The Londonist Literary List (A Day Late)

By london_sarah Last edited 218 months ago
The Londonist Literary List (A Day Late)
Leroy.jpg


The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you’d like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com.

This will go down as the week when troubled child writers everywhere lost credibility forever. Pretty amazing that the famous male writer JT Leroy ("pictured") not only isn't a male, but isn't actually a person either — he's just as fictional as his novels! And doubly amazing that while we were still tryig to process this information, word arrives that James Frey's bestselling memoir, A Million Little Pieces, isn't so much a memoir as an almost complete fabrication. At first glance, this might not all seem like such a big deal: books are concocted out of thin air all the time, after all. But both of these authors used false stories about themselves to garner sympathy, publicity, and (in Leroy's case) financial assistance from supporters. Leroy and Frey, in our opinion, thus deserve to never see publication again.

Anyway, on to the listings (which are still sparse, two weeks after the holiday season)...

Events Around London:

Tonight (the 11th), Nobel Museum Director Svante Lindqvist discusses how the Nobel Prizes and the ciritism they garner reflect outlooks of the 20th century. The British Library, 96 Euston Road. 6:30pm. £6/concessions £4.

On Friday (the 13th — oooh), Alan Hollinghurst stops by the Savile Club for a conversation with Jon Cook. Presumably, you'll be allowed to attend even if you aren't a member. 69 Brook Street. Doors at 6:30pm, events begins at 7pm. £10.

New Releases:

Vanish, by Tess Garritsen

Superstition, by Karen Robards

A Sign of the Times, by Mary Jane Staples

Keeping Faith, by Jodi Picoult

The Tango Singer, by Tomas Eloy Martinez

Other News:

Click on the following links for the breaking news on Leroy and Frey.

Last Updated 11 January 2006