Whose Truth Is It Anyway?

Whose Truth Is It Anyway

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BBC Radio 4 FM

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Writer and broadcaster Damian Barr explores reality, truth and fiction in literature.

Writer and broadcaster Damian Barr grapples with the slippery idea of truth in literature - from memoir to fiction to writing that occupies all the areas in between.

Writer and broadcaster Damian Barr grapples with the slippery idea of truth in literature - from memoir to fiction to writing that occupies all the areas in between. What does it mean for a story to be true - and is the idea of truth changing? Who gets to decide whose truths make it into onto the page and into our bookshelves?

BBC Radio 4 LW

Whose Truth Is It Anyway?: Memoir and Me

Memoir and Me

BBC Radio 4 - Whose Truth Is It Anyway?, Memoir and Me

Damian Barr explores reality, truth and fiction in literature - beginning with memoir.

Damian Barr explores reality, truth and fiction in literature - beginning with one of the most popular and personal genres of all, the memoir.

Writer and broadcaster Damian Barr grapples with the slippery idea of truth in literature - from memoir to fiction to writing that occupies all the areas in between. What does it mean for a story to be true - and is the idea of truth changing? Who gets to decide whose truths make it into onto the page and into our bookshelves? 

With contributions from Sathnam Sanghera, Olivia Laing, Ellah Wakatama, Taymour Soomro, Alexandra Heminsley and Suede singer and co-creator of the new album Autofiction, Brett Anderson.

In this first episode, Damian explores one of the most popular and personal genres of writing - memoir. Revisiting his own complex experience of writing a memoir, and dealing with the aftermath, Damian unpicks what it is that authors and readers expect from type of writing. What makes a memoir more or less true? And do readers understand something different by that truth from authors? Do modern audiences expect a different kind of truth?

Damian also reveals some of his own discoveries about the process of writing a true memoir - including discovering that even the most candid memoir is also be shaped by legal and personal considerations. Not all truths are published equally.

Written and Presented by Damian Barr
Produced by Leo Hornak
An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4

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