AG Educational Events
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
11:00 am Eastern
Online
When writing about real people—or inventing characters based on real people—an author should consider whether someone’s portrayal could attract a lawsuit. Fiction and nonfiction writers alike can potentially face lawsuits from people who feel their reputation is damaged by a book.
Media lawyer Carolyn Schurr Levin, a veteran of risk management for book manuscripts, joins us to discuss libel in fiction and autofiction (autobiographical fiction), as well as nonfiction or any writing that may be perceived as portraying real people.
Levin will give an overview of the pertinent laws and important court decisions on this issue and what attorneys consider when vetting a manuscript to reduce the risk of a lawsuit. Attendees will gain knowledge to more confidently proceed with writing about living people and real companies.
Carolyn Schurr Levin’s practice focuses on media, publishing, First Amendment, and intellectual property law. She has wide ranging experience in prepublication legal review of content and editorial risk management. She is a partner at the firm Miller Korzenik Sommers Rayman LLP. She has wide- ranging experience in prepublication legal review of content and editorial risk management. From 2008 to 2019, Ms. Levin was a Lecturer of Media Law at the Stony Brook University School of Journalism, where she also served in the role of Media Law Adviser from 2013 to 2019. She has taught a graduate course in Legal Aspects of Publishing Law at Pace University and from 2018 to 2023 taught Media Ethics and Law in the Department of Journalism and the Writing Professions at Baruch College. Before teaching full time, Ms. Levin served as the Vice President and General Counsel of Ziff Davis Media and the Vice President and General Counsel of Newsday. She earned her undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School. She is admitted to the bars of New York, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia.
With the generous support of our donors, the Authors Guild Foundation is able to offer our educational programs for free to all interested writers. If you’d like to support the Foundation, please click here.
