What is illegal to write in a book

Memoirs are fascinating to read because they are about real people and sometimes organisations.

Is it legal to write a book about someone without their permission

But that very thing which makes them interesting raises the risk of someone taking legal action against you. Libel is the term given to defamation in permanent form — such as print. Being taken to court can be extremely expensive so it is vital that you do all that you can when writing your Memoir to guard against Libel. This means you have to prove that what you are writing is true.

In UK law only you have to prove that what you have said had no malicious intention. Which is incredibly hard to prove…. Make sure what you are writing is TRUE. Make sure you have the facts to back up a statement. This applies to repeating statements that have been made by someone else and printed previously eg in newspapers or other books.

Even if they are true, you have to be able to prove that they are true. It is not enough to simply point to these earlier printed statements, even if the authors of those statements were never sued for Libel. Opinion — a defamation claim can only be based on something stated as Fact. In theory, sharing an opinion should allow you to avoid defamation.

You will need to show reasoning and evidence to back up such an opinion. Assumption — be careful about adding two and two, and coming up with five!