MK Lit Fest: Eley WIlliams – The Liar’s Dictionary

Described by The New York Times as 'a celebration of the people who compile dictionaries, even if they’re driven out of their minds in the process', The Liar's Dictionary explores complex and shifting relationships between people and the language that they use.

The novel alternates between two timelines: in the final year of the 19th century, Peter Winceworth is toiling away at the letter S for Swansby’s multivolume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. His disaffection with his colleagues compels him to assert some artistic freedom, and this errant lexicographer begins including unauthorized, fictitious entries. In the present day, intern Mallory starts to uncover these fake words as well as their creator’s motivations, hopes and desires. Encompassing themes of self-definition, recklessness, trust, wordplay and identity,

In this event we will discuss The Liar's Dictionary with the author, and learn more about the use and misuse of dictionaries in contemporary fiction.