Deborah Shepard Books
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Events

All of Deborah's past and upcoming events

Life Writing: Memoir and Biography April 2019

8/1/2019

 
Encompass everything from the complete life to the day-in-the-life.
​

When: 5 x sessions, Monday 29 April - Friday 3 May, 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.

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

Journal Workshop with Deborah Shepard February 2019

8/1/2019

 
Identify key writing strengths and continue developing those skills through journaling.

When: 6 x Tuesdays 19 February - 26 March, 6:00 - 8:30pm
​Where: The University of Auckland, City Campus

Course description
We are living through increasingly turbulent times, in an age awash in online content much of it edifying and conducive to creativity but some of it disruptive to concentration and to maintaining a more contemplative approach to living and being.

This journal workshop, presented by an experienced tutor and journaller, offers a quiet writing sanctuary where you can reconnect with your inner life and discover what is on your mind and what you deeply care about and also deepen your experience of the present. The course includes an introduction to the pleasures of the journal form, with writing techniques and triggers for a series of writing exercises along with discussion and analysis of writing samples from some of the great proponents of the genre: Henry David Thoreau, Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, Lord Byron, Thomas Merton, Etty Hillesum, John Keats, Samuel Pepys, Sylvia Plath, May Sarton, Joan Didion, Anais Nin and Kate Llewellyn.

This six week course will appeal to people wanting to use the journal for self-exploration, or to develop formal writing skills for other projects, or to chronicle and preserve your daily observations of the world, from the humble and small, to the splendid and sublime.
REGISTER

​Life Writing with Deborah Shepard January 2019

8/1/2019

 
Under Deborah’s gentle guidance you will have five blissful days to indulge your dream and begin your life writing project in a collaborative and supportive environment.

Where: 
The University of Auckland, City Campus
When: 5 x sessions, Monday 21 - Friday 25 January, 9:30am - 1pm

Learning outcomes
On completion of this course, participants will be able to: continue the reading programme established on the course, using my bibliography and read memoir critically sit down and write with confidence write for online publication continue writing their memoir for book publication, for blogging, as an essay, for a family history project and perform the writing at the monthly Inside Out Open Mic forum.

Who should attend?
This course is designed for: new writers, people who are interested in writing and are newcomers to the genre people who want to discover their writing voice people who want to record their stories for their family people who want to write and publish their life story people who want to explore their inner world and express their thoughts and feelings and observations and transform them into literature young and older writers people who have written in another genre such as fiction or poetry, or non-fiction and who want to explore memoir.
REGISTER

RNZ Author Interview: The Writing Life - Tessa Duder and Deborah Shepard

23/11/2018

 
A pioneering generation of writers raised after the Second World War have founded the rich diverse literary landscape that we have today. A dozen of them are the subject of a new book telling their own stories of their lives, published by Massey university Press. The Writing Life is an oral history project in which writers ranging from Witi ihimeara to Joy Cowley, Patricia Grace to Vincent O'Sullivan speak frankly about their own life journeys, the challenges and the opportunities. The book features some rather beautiful portraits by photographer John McDermott. We're joined by the author oral historian Deborah Shepard and one of those rather special writers Tessa Duder.
LISTEN TO INTERVIEW ON RNZ

AFTERGLOW: The Writing Life: Twelve New Zealand Authors by Deborah Shepard

14/11/2018

 
On Thursday November 8th, Unity hosted a lunchtime discussion between author Deborah Shepard, Massey University Press publisher Nicola Legat, Dame Fiona Kidman, and Patricia Grace about Shepard’s new book The Writing Life: Twelve New Zealand Authors. Shepard conducted interviews with twelve of New Zealand’s greatest living authors, including Grace and Kidman, about their lives, careers, and the art of writing itself. 

Patricia Grace read a poem by the seminal poet, Hone Tuwhare, as it was one of the first pieces of literature she loved and was an inspiration for her to become a writer. Fiona Kidman read a moving poem about her late husband Ian. All three remarked on Shepard’s candour, respect, and passion as a writer, emphasising how wonderful their experience was working with Shepard to produce this remarkable book.
​
The Writing Life: Twelve New Zealand Authors by Deborah Shepard, $50.00, is available for purchase in store or online here.

Article Source: http://unitybooks.nz/counterculture/afterglow-the-writing-life-twelve-new-zealand-authors-by-deborah-shepard/

Lecture at the National Library, Wellington

5/11/2018

 
Date: Thursday, 15 November, 2018
Time: 6:00pm to 7:00pm
Cost: Free. You don't need to book. 
Location: Tiakiwai Seminar Room, Lower Ground floor, National Library, corner Molesworth and Aitken Streets. Entrance on Aitken Street.
Contact Details: events.natlib@dia.govt.nz

Join Deborah Shepard to hear her account of the genesis of the book The Writing Life.
The book began with an oral history project for the New Zealand Society of Authors, that was funded by an Award in Oral History in 2015. The history project was to record the stories of senior members of the New Zealand literary community:
  • Joy Cowley
  • Marilyn Duckworth
  • Tessa Duder
  • Chris Else
  • Patricia Grace
  • David Hill
  • Witi Ihimaera
  • Fiona Kidman
  • Owen Marshall
  • Vincent O’Sullivan
  • Philip Temple, and
  • Albert Wendt.
Deborah will outline the process from oral history into book and the surprises and discoveries she made along the way about the challenges and pleasures of the writing vocation from 12 of our most experienced and brilliant practitioners.
find out more

Lunchtime Event at Unity Books

5/11/2018

 
WHEN: Thursday 8 November 12pm
WHERE: Unity Books, 57 Willis St, Wellington

Join Unity Books & Massey University Press for a lunchtime event!
​
Deborah Shepard in conversation with her publisher Nicola Legat, and with readings by Dame Fiona Kidman and Patricia Grace.
FIND OUT MORE

Book Launch: The Writing Life: Twelve New Zealand Authors

2/10/2018

 
All Memoirists and life writers who have attended Deborah’s courses, or follow her work are invited to the launch of The Writing Life: Twelve New Zealand Authors.

WHEN: Tuesday 6 November, 6pm
WHERE: Auckland Central Library, level two

​Memoir Workshop with Deborah Shepard

2/10/2018

 
Words Will Work: South Auckland Writers Festival  26 - 27 October 
​
WHEN: Saturday 27 O October 9:00 AM - 10:30AM
WHERE: Conference Room, Mangere East Community Centre, 372 Massey Road
Limited places.

​Memoir is the ideal genre for people young and old, to discover their writing voice because this is your story, you know it best. You have the skills to express your experience in your own words.
On this workshop with experienced teacher Deborah Shepard, you will be introduced to techniques that will assist you to unlock your creative voice in a safe and friendly environment. The session will also include a talk on the joy of writing memoir, a definition of memoir and an introduction to a reading list including excerpts from some of the great autobiographies and memoirs. There will also be a writing exercise: 'A defining childhood memory'. 
view programme & buy tickets

Journal Workshop with Deborah Shepard

20/3/2018

 
Identify key writing strengths and continue developing those skills through journaling.

We are living through increasingly turbulent times, in an age awash in digital content that is often edifying and conducive to creativity but equally, it can be disruptive to concentration and to maintaining a calmer and more contemplative mode of living.

This journalling workshop presented by an experienced tutor and journaler Deborah Shepard offers a quiet sanctuary where you can reconnect with your inner life and find out what you are thinking through writing exercises, and discussion and analysis of the form with reference to some of the great journalers.

WHEN: 4 x Saturday 9, 16, 23 and 30 June, 9:30am-2:00pm
WHERE: The University of Auckland
COST: $310.00 incl. GST
register today

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Writing Memoir
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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