Fake Fiction: The Story of J.T. LeRoy

So, this might seem like a weird question, but hear me out. Does
authenticity matter? Let me be more specific. Does art need to be
authentic? What if you found out, for example, that your favorite
writer—somebody whose traumatic life story you related to, somebody
whose identity was a living, breathing part of the power of the
stories they told—was a fake? Not the person they presented
themselves to be at all? Would you be fine with it, or would you
feel kind of…betrayed? And how would you feel about the stories?
Would they hit a little different if you knew the person who wrote
them was a big, stinky fraud? Join us for the story of an audacious
literary con, a scam that made its mastermind a pile of money and a
whole entourage of celebrity fans—and rocked the early 2000s
literary scene to its core.

Sources:
The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/20/jt-leroy-story-modern-literary-hoax-

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/23/my-life-as-jt-leroy-savannah-knoop-on-playing-the-great-literary-hoaxer

New York Magazine:
https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/14718/
Vanity Fair:
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/08/jt-leroy-documentary-interview

Documentary "The Cult of J.T. LeRoy"
Investigation Discovery's "Impostors," episode "The Heart Is
Deceitful"


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