Thomas's comments (member since Jun 21, 2009)

Thomas's comments from the Literary journalism / creative nonfiction group.

Tom wrote: "Thomas, actually it was Simon, above, who touted Bill Bryson. I'm afraid I've never read him, but I'm glad you found the this thread informative nonetheless."

You are correct; thanks for that. I do enjoy the topic, however. Thanks!

Hi Tom:

I love Bill Bryson: I am going to add his "Notes from a Small Island" on my shelf to read. I did not know that his work fit in the category, but I will give it a go. Great! Thanks!

Thomas Hollowell
Author of Allah's Garden (Tales Press)

Hello Everyone: I hope it is OK to post this to this group. My book, "Allah's Garden," which falls under the genre of creative nonfiction and literary journalism is a part of a contest that you can read about below.

The publisher of my book and a sponsor are running a "Buy a Book, Win a Trip to Morocco" sweepstakes. If you buy a copy of Allah's Garden (available on my website at Thomas Hollowell), you will automatically be entered. Buy from Amazon.com and register your copy with the sponsor, who runs Morocco tours. Any questions, please do ask. I hope this is a worthwhile and fun contest for everyone! Winner announced Jan 1, 2010. Be sure to tell your friends! Best of Luck!

Thomas Hollowell
Read Allah's Garden (Tales Press)
Listen to Audio Excerpts
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This is an interesting conversation. I have been reading about and attempting to understand creative nonfiction for some time. I believe that, as one mentioned, that it is a sort of umbrella term nowadays. I am pretty liberal with it; some fiction might be labeled so (when it might very well be creative nonfiction) just because it crosses the "literary" line past a certain degree. Not to self-promote, but my book Allah's Garden was just released in March by Tales Press. It is based on my interviews with a Moroccan doctor who was held as a prisoner in the Sahara Desert for 25 years. I turned this into a narrative nonfiction and used tools of the novel in its telling. The book is a partial travelogue (more than memoir) of my time in Morocco (where I currently reside). In the author's note (which took me a month to perfect), I was clear with how I put the work together. I think author's owe that to their readers. I would love to see what some of you think of it and how it compares with other books on this particular shelf.

Thomas Hollowell
Read Allah's Garden (Tales Press)
Listen to Audio Excerpts
Follow Thomas on Twitter