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Author | Bassey Ikpi |
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Genre | Memoir |
Publisher | Harper Perennial |
Publication date | 2019 |
I'm Telling the Truth but I'm Lying is a memoir by Nigerian spoken word artist Bassey Ikpi published by Harper Perennial an imprint of HarperCollins in 2019. [1] [2]
The book is described as "a deep personal work that chronicles the Nigerian-American author's life living with bipolar II disorder and anxiety, and a woman of color and combating the stigma surrounding it." [3] The essays cover her difficulties as a young child re-locating from Nigeria to America, struggling with household tensions, depression and hospitalization, leading up to her eventual diagnosis of and treatment for bipolar II disorder. [4]
On May 4, 2017, it was announced that her first book, a memoir titled Making Friends With Giants would be published by Harper Perennial in 2018. [3] The book, eventually renamed I'm Telling the Truth But I'm Lying was published in August 2019.
The book became a New York Times bestseller. [5] Essence described it as a "stunning essay collection". [4] Kola Tubosun calls it "a kind of map for those interested in learning about how mental illness affects people." [6]