A New Flower [short story|manuscript] page 1 to page 4, 1982

The Nisi Shawl papers contain printed (paper-based) and handwritten manuscripts, correspondence and notes related to this material, journals, planners, materials accompanying her development as a writer, digital media, oversized, and miscellaneous material.

The collection is divided into series based upon format.  Series I is Short Fiction, followed by Series II, which is Long Fiction, and Series III is Non-fiction.  Series IV is Scholarly and Professional Development, while Series V is Notes, and Series VI is correspondence.  Series VII is Personal Information and some of these files are RESTRICTED and require the author’s permission to view them.  If you would like to view the restricted files, contact SCA staff to arrange access from author.  Series VIII continues with Journals and Planners, Series IX is Poems and Songs, and Series X is Digital Media.  Series XI is Oversized materials and lastly, Series XII is Miscellaneous.

Series I Short fiction is broken down into short stories and novelettes, while Series II long fiction contains novellas and novels.  These were determined by looking at word count and/or page count.  If word count was not given then page count was used and vice versa. While Nisi’s story Matched is a short story, it is placed within the Long Fiction series because it is an excerpt from Nisi’s novel The Blazing World.  Any chapters noted to be from the short story Matched will also be placed under Long Fiction and associated with Blazing World.

Many of the short stories have also been published within Nisi’s short story compilation book called Filter House.  Any stories noted to have been placed in that book have been marked as belonging to Filter House as well. Short Fiction, Long Fiction, and Nonfiction will contain manuscript drafts, critiques, and notes known to belong to titled stories.

Series IV contains materials related to Nisi’s employment, conventions, workshops (such as Clarion West), and interest groups that pertain to her development as an author, teacher, and speaker.  Professional materials will mainly consist of book reviews, journal articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, and consultations.  Any articles or reviews written by Nisi will have the title listed first on the finding aid. Employment materials contain paper documents related to places such as Dawn Treader Bookshop and Borders.  Scholarly materials will include documents related to her education and academic writing.

Series V contains notes made during Nisi’s University times, secondary school times and others.  Her notes consist of potential manuscript notes (if untitled), personal notes, and scribbles.  Titled notes will be located with the story they are associated with.

Series VII contains restricted material that is viewable upon the author’s consent (see above for instructions).

Addendum 1 contains materials received in August 2022. These materials are grouped by topic with the bulk arranged alphabetically. Addendum 2 is made up of typescripts received in September 2025.