To Tell A Story

2026 To Tell A Story John Berger and Susan Sontag edited by Benoit Bourreau, published by Canongate

To Tell A Story, essay by John Berger and Susan Sontag, first edition in 2026 edited by Benoît Bourreau, based on the Voices TV show on Channel 4, To Tell A Story episode in 1983, with Susan Sontag and John Berger, directed by Mike Lloyd.

Despite their status as intellectual giants of the twentieth century, John Berger and Susan Sontag’s artistic collaboration – and intense friendship – remains virtually unknown.

Published for the first time, To Tell a Story offers a glimpse into their shared history that spanned nearly a quarter-century. From sources such as their eponymous film broadcast, rare personal letters and archival recordings, the composite fragments build a portrait of a relationship that was often lively and challenging, sometimes trivial and always affectionate.

Berger and Sontag’s voices echo throughout these pages, riffing off the other as they grapple with their respective concerns. Above all, their conversations reveal a deep reciprocal admiration and an exchange of ideas about storytelling, the self and society that informed their own work.

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JOHN BERGER

Storyteller, essayist, novelist, screenwriter, playwright, painter and critic, John Berger (1926-2017) is one of the most internationally influential writers of the last fifty years. Solo or in collaboration with Jean Mohr for example, he published more than 30 titles, the Booker Prize winning novel G and the best-seller Ways of Seeing. He has also published articles in the most important newspapers around the world.

He used to work and live in Quincy, a small French peasant community, the setting for his trilogy Into their Labours.

Painters, cineasts, writers, dancers, curators have been and are still inspired by his work, this website is a window on these TODAY creations.