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? 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. Deborah Levy is a British playwright, novelist, and poet. Her work has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company and she is the author of novels including Beautiful Mutants, Swallowing Geography, Billy and Girl, and the Booker-shortlisted Swimming Home. Their conversation is chaired by Lisa Appignanesi, author of Trials of Passion and Mad, Bad and Sad, who has expanded the creative possibilities of the Freudian case history.

This event is held in partnership with the Centre for Modern Literature and Culture at King’s College London