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4820+ Creative Nonfiction Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest . The creative nonfiction stories on this page deliver exactly what it says on the tin: true stories told in weird and wonderful ways.

🏆 Winning stories

“ you ” by elizabeth hoban.

🏆 Winner of Contest #260

We were death partners before we were friends. The day we met some 30 years ago, I was so pregnant with my first child, I resembled an over-stuffed sausage about to burst its casing. I’d forsaken style weeks earlier when my shoes no longer fit. I couldn’t even reach around my massive torso to shave my legs; limbs sporting enough hair to scrape clean a barbecue grill. You, on the other hand, had just wrapped-up an open-house and strode across my threshold for the first time, like a seasoned runway model. I’ll never forget your chic...

“ Careful—You’ll Slip, Fall, and Die on Those Slippery Slopes ” by Liv Chocolate

🏆 Winner of Contest #182

cw: references to sexual assault, kidnapping, and murderThe first time I crossed a street by myself—as in, without one or both of my parents present—I was seventeen. My parents warned me that the outside world was dangerous, and that, if something were to happen to me, I wouldn't know what to do. According to my parents, kidnappers, murderers, and kidnapper-murderers lurked on every corner of our small, suburban town where, statistically, my chances of becoming the victim of a violent crime were less than my chances of being allowed to ...

“ Letting go ” by Rebecca Miles

🏆 Winner of Contest #166

I dedicate this story to my partner and to everyone who has carried or is carrying the burden of grief.Sitting by the bed, holding my hand, you think my mind is fighting against the decision of my body to quit life’s game. My eyes are closed, but I sense your will through the fingers laced tightly around my own. Tenderness is a force and you stake my claim to life through the insistent pressure of your hand. How it has grown over these long years from its immaculate small perfection to this manifestation of adult capability: greeti...

⭐️ Recommended stories

“ the faces in the mirror ” by c. h..

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #271

Hannah sat in her wheelchair, staring out the window as dusk settled over the world outside. The silhouette of the treetops absorbed the fleeting light of the setting sun. As another day closed, she found her mind wandering back before. The once bustling life of adventure and ambition she had in her twenties felt like a distant dream. In 24 years of MS, she had lost mobility and independence. Now, at fifty, multiple sclerosis had shrunk her world to the size of her home, her broken body, and her wheelchair. The days blurred together, each on...

“ The Heart of the Matter ” by Karen Hope

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #261

She adjusts herself in the stiff chair, trying to get comfortable. It seems each time she shifts, it’s not long before she needs to squirm around again, looking for that sweet spot. But then she reminds herself she’s in a hospital, watching her husband sleep soundly after his surgery. It’s not about her comfort. It’s about his. A baseball game is playing on the TV, the volume so low she can only hear a steady buzzing from the small bedside speaker. Her fingers ache to gingerly grab the remote from beside her husband and turn on her favorite ...

“ Psst...(Jill killed Jack) ” by Tommy Goround

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #256

“I very much need some socks pretty please with sugar on top.” This was the text that I sent to my estranged ex-wife. The one who wanted to drag me out to the wilderness under the guise of talking about financing our first childs’ entrance into college. I knew that she was old fashioned and wanted to push me from a hill. Just like Fellini. So my last request was not very sinister. I mean, even death row inmates should get some free laundry or a meal. Maybe even a prayer? I looked into the pantry of my rental and decided there ...

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✍️ All stories

“ of quilts and time ” by anika saxena.

Submitted to Contest #275

I remember sleeping in my new bedroom, now no longer the playroom for my sister and me. The space once adorned with pink barbies and colorful legos was now filled with cream wooden furniture, each piece decorated with carved flowers and vines.My bedsheets were pretty too: a white quilt with soft pink seashells and sage seaweed, and most importantly, I was excited to no longer share a room with my sister. I was pandering at the cusp of getting older, now eleven years old, and was granted the new room to myself. I could put my clothes in ...

“ A Country Boy Can Survive ” by Larry Branch

My early youth was the best of times—and the darkest of times. Survival in my tiny world required grit and guts. When I was an eight-year-old boy, I could skin a rabbit and whup anyone my age who lived near about. I was fit as a fiddle and slicker than snot. But the innocence of my childhood was crumpled like a sack of potatoes. Skirmishes with my daddy caused emotional scars that have lasted a lifetime. The plain and simple truth could not be hidden. My daddy was a chronic alcoholic and a physically abusive monster. He was the boogieman! He...

“ Late ” by S. Hjelmeset

Estranged from my sister for fourteen years, I couldn't decline when she called for help to clear our childhood home. I said a date, and it was settled.Thus began the search for a moving company. They don't have that back home - everybody has a driver's license, and if they don't own a large car, they damn well know someone who does.I chose to spend my time with my dying father instead of getting my driver's license like every other eighteen-year-old did back then. After he died, I moved. Nobody needs a car in Oslo.I asked online for someone...

“ The "Corpse" ” by Graham Bathgate

The “Corpse” The following is full of real events and people. Of course, a lot of it is wildly imagined, such as the kirk, the minister, the coffin and the remembrance service – some of this will be activated in future! “Thank you, thank you, now please leave the lid off,” I said to the kirk minister, Mr McTaggart. His tiny rural kirk was in north-east Scotland in whose heathery hills I had run about as a child, very fitting for my farewell. He had kindly provided wobbly wooden steps for me to go up and drop down into the fine sh...

“ Bewitched ” by Mary Bendickson

Bewitched I'm bewitched. Well, that is, I'm becoming a witch. No, not the true, crone looking, broom flying, cauldron cooking kind of witch. But still a witch. A pretend witch, that is. And only for one evening. Not so bad. And I'm actually being encouraged to become a witch or something I'm usually not. Don't intend to cast any spells on unsuspecting souls, good or bad. But you never know. Could happen unintentionally, you understand. Since I'm only eight years old how bad could it be? I have never been schooled in becoming a witch. I'll ha...

“ Eyes in the Bushes ” by Ellen Talboom

death of a pet "We are being watched". "I see that", I replied to my son Jace as I was sipping coffee on the patio. "Neighbor's peeking from the hedges", Jace asked? "That would be really creepy", I said. Jace is 12 with a very vivid imagination. Since his husky Em went to dog heaven about three months ago, he sees eyes looking at him from the bushes or from the tall hedges. They used to play catch me and hide in the bushes. They would chase each other all around the back yard for hours. Jace said he doesn't want another pet, at...

“ With you ” by Craig Shaw

I watch and I whisper. I've done it for millennia. There is nothing new under this sun, we've seen it all time and again. We can't read minds but we know what you'll do. Those little expressions on your face, your eyes always give you away. Hell, even the hairs on your body, the sweat that comes off of you, these tell the tales of what's going on in your mind. We're the ones always close by, always within ear shot. The ones you feel breathing down your neck, the itch in your skin. It's no suprise to me that you called a Pastor for help, br...

“ From Curse to Gift ” by Alison Noni

My family used to joke about the fact that I was born under police guard. I entered this world just before Halloween on October 29th, 1959, at the Royal Jubilee Hospital, in Victoria. Since there were several cult groups active on Vancouver Island at the time, the authorities stationed a police officer in the newborn nursery to prevent infants from being snatched for ceremony or sacrifice. The island, off the west coast of Canada, has always been inhabited by wackos and weirdos. It was like that back in the fifties, and it still is now. Of c...

“ Murky Water ” by Claudia Batiuk

I enjoy my work so much that I can say: “This is not work to me it is my passion and calling and it seems like I play all day.” Nobody at my jobs, knows until this day, how much I have struggled in my past. I was given no tools, never had parental guidance or support and I always had to make it work, on my own. For most of my first forty years of life I was drinking and doing drugs in order not to feel the loneliness and heartache. In my recovery, I developed true gratitude and insight into people, places and things.Sometimes, I can see the ...

“ Ghost Girl ” by Gary Grissom

Ghost GirlGary E. Grissom In the past, I had never thought too much about ghosts. Maybe they existed, and maybe they didn’t. But one afternoon while tuning my guitar and preparing to perform some folksongs in O’Hungry’s in Old Town, I noticed a little girl wearing old fashioned clothes standing near the small stage. As I smiled at her, she clapped her hands and said “Oh boy! I love to hear the guitar played.” “Well, in that case,” I said. “I’m going to sing a song called “Riding in My Car” just for you.” She had a puzzled look on her face a...

“ Blaze of Awakening ” by Sidney Taylor

My tears slid down my cheeks, cold and heavy, as I lay there, wide awake through the dark, silent hours. A strange warmth wrapped itself around me, creeping up slowly, and a faint smell of burning wood drifted in—like the soothing scent of a bonfire. I let the warmth lull me closer to sleep, unaware of what it really was.But then, a sudden noise snapped me back to reality.Footsteps. Heavy, urgent, pounding down the stairs, each thud vibrating through the floorboards beneath me. My father’s footsteps? A chill ran through me. The house was usu...

“ An assignment for a night ” by Tom Treloar

Here I am hovering over my assignment for the night of October 31, 2024. My assignment was to make sure Tom makes it through the night. Sometimes I wonder, how are these assignments passed out? What spirit is assigned to who and why? Or is it just a random drawing? This is something that will never be revealed to the spirit army. From my orders I see that Tom is a male over eighty years old. He was in his mother's womb when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Tom is living a typical American life. He was never famous or...

“ Remember ” by Cindy Calder

The air hangs hot and humid, reaching nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Sweat trickles beneath your clothing as you move along. Just in front of you, a beautiful black cat wanders along the dusty pathways as though guiding you toward your final destination. You wonder if the cat knows what secrets lie herein, and secretly name him Quetzalcoatl. You stifle a laugh. Yes, the name’s more Aztec than Mayan but still, this cat looks so majestic as he moves, the name just seems to fit. The wind unexpectedly rustles through the trees as though the god...

“ Why Murder ” by Penelope Page Books

Why Murder? &n...

“ The Next Realm ” by Priyanjali Bhattacharyya

So many of us have lived a life, unafraid of each other, surrounded by loved ones who would pick each of our complaints and not rest till they have been resolved. So many of us were given, or in fact, handed out pleasures in this life that our ancestors worked so hard to get to begin with. I say this because I want to impress upon the fact that some of us – boy, we were born lucky. My grandma would get up early in the morning and give the pigeons and the sparrows some uncooked rice grains to eat. Only then would she prepare a meal large enou...

The Best Creative Nonfiction Short Stories

Made for those bookworms who love the compelling freedom of fiction but are looking for a little bit of the real world in their reading, creative nonfiction is the radiant lovechild of elegant poetry and rigorous reportage. Writers of this genre aim to present the truth — factually accurate prose about real life and real people — in a brilliant and creative way. Its faithful readers find themselves as enthralled by fact as they are by fantasy.

As a literary form, nonfiction can be a little hard to pin down. At its crux, creative nonfiction applies literary techniques drawn from poetry and fiction to content that would be at home in a textbook — making for an entertaining read that you might just learn something from! Among creative nonfiction short stories, you could find an insightful memoir, a dramatic monologue, hot, witty journalism, or a tight, personal essay.

Looking for new creative nonfiction stories?

Look no further! Every week, hundreds of writers submit stories to Reedsy’s short story contest. On this page, you’ll find all of those that are categorized as creative nonfiction stories. This means that the featured writers were triggered by one of our prompts to look to their own experiences and reveal a true-life story — but, crucially, they decided to tell it in a brilliant and creative way.

If you want to find the cream of the crop — perhaps the next Joan Didion or Jia Tolentino — then look to the top of the page: that’s where we’ve gathered all the winning and shortlisted entries. And don’t forget, if you’ve got a story to tell (fact or fiction), you too can enter our weekly contest and be in with a chance of nabbing the $250 prize plus a shot at publication in Prompted , our new literary magazine . Now wouldn’t that be a story?

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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