Catherine Lacey Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

Leading US novelist Catherine Lacey talks about Biography of X, her epic tale of a toxic art-world marriage with its themes of grief, art, love and the fallibility of the stories we craft for ourselves.

When artist, writer and shape-shifter X dies, her widow CM throws herself into writing a biography of the woman she deified. Despite her fame, X had kept a tight grip on her life story. CM soon opens a Pandora’s box of secrets, betrayals and destruction. She also immerses herself in the history of the Southern Territory, a fascist theocracy that split from the rest of the country. The novel is populated with real-life figures including David Bowie, Susan Sontag and Tom Waits.

Lacey is author of Nobody is Ever Missing, The Answers and Pew. She was named as one of Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists. Here she talks to former LBC radio host and BBC presenter Matthew Stadlen.

This event is part of the festival’s programme of American literature and culture.