The journal was founded by Lee Gutkind in 1993, making it the first literary magazine to publish, exclusively and on a regular basis, high quality nonfiction prose.

Its objectives are to provide a venue, the journal Creative Nonfiction, for high quality nonfiction prose (memoir, literary journalism, personal essay); to serve as the singular strongest voice of the genre, defining the ethics and parameters of the field; and to broaden the genre's impact in the literary arena by providing an array of educational services and publishing activities.

[citation needed] The Creative Nonfiction Foundation offers a number of educational programs for teachers, students, and emerging writers.

Creative Nonfiction provides online courses on basic techniques for research, interviewing, immersion, and reporting as well as instruction on writing personal essays.

CNF hosted the Mid-South Conference in Oxford, Mississippi, in February 2008, and 412: The Pittsburgh Creative Nonfiction Literary Festival in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008.