Every time a writer or a publication seems to cross the murky line between fact and fantasy, by accident or by design, some reporter, somewhere, seems compelled to take a potshot at creative nonfiction. Mostly these reporters don't know what they are talking about--but I guess, like Robert Leiter, writing in Philadelphia's Jewish Exponent, they've got some space to fill.

Leiter is annoyed with David Granger, the editor in chief of Esquire Magazine, who asked a writer, Lisa Taddeo, to dramatize and fictionalize actor Heath Ledger's final days. Taddeo wrote the story in the first person, as if Ledger was narrating.

Leiter disapproves, evidently, and so, what does he do? He attacks the creative nonfiction genre in his April 17 Exponent column, explaining how, in part, college courses in creative nonfiction have led to an era of "forged" memoirs.

I won't even legitimize Leiter's assertions by debating them, but I will point out that he ought to take the basic tenets of his own profession more seriously before he starts dissing other genres. First of all, Leiter evidently did not speak to either Granger or Taddeo; he is quoting from and responding to a March 6 New York Times article by Tim Arango about the Esquire feature. How's that for original research?

Second, "creative nonfiction" is not mentioned in either the Arango article or the Taddeo feature--for one good reason: Taddeo is not writing creative nonfiction. Her piece is fiction, fantasy, made up, based on kernels of fact and truth, like The Da Vinci Code.

A similar issue came up recently, this time involving me. In a March 9 column, Bob Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette book editor, used a sentence from a solicited letter I wrote for Harper's Magazine to demonstrate that I believe truth in memoir is unnecessary, that creative nonfiction and memoir can be fiction.

In this case, Hoover quoted me totally out of context. I was replying to a question posed by Harper's in response to a particular issue in a specific essay published in the magazine. Hoover made it seem as if I am generally cavalier about truth and accuracy--which is positively incorrect and unfair. Hoover would have easily been able to discover my ideas about the subject by consulting the many books and essays I have written about ethics and moral responsibilities and challenges in memoir, most recently, Keep It Real, published last month by W.W. Norton.

He could have also picked up the telephone and asked me for clarification. It is easy to quote someone out of context; I am certain I can snatch a sentence or two from his columns and make him seem pretty lame and unethical, as well.

Hoover also referred to the creative nonfiction genre as being limited to academic institutions. This is total nonsense, just like Leiter's assertion that college writing courses lead to forged memoir. The National Endowment for the Arts has offered fellowships for creative nonfiction writers for more than two decades. Many book publishers have creative nonfiction books series'. Leading veteran journalists are part of creative nonfiction programs and have written books about creative nonfiction. Recently, the Pulitzer Prize winning New Yorker reporter, John McPhee, was given a lifetime achievement award for creative nonfiction by the prestigious George Polk journalism awards committee. I could go on and on. Hoover and Leiter should know better.

To hear how I really define the genre of creative nonfiction, click here.