In celebration of April Fool’s Day I would like to share some top literary hoaxes.

By now you’ve heard of James Frey’s partially-fabricated memoir A Million Little Pieces and Margaret B. Jones’ totally-fabricated memoir Love and Consequences.

But there are more.

Many anonymous teenage diaries like Go Ask Alice were actually written (not just edited) by Beatrice Sparks

Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan was initially published (self) as a memoir until there was such a protest by Aboriginal groups it was reissued as fiction.

The Education of Little Tree a memoir about growing up among Cherokee Indians was written by a former white supremacist who wrote George Wallace’s speech “Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!” It too was reissued as fiction.

The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinki was also republished as fiction after it was revealed that the story of his childhood in Eastern Europe during World War II was false.

I guess there’s another way to get to be a novelist: Write a great “memoir.” (Please note this is said tongue-in-cheek so don’t send me nasty letters )

Find out more literary hoaxes here.