I'm Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying

Essays

By: Bassey Ikpi

Narrated by: Bassey Ikpi

2020 Audie Finalist – Short Stories/Collections

In I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying Bassey Ikpi explores her life—as a Nigerian-American immigrant, a black woman, a slam poet, a mother, a daughter, an artist—through the lens of her mental health and diagnosis of bipolar II and anxiety. Her remarkable memoir in essays implodes our preconceptions of the mind and normalcy as Bassey bares her own truths and lies for us all to behold with radical honesty and brutal intimacy.

A Bitch Magazine Most Anticipated Book of 2019 • A Bustle 21 New Memoirs That Will Inspire, Motivate, and Captivate You • A Publishers Weekly Spring Preview Selection • An Electric Lit 48 Books by Women and Nonbinary Authors of Color to Read in 2019 • A Bookish Best Nonfiction of Summer Selection

""We will not think or talk about mental health or normalcy the same after reading this momentous art object moonlighting as a colossal collection of essays.” —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

From her early childhood in Nigeria through her adolescence in Oklahoma, Bassey Ikpi lived with a tumult of emotions, cycling between extreme euphoria and deep depression—sometimes within the course of a single day. By the time she was in her early twenties, Bassey was a spoken word artist and traveling with HBO's Def Poetry Jam, channeling her life into art. But beneath the façade of the confident performer, Bassey's mental health was in a precipitous decline, culminating in a breakdown that resulted in hospitalization and a diagnosis of Bipolar II.

In I'm Telling the Truth, But I'm Lying, Bassey Ikpi breaks open our understanding of mental health by giving us intimate access to her own. Exploring shame, confusion, medication, and family in the process, Bassey looks at how mental health impacts every aspect of our lives—how we appear to others, and more importantly to ourselves—and challenges our preconception about what it means to be ""normal."" Viscerally raw and honest, the result is an exploration of the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of who we are—and the ways, as honest as we try to be, each of these stories can also be a lie.

Raw. Real. Necessary.

After hearing Bassey on The Read, I knew I had to get this book. It turned out to be everything I didn't know that I needed. I feel so seen after listening to this. It felt like her words were telling the story of my life. While the cast of characters, places, and faces were different the feelings, emotions, and experiences she shared vibrated to the same frequency of mine.
Even if you don't have similar struggles with mental health, just hearing her tell the stories of her life in a way that's honest and so relate-able will have you captivated.

Exceptional content and narration.

Deeply moving delivery. Riveting story to the bitter end. Stellar all the way around. Go.

A view into Bipolar disorder and hypomania

in her words, Bassey Ikpi, takes you into bipolar disorder, hypomania, rapid cycling and the challenges of getting treatment. Hearing her voice tell the story adds so much to our understanding.

Poetic, beautiful, heartbreaking, honest

I don't think I've ever read a such a beautifully descriptive story of pain and inner turmoil. Bassey's naked self reflection and unflinching honesty leave you unable and not wanting to judge her struggle. Honest, earnest and so raw. I found myself re-listening to portions that were so insightful and so beautifully descriptive that one listen wasn't enough.

Mezmorizing

There are but two words that fully encompass the full weight of Bassey's Story.. Painfully Brilliant