I was being sarcastic.
Publicists don't make up such information for a relatively obscure author. They take the information the author gives them. Maybe Obama lied to his publicist but I doubt it.
ML/NJ
It reminds me of when Hillary falsely claimed to be named after Sir Edmund Hillary and Snopes defended her claim saying maybe her MOM had lied to her. Eventually a staffer admitted it was all a sham for attention from Sir Edmund when she met him in New Zealand.
I didn’t see your comment before I posted, but you are correct. The only way a publisher could know biographical details on an obscure author is from the author himself.
Oh! And who the bleep was the “American anthropologist” ? His mom was a ceritfied welfare queen. I know the neighborhood where her folks lived in Hawaii-——there is not a anthropological claven there!