Memoir: A Panel Discussion
Adam Langer, author of The Thieves of Manhattan: A Novel
Beth Raymer, author of Lay the Favorite: A Memoir of Gambling
Ben Yagoda, author of Memoir: A History
The memoir is a conflicted and fascinating creation, where memory and truth meet the demands of the marketplace; it is also both an increasingly popular genre in contemporary American letters and the focus of a string of scandals and condemnations. Three authors offer varying perspectives on the memoir during tonight’s panel discussion, shedding light on their own motives and efforts and the state of memoir in general. Adam Langer’s last book was a memoir, My Father’s Bonus War, but he is best known as a novelist; his new novel The Thieves of Manhattan is about a fake memoir (or two) and the lengths to which some writers will go in order to succeed. Beth Raymer’s highly acclaimed memoir Lay the Favorite chronicles her experiences in the high-stakes, high-anxiety underworld of sports betting. Ben Yagoda’s Memoir: A History traces the form from St. Augustine’s Confessions to Robinson Crusoe (the first “fake memoir”) to the present day.
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Wow. I'd like to have gone to this. If it hadn't been yesterday and I didn't live in London. Still ... another time.
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