Jim Fingal

In 2005, The Believer magazine paired a fact-checker with a contributing writer working on a piece. Seven years later some version of their epic, contentious back and forth—first about facts, then about the genre of non-fiction and finally about the nature of truth itself—is a book. Earlier this year, essayist John D’Agata and erstwhile fact-checker Jim Fingal spoke with Brooke about The Lifespan of a Fact.

Sufjan Stevens - Barcarola 

Writer John D’Agata and fact-checker Jim Fingal discuss truth and the definition of nonfiction. Their book, The Lifespan of a Fact, is a record of the seven years of arguments, negotiations, and revisions D’Agata and Fingal went through over a 2003 essay by D’Agata, and it explores the boundaries of literary nonfiction.