The Art of Non-Fiction

Lara Feigel, Olivia Laing and Hisham Matar in conversation with Lisa Appignanesi

As non-fiction writers become more innovative in finding new structures and voices with which to tell their stories, how do they decide on their approach? What are the literary models on which they draw? Join our panel of authors as they discuss the art of non-fiction today.

Olivia Laing is the author of The Lonely City, The Trip to Echo Spring, shortlisted for the Costa biography prize, and To the River.

Hisham Matar’s first novel, In the Country of Men, won several prizes, including the 2007 RSL Ondaatje Prize. Last year he published The Return, which takes us on a journey to find his father. It won the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize and was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Prize.

Lara Feigel is the author of The Love-charm of Bombs and The Bitter Taste of Victory, in both of which she writes history with the structure of a novel.

Their conversation is chaired by Lisa Appignanesi, author of Trials of Passion and Mad, Bad and Sad, which has expanded the creative possibilities of the Freudian case history.

This event is followed by a book signing. In partnership with The Royal Society of Literature and the Centre for Modern Literature and Culture at King’s College London