Sarah Viren: 'To Name the Bigger Lie'

New York Times Magazine contributing writer and ASU professor Sarah Viren shares her harrowing memoir exploring the line between truth and deception, fact and fiction and reality and conspiracy. In conversation with ASU professor Safiya Sinclair, author of the forthcoming memoir, "How to Say Babylon."

The event is free of charge and open to the public.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Part coming-of-age story, part psychological thriller, part philosophical investigation, this unforgettable memoir traces the ramifications of a series of lies that threaten to derail the author’s life—exploring the line between truth and deception, fact and fiction and reality and conspiracy.

Sarah’s story begins as she’s researching what she believes will be a book about her high school philosophy teacher, a charismatic instructor who taught her and her classmates to question everything—in the end, even the reality of historical atrocities. As she digs into the effects of his teachings, her life takes a turn into the fantastical when her wife, Marta, is notified that she’s been investigated for sexual misconduct at the university where they both teach.

Based in part on a viral New York Times essay, "To Name the Bigger Lie" follows the investigation as it upends Sarah’s understanding of truth. She knows the claims made against Marta must be lies, and as she uncovers the identity of the person behind them and then tries, with increasing desperation, to prove their innocence, she’s drawn back into the questions that her teacher inspired all those years ago: about the nature of truth, the value of skepticism, and the stakes we all have in getting the story right.

A compelling, incisive journey into honesty and betrayal, this memoir explores the powerful pull of dangerous conspiracy theories and the pliability of personal narratives in a world dominated by hoaxes and fakes. "To Name the Bigger Lie" reads like the best of psychological thrillers—made all the more riveting because it’s true.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Viren is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and author of the essay collection, "Mine," a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. She is also the author of "To Name the Bigger Lie." She was a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow and teaches in the Department of English's creative writing program at ASU.