Autobiography and memoir is about lived experience. This can be cathartic or it can be exploratory, bringing up all kinds of feelings about personal events and experiences, often for the first time. This course will allow participants to explore and to share their life stories, to understand the writing process, and to experiment in a constructive atmosphere to help develop their projects.

How will the course be taught?

The course will be taught with a mixture of tutor-led discussion, examples, short practical writing exercises for reading and sharing in class, and occasional short writing exercises to be done at home for reading out during the next class

Who is this course for?

This course is for anyone with an interest in writing from life, writing about their experiences or their memories, or their personal and family histories.

What can I expect?

The six sessions will cover the planned project’s overview, possible openings and voice, writing about people, about places or ‘worlds’, dialogue and, finally, structure and organisation. Each week there will be an introduction, one or two examples, use of break out rooms, and readings of short extracts of work-in-progress from participants.

Please note that in previous terms, this course was called 'Introduction to Life Writing'. If you have already completed the course previously and would like to develop your skills further, take a look at our course Autobiography and Memoir: The Next Step.

Joining via Zoom

This course or event will be held via Zoom. You need a computer/laptop or mobile phone to access the Zoom website, and a reliable internet connection. For further information on how to join a Zoom meeting, you can watch the joining video here.

You will need a computer or other device to connect with Zoom and a notebook/paper and pen/pencil, or digital equivalent.