfiction include works such as In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

Creative nonfiction is distinguished from other types of nonfiction in a variety of ways. Academic nonfiction is typically written by specialists for specialists, focusing on a specific topic and often using complex jargon inaccessible to most readers. Creative nonfiction, on the other hand, is aimed at a wide general