Autofiction: Blurring the lines between myth and reality - Author Daniel Cecil
Where does the memoir end and the myth begin?
In contemporary literature, autofiction has emerged as a radical act of self-reconstruction. Whether reading a confession or writing our own lives down on paper, we are constantly navigating the thin line between lived experience and invented narrative. If a fabricated detail captures the precise emotional reality of what happened, is it really a lie?
Who This Is For
This night is designed for curious minds, avid readers, writers, storytellers, and anyone who has ever taken a moment from their own life and wondered: could this be a story? You don’t need to be a published author—just bring your curiosity and an appetite for good conversation.
What We’ll Explore
Truth vs. Creative Fabrication: Dismantling the rigid boundaries between objective reality and personal myth-making.
The Emotional Truth: How writers take raw, chaotic experiences—grief, love, trauma, and mundane intimacy—and shape them into art.
The Myth of Memory: Exploring whether memory itself is simply our first rough draft of fiction.
Our Obsession with "The Real": Why modern culture craves authenticity while simultaneously surrendering to the artifice of fiction.
The Experience
A cozy, high-salience evening set inside an independent bookstore. Grab a glass of complimentary sangria (alcoholic and non-alcoholic options available), enjoy the talk, and stay for an open, relaxed conversation among fellow attendees.
About the Speaker
Daniel Cecil is a writer, educator, and the founder of Honing House, a creative learning space for the Amsterdam literary community. He holds an MFA in Fiction from the University of Washington, where he spent five years teaching craft, and currently teaches travel writing for Emerson College.
His work has earned a Pushcart Prize nomination, been long-listed for the Dzanc Fiction Prize, and appeared in The LA Review of Books, The Rumpus, The Stranger, and The Heavy Feather Review. He is also the former managing editor of Amsterdam's Versal Journal.