Mark Lawson ©Calyx Picture Agency
Mark Lawson: it could all be made up and still be true.
The words above are not mine but are taken from the entry in the literature festival brochure in respect of Mark Lawson’s talk last night at Swindon Arts Centre. When I saw them there on the page two words popped into my head: ‘fake news’. I wasn’t the only one to have that train of thought clearly because in the question session someone raised that very thing.
One has to wonder if, in the new order from across the pond of ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’, the phrase ‘trumped-up charges’ doesn’t take on a whole new meaning?
So, The Allegations. A semi-autobiographical contemporary novel, set in a fictitious Midlands university, that explores the scenario of having ‘historic’* allegations made against you, and how you get through it and what it does to you.
And if the description ‘semi-autobiographical’ is too strong the novel is most certainly influenced by Lawson’s own experience. He recently stepped down from his long-running hosting role of BBC Radio 4’s culture show, Front Row, amid claims of bullying. Continue reading
Festival Chronicle 