fake memoirs

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James Frey to Oprah: That Interview Was a 'Car Crash'

Author says he was 'ambushed' in 2006 interview

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey is using two of The Oprah Winfrey Show's final eight episodes to revisit what she says is the biggest controversy of the show's 25-year history. Author James Frey was back on the show yesterday, five years after Oprah gave him a very public dressing-down for having...

James Frey Returning to Oprah
 James Frey Returning to Oprah 
Apr 21, 2011 9:04 AM CDT

James Frey Returning to Oprah

Talk show queen eviscerated him for faking memoir

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey eviscerated him on her talk show (and later apologized for it ), but James Frey is ready to return to the scene of the crime. The author, who famously found himself the recipient of Oprah's wrath when it was revealed he fabricated portions of his so-called memoir,...

James Frey's Latest Creation: Pro-Choice, Pro-Gay Jesus

Once Oprah's enemy, now Christians'?

(Newser) - James Frey pissed off a lot of people—including Oprah—when his “memoir” A Million Little Pieces was exposed as fictional—but his new book might spark even more ire. Illumination: The Final Testament of the Holy Bible features a Messiah who marries gays, impregnates a teen, and later...

Oprah to Fake Memoirist: Sorry!

Moment of reflection leads talk show queen to apologize

(Newser) - In a moment worthy of, well, Oprah, talk-show queen Winfrey herself had an epiphany while meditating—and called memoir faker James Frey to apologize for publicly eviscerating him on her show. “When I heard her say, ‘I felt I owe you an apology,’ I was very grateful,...

Fake Memoirist Frey Implies Dirt on Oprah

Excerpt from new book seems to be based on Frey's experience

(Newser) - Does James Frey—who achieved infamy when Oprah Winfrey denounced his fake addiction memoir A Million Little Pieces—have dirt on the talk-show queen? That’s what he seems to imply in new novel Bright Shiny Morning, the New York Post reports. The paperback edition, out May 12, includes an...

Fake Holocaust Author on GMA
 Fake Holocaust Author on GMA 
Feb 18, 2009 7:00 AM CST

Fake Holocaust Author on GMA

Rosenblat makes first TV appearance since scandal

(Newser) - Holocaust memoir faker Herman Rosenblat appears on Good Morning America today in his first TV appearance since his downfall, Gawker reports. A leaked video of Rosenblat being interviewed made it onto YouTube last night, and shows the story he’s trying to spin: that he convinced himself he was the...

Fake Holocaust Memoir May See Light as Novel

Henry Rosenblatt working to find outlet for disgraced story

(Newser) - Herman Rosenblat’s Holocaust memoir was exposed as fake, but that doesn’t mean no one can profit off it: A small New York press is considering publishing the work as fiction, Gawker reports. Rosenblat, who even fooled Oprah a la James Frey, spun a touching but debunked story about...

Publisher Yanks Kid Spinoff of Holocaust Fake

Refunds offered for picture book based on hoax love story

(Newser) - Publishers are now pulling a picture book inspired by a Holocaust love story revealed to be a fake, Publishers Weekly reports. Lerner Publishing has announced it will cancel reprints of Angel Girl and offer refunds for returned copies. Herman Rosenblat's memoir Angel on the Fence was canceled by another publisher...

Publisher Cancels 'Fake' Holocaust Memoir

Rosenblat ordered to return payment

(Newser) - A publisher has canceled a Holocaust memoir attacked by experts as a fake, reports Publishers Weekly. Angel at the Fence, which was promoted by Oprah Winfrey, purported to tell the story of Holocaust survivor Henry Rosenblat, who claimed he was saved by food tossed over a concentration camp fence by...

'Realish' Sedaris Book Skirts Memoir Scrutiny

Genre 'the last place you’d expect to find the truth,' humorist says

(Newser) - With his new book of nonfiction essays, Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris finds himself engulfed in questions of truth and accuracy. In America, the recent explosion of memoirs has been followed with one scandal after another, prompting more scrutiny of the humorist’s work. “I do think Sedaris exaggerates...

How to Fake a Memoir
 How to Fake a Memoir 
Mar 12, 2008 4:03 PM CDT

How to Fake a Memoir

Embellish the story without getting caught, Slate scribe suggests

(Newser) - Misha Defonseca's memoir left a sticky trail of lies about escaping Nazis and living with wolves. (It turns out wolf saliva isn't an antiseptic.) Tired of careless fabricators, Slate writes a how-to for aspiring fakers:
  • Keep it vague. Dates are verifiable—"awhile" is not.
  • Watch out for tattling
...

11 Stories