Quote by Aminatta Forna: “The truth is what we say happened, not always what did.”

Memory and testimony are not neutral recordings. What we collectively call 'the truth' is often a story shaped by power, trauma, and who gets to speak. This doesn't make truth impossible — but it reminds us that the official version of events and what actually happened are not always the same thing.

Forna has written across her career about post-conflict societies in Sierra Leone, Croatia, and Afghanistan, where the official history of what happened rarely aligned with the lived experience of survivors. By 2017, the concept of 'fake news' and competing narratives about reality had entered everyday political discourse worldwide.

Sierra Leonean-Scottish author whose novels and memoir The Devil That Danced on the Water confront war, loss, and justice with unflinching intelligence. Her novel Happiness was published in 2018 and explores urban grief and connection across cultures.