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Literature vocabulary · Genres and Forms

Nonfiction

Meaning in literature, with examples

/ˌnɒnˈfɪkʃn/nounCore term

In literature, nonfiction means: Writing about real people, events and facts, such as biographies, memoirs, essays, history and travel books.

In Turkish: kurgu dışı, kurmaca dışı yazın, olgusal anlatı

How it is used

Used in bookshops, publishing and prizes to separate factual books from fiction. Creative nonfiction and narrative nonfiction use storytelling techniques for true stories. US spelling is nonfiction; British English often writes non-fiction.

Example sentences

  1. He mostly reads nonfiction, especially history and science books.

  2. The award has separate categories for fiction and nonfiction.

Common collocations

  • narrative nonfiction
  • creative nonfiction
  • nonfiction book
  • nonfiction writer
  • fictionStories, such as novels and short stories, that describe imaginary events and people rather than real ones.
  • memoirA nonfiction book in which the author writes about personal memories of a particular period, experience or theme in his or her life.
  • autobiographyAn account of a person's whole life, or most of it, written by that person, usually in the first person and in chronological order.
  • genreA category of literature defined by shared features of form, style or subject, such as poetry, drama and the novel, or crime, fantasy and romance.

More terms: Genres and Forms

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