Deborah Shepard Books
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Translucence

Life Writing From Manukau and Papakura
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introduction
The new writers in this powerful collection were selected from the 2010 First Chapters - Ngā Wāhangā Tuatahi programme, which is based in the libraries of Manukau and Papakura (in the southern part of Auckland). The programme encourages beginning writers to tell their own stories in their own way. All had to take a journey back to earlier years, sometimes into the mists of time to shed light on events that had shaped them or their families and whanau. These stories are personal odysseys, many about overcoming tremendous odds. Some are poignant and sad but all celebrate special people and places. 

You can read Deborah’s Introduction to the book here which includes an overview of her teaching method and a taste of the brilliant life stories she encountered while facilitating the workshops and editing the book. You can also read a story from the collection here ‘From Mother to Child: How Dementia Stole My Mother’ by writer and former neurodevelopmental paediatrician Joan Hugo Burley. 
"...I scanned the faces of all thirty new writers and caught in their expressions a mix of expectancy, uncertainty, and apprehension. The anxiety in the atmosphere had a pitch I could hear and feel. Then I asked people to write down what had brought them to the First Chapters programme. There was an exhalation of breath and the room settled into silence. People knew what to write."..
Deborah thanks Rangimarie Kelly and Pikau Digtal for website design and artist Karen Jarvis for her image ‘Writers at the Devonport Library,’ (2023)
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 © 2023 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 >
      • Conference Paper
      • 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
    • Writer's Stories
    • Covid-19 Stories
    • Writing Guidelines
    • From Being Mentored to Book Publication
  • Events
  • About
    • Testimonials
    • Media
  • What People Say
  • Contact