A well-known literary nonfiction author said nonfiction writers should not use any fiction in their writing.

Gay Talese, a pioneer in the area of literary nonfiction, spoke to a crowd of about 75 people at Tuesday’s lecture and discussion.

Talese voiced his strong views on fictionalizing that occurs in creative nonfiction. He called for distinctions between the genres of creative fiction and nonfiction.

“What we like to see is the distinction between fiction and nonfiction. There are some writers of fiction and nonfiction that take liberties with [the truth],” Talese said.

The concept of truth is primary for Talese. He insists that the smallest unknown details should not be fictionalized.

“Be completely true as far as you can verify. I believe that there has to be extreme care given; we’re talking about true as true can be. The reader won’t know it’s wrong, 90 percent won’t know it’s wrong, but you will know it’s wrong. And that’s where your conscience comes in,” Talese said.

In the same spirit, Talese is against using anonymous sources. He feels naming sources creates a sense of fairness and responsibility for both writer and source.

“There’s nothing you can’t write about, and you don’t have to change the names. [You can] get the use of their names if you convince them that you are sincerely concerned with the annals of their time,” he said.

Barbara Lounsberry, a creative writing professor at the University of Northern Iowa, introduced Talese. The two have co-authored several textbooks; their latest collaboration is a creative nonfiction textbook, “The Literature of Reality.”

Talese came to the genre of creative nonfiction through early childhood experiences, growing up during WW II in a first-generation Italian immigrant family. Talese’s father was pro-American in public while privately agonizing over brothers at home who fought in the Italian army.

Lounsberry, a literary critic, began by attempting to define the creative nonfiction genre. She said Talese is a practitioner of this craft, who attempts to explain and extend its boundaries.

Lounsberry requires four characteristics for writing to be considered literary nonfiction. Lounsberry said subject matter must come from the real world versus the writer’s imagination, must include exhaustive research, have literary intentions and use a literary prose style.

Giving examples from Henry David Thoreau to W.E.B. DuBois to Norman Mailer, Lounsberry included subjects dealing with lives, events, places and ideas about all of these in the genre as long as they adhere to her four characteristics.

Neil Baumhover, a senior in graphic design and journalism, said Talese’s views challenged him.

“He goes a step beyond and challenges [writers] to use the accountability of facts without giving in to the anonymous source. Anonymous sources can make writing much less challenging and even less interesting,” Baumhover said.

Talese concluded with a few words about his work-in-progress. Talese is exploring the world of ethnic restaurants and the separation that occurs between the front of the restaurant and the kitchen.

Describing his current work as “another bridge story,” Talese is weaving a story not unlike his own — a story, he said, of assimilation, of upward mobility, of America’s opportunism, of “graduating from the kitchen to the front.”