Best Literary Non-Fiction [Top 10 Recommended Books] [2024 Update]

What are the best books in the genre: literary non-fiction? We have listed our best recommendations for you. Read on for the best literary non-fiction…

We start our recommendations with the top 10 best books in the genre: Literary Non-Fiction of all time. This list has been updated this year, including all the recent titles.

Best Creative/Literary Non-Fiction	Author
An American Childhood	Annie Dillard
The Genesee Diary	Henri Nouwen
Dandelion Wine	Ray Bradbury
Dakota: A Spiritual Geography	Kathleen Norris
The Confessions of Saint Augustine	Augustine of Hippo
1000 Gifts	Ann Voscamp
The Wild Places	Robert Macfarlane
A Severe Mercy	Sheldon Vanauken
Wind, Sand, and Stars	Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Markings	Dag Hammarskjöld

The top 10 list from our editors with the best books in and about the genre: literary non-fiction

The Girls in My Town: Essays (River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize) 

We like this book, because it is autobiographical and sketches the life a family that lived in Los Angeles. The writer lets you experience some of the characteristic events that shaped her life.

To Show and to Tell: The Craft of Literary Nonfiction

If you are interested in writing nonfiction, we highly recommend this book. It will tell you what you need to know to get the skills to become a competent storyteller.

My Last Eight Thousand Days: An American Male in His Seventies (Crux: The Georgia Series in Literary Nonfiction Ser.) 

Unlike Lee Gutkind’s other works, this book is looking inward instead of outward. He gives an honest view of what he’s done right and wrong, and the different roles he plays besides being a writer.

Southbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change (Crux: The Georgia Series in Literary Nonfiction Ser.)

When Anjali Enjeti moves from Detroit to Chattanooga at only ten years old, her world changes completely. This book is a collection of twenty essays that depict what happened in Anjali’s life after 1984.

Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents, 28th edition: Who They Are, What They Want, How to Win Them Over (Jeff Herman’s … Book Publishers, Editors and Literary Agents)

In our opinion this is the best guide if you want to get your book published. It gives you the latest information on who to contact with the genre you have chosen. Don’t miss this life changing resource.

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up: The Complete Guide to Writing Creative Nonfiction — from Memoir to Literary Journalism and Everything in Between 

Lee Gutkind helps you develop your nonfiction writer skills. Get to know the tools you need to start the writing process, and then finish it. Do the exercises as well, they are really effective.

Essayism: On Form, Feeling, and Nonfiction

It is all in the details; how you describe a thought or feeling, or how you create suspense. These elements are part of Brian Dillon’s essayism. It’s about essays and the ones who write them.

Writing True: The Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction

If you want to affect the people who will be reading your work, then you must develop the skills on how you can achieve this goal. The book is divided into two parts: the practical side of writing and the different forms of nonfiction writing.

How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor: A Smart, Irreverent Guide to Biography, History, Journalism, Blogs, and Everything in Between

Are you critical enough when you read the news? Or do you believe everything, just because it is in writing, so it must be true? This book will help you develop the necessary skills to eliminate fake news.

Brown Girl Dreaming

The poems that Jacqueline Woodson writes are straight from the heart, and they reveal her life as a young African American child who never felt completely at home where she was. This book can truly be an inspiration for many.