Richard Beard, the award-winning author of The Day That Went Missing and Sad Little Men, has launched an unusual memoir project that blends his own life story with a call for public participation. Titled The Universal Turing Machine, the work is both a memoir and a platform where others can contribute their own life stories, structured as a chessboard of 64 squares.
Each square represents one year of Beard's life, narrated in 1,000 words. At 58, he has fictionalised the last five years. Readers navigate the board like a knight in chess, moving in L-shaped jumps to choose which year to read next. Beard explains that the path a reader takes reveals something about themselves. The public can submit their own 64-year memoirs, each year limited to 1,000 words, to be displayed in a growing grid.
The project's name references Alan Turing's test for artificial intelligence. Beard says writing a memoir is a way of passing the Turing test, demonstrating humanity through lived experience and memory. He describes it as 'a resistance to AI-generated content'.
Beard's own memoir is emotionally precise, with entries that feel both tender and ruthless. He found that ordering memories in a linear narrative made them feel less honest, as he remembered events by jumping around. The chessboard format allows readers to jump too, creating an immersive, interactive experience. Nonlinear narratives have precedents in works like BS Johnson's The Unfortunates and Julio Cortázar's Hopscotch, but Beard's use of technology makes it interactive.
Beard began his career writing experimental fiction, such as Damascus, which used only nouns from the Times on the day the Maastricht Treaty took effect. He switched to memoir with The Day That Went Missing, about his brother's drowning. He says each memoir has brought him closer to telling the truth, whereas his novels were 'acts of deflection and evasion'.
The Universal Turing Machine is free to read and publish on. Memoirs are submitted as Word documents and will be copy edited. Beard, former director of the National Academy of Writing, will personally read and edit the first 15 submissions. There is no commercial outcome unless a publisher comes forward.
