Deborah Shepard Books
  • Home
  • Books
    • The Writing Life >
      • Reviews & Interviews
    • Giving Yourself to Life
    • Her Life's Work
    • Translucence
    • Between The Lives
    • Reframing Women
    • Tributes
    • Personal Writings >
      • Lockdown Journal
      • Travel Journal
      • Elegy for a friend
      • Christchurch - Post Quakes
      • On a residency
      • Deborah’s Love Letter to the Women’s Bookshop
      • Deborah's Q & A With Unity Books
  • Writing Memoir
    • Defining Memoir
    • The Participatory Model
    • Tips on Writing and Posting a Story
    • The Value of a Writing Class
    • From writing course to book publication
    • Your Writing Space
    • Writing on a Theme >
      • Window
      • Surviving a Crisis
    • Reviews of Memoir
  • Writers' stories
    • Covid-19 Stories
    • Writing Guidelines
  • Events
  • About
    • Testimonials
    • Media
  • What People Say
  • Contact

Events

All of Deborah's past and upcoming events

Life Writing: Memoir and Biography 2020

29/11/2019

 
Writing memoir involves a balance between capturing your own memories on the page and writing biographical accounts of the people, including the ancestors, who have left an imprint on your life.

WHEN: 5 X sessions, Monday 7 - Friday 11 September, 9:30am - 1pm
WHERE: The University of Auckland, City Campus


Course outline
Writing memoir involves an intricate interplay between writing down and preserving your own memories and constructing biographical accounts of the people, including the ancestors, who have left an imprint on your life. On this course, you will receive tuition on the fundamentals of writing memoir and biography and its ethical implications along with techniques that will assist you to write with flair and originality about the key figures, both living and from the past, who have influenced and helped shape your life. It is suitable for participants who have not yet completed Life Writing 1.

Session one: Arriving here – the importance of preserving my story and the family history.
  • An introduction to the joys of writing memoir and biography
  • Writing exercise 1: arriving here and establishing intent
  • Writing exercise 2: My life and the ancestors. Who were they? How did I love them?
Session two: Writing biography
  • Establishing intention and audience
  • research skills and how to organise archival material
  • What biographical sources do I have at my fingertips: letters, journals, personal accounts, photographs
  • how much do I write?
  • how do I integrate the family stories into my memoir narrative
  • what are my responsibilities as biographer intent on preserving their truths?
  • An editing workshop.
  • Writing exercise 1: My research aspirations
  • Writing exercise 2: A brief biographical introduction to…
Session three: The gentle art of oral history and life review
  • Where do I begin to tell the story of your life?
  • A workshop on conducting oral history to discover the shape of a person’s life
  • Practical exercise: recording your story
  • Writing exercise: Considering the life story arc.
Session four: The ethical implications of writing about friends, family, lovers and loved ones
  • Writing exercise: How do I balance my need to express my truths with a commitment to writing compassionately about the people who figure in my story: what are the ethical implications of writing a biography?
  • An individual mentoring session with Deborah
Session five: Publication and celebration
  • Preserving the ongoing work: how to maintain focus, enthusiasm and a long-term commitment to the writing project.
  • Writing exercise: Reflecting on my story and their story and how they intertwine.
Who should attend?
  • People who have completed Deborah’s Life Writing or memoir courses.
  • New writers interested in discovering their writing voice through writing about themselves and the people who frame their life.
  • Writers already engaged on a life story project who are wishing to deepen and revive their writing content.
REGISTER

Comments are closed.
    Testimonials
    ​
    ​"This is such a worthwhile course where emotional safety and student growth in writing are paramount."
    ​
    – Marilyn Woolford
    READ ALL TESTIMONIALS
    You Want To Write Memoir: The Value of a Writing Class
    find out more

    Categories

    All
    In Conversation With...
    Interviews
    Journal Workshop
    Life Writing Workshops
    Memoir Classes
    Readings
    Speaking Events

    Date

    September 2022
    June 2021
    January 2021
    April 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    October 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    November 2016
    March 2016
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    March 2014
    November 2013
    March 2013
    October 2012
    August 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    October 2011
    September 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011

    RSS Feed

Writing Memoir
Defining Memoir
The Participatory Model
Tips on Writing and Posting a Story
​From Writing Course to Book Publication
Your Writing Space
​Writing on a Theme
Reviews of Memoir
Writers Stories
​
Events
​About
Testimonials
What People Say

Media
​Contact
Copyright © 2017 Deborah Shepard
  • Home
  • Books
    • The Writing Life >
      • Reviews & Interviews
    • Giving Yourself to Life
    • Her Life's Work
    • Translucence
    • Between The Lives
    • Reframing Women
    • Tributes
    • Personal Writings >
      • Lockdown Journal
      • Travel Journal
      • Elegy for a friend
      • Christchurch - Post Quakes
      • On a residency
      • Deborah’s Love Letter to the Women’s Bookshop
      • Deborah's Q & A With Unity Books
  • Writing Memoir
    • Defining Memoir
    • The Participatory Model
    • Tips on Writing and Posting a Story
    • The Value of a Writing Class
    • From writing course to book publication
    • Your Writing Space
    • Writing on a Theme >
      • Window
      • Surviving a Crisis
    • Reviews of Memoir
  • Writers' stories
    • Covid-19 Stories
    • Writing Guidelines
  • Events
  • About
    • Testimonials
    • Media
  • What People Say
  • Contact