My first experience with nonfiction, and perhaps most peoples first experience, was with the Diary of Anne Frank.
I remember reading it and thinking it was hard to believe; that was someone's real life. Anne Frank went through such a dramatic and traumatic experience during her short life that it was hard to grasp the story being true. It's more than just a memoir, it's a personal journal. The entire book was moving, made more so by the fact that it was real.
From there I went through a non-fiction stage. Nothing nearly as powerful as The Diary of Anne Frank, but mainly stories of women.
I went through a phase best known as my "Marilyn Monroe" years, where I became obsessed with knowing more about her. I know a bit too much about this iconic movie star. I can tell you her real name, the movies she starred in, the tragedy of her trying to become a mother, and all about her husbands and why the split. Want to talk about her death and the conspiracy theories which surround it? I know them all and I also have my favorite theories.
Recently I started reading Orange is the New Black, a memoir about Piper Kerman, a lady in her mid-thirties who went to prison for a crime she committed 10 years prior. At times Kerman comes off a tad pretentious for my taste but overall this is another strong non-fiction work, lead by a strong female voice. She raises questions about our current prison system that I had heard about before, but never truly took the time to think on, until I read this book.
Shiny Happy People Publishing may be full steam ahead with stationery products currently, but it's always been our goal to reach a point where we can start publishing our own books as well.
One of the divisions we hope to achieve is a nonfiction division, mainly nonfiction works surrounding strong female figures. There are many women with powerful stories to share.
As I mentioned above, whether a brave courageous person such as Anne Frank, a glamourous movie star like Marilyn Monroe, or a small taste of female prison life through Piper Kerman... many of the titles I've experienced in non-fiction are very heavily female dominant.
These stories are moving, powerful and eye opening. They are on a subject I cannot wait to someday publish under Shiny Happy People Publishing, LLC.
