Whose Truth Is It Anyway?

Whose Truth Is It Anyway

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BBC Radio 4 LW

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

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 FM

Whose Truth Is It Anyway?: Lies, Damned Lies and Autofiction

Lies, Damned Lies and Autofiction

BBC Radio 4 - Whose Truth Is It Anyway?, Lies, Damned Lies and Autofiction

Damian Barr considers autofiction, the literary lovechild of memoir and fiction.

Ending his exploration of truth in books, Damian Barr considers autofiction, the lovechild of memoir and fiction. With Suede's Brett Anderson whose new album is called Autofiction.

What does it mean for a story to be true? Writer and broadcaster Damian Barr grapples with the increasingly slippery idea of truth in books - from memoir to fiction and all the grey areas between. Reflecting on his own writing, Damian unpicks the different truths that writers and readers expect from different genres. Is our idea of truth changing? And who gets to decide whose truths make it onto the page and onto our shelves?
 
In this final episode, Damian gets to grips with ‘autofiction’ - writing which is neither memoir nor fiction, but plays with elements of both.

Helping Damian answer these questions are novelists Olivia Lang, Jarred McGinnis and Taymour Soomro. We also hear from Suede’s Brett Anderson whose new album is called Autofiction.
 
Do readers have a right to know if a story is lifted from real life or not? How do we fictionalise our lives on and off the page? And might the autofictional approach help or hinder marginalised writers? Are we living in an autofictional moment?


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

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Whose Truth Is It Anyway?

Lies, Damned Lies and Autofiction

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