Literature is full of imposters and noms de plume, from George Eliot to “Robert Galbraith” (aka JK Rowling), but JT LeRoy is something else. George Eliot never did high-end fashion shoots, or received backstage passes to U2 gigs, or was sent Kabbalah books by Madonna.
In the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, fake memoirist JT Leroy (aka Laura Albert) made a singular impact on literary culture. The documentary Author: The JT LeRoy Story uses interviews and archival access to examine Albert’s persona.