autobiography

“Meet the growing clique of "hic lit" authors who have forsaken the demon drink and are saving themselves fortunes in therapists' fees by writing about their travails. Publishers are falling over themselves in the hunt for the next big title in the "painful lives" genre.” It’s surely a very popular genre; in the past couple of years it’s seen annual sales of more than £24m.

Laura D is not quite 20 and in her second year of university but she has succeeded this week in alerting France to an ugly phenomenon in its midst: student prostitution. The modern language student at a Paris university has drawn national attention with a book-- Mes Chères Études-- about a first year in which she paid impossible bills by selling her body to men.

Questions have arisen concerning the factual accuracy in Ishmael Beah’s bestselling novel A Long Way Gone. At issue is the age at which the author says he went to war and the length of time he claims to have been in the Sierra Leone army. His writing instructor says not to worry about such errors because the story is a memoir (!).

Do we write from experience or does our inspiration to write come from our experience? Remembering your roots and what brought you where you are is a journey to the outer limits. This story deals with what it means to be Greek, really.