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Our Writing the Memoir two-day workshop introduces students to the craft of memoir writing. The workshop is most suitable for those new to memoir writing, though more experienced writers are also welcome.

1 starting date

  • Starting date:

    • Duration: 2 days
    • Time: to
    • Fees: £135
    • Occurs every: Friday and Saturday
    • Location: Online
    • Booking deadline:

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Testimonials

  • Engaging and kept my interest.

    Lynda Gannon

  • A comprehensive introduction to what it takes to write a truthful, interesting memoir.

    Donal Cox

  • Jane not only knew her stuff but also talked from a perspective of a person who has published. Good stuff as she walked the walk and talked the talk.

    Solomon Njie

Course overview

If you have a true story to tell and have been wondering how to start writing about it, this introduction to memoir writing workshop is for you. You will also learn how to write an autobiography.

Topics covered

The course will take the form of two workshops. We will be examining one or two key ideas on how to tackle writing about the truth. You will have the chance to read from your work and discuss your ideas in a safe peer group.

Friday writing workshop

  • What is a memoir? The difference between autobiography, autobiographical fiction and memoir
  • Planning a memoir: the picture or the journey?
  • Getting started: structure and style
  • Finding your voice
  • A chance to write some memoir sketches

Saturday writing workshop

  • What is “truth” in memoir? Narrative and ownership
  • The “chip of ice in the writer’s heart”: memory, subjectivity and the writer’s responsibilities when tackling problematic material
  • Becoming a writer: the practice of writing

Who is it for?

The workshop is most suitable for those new to memoir writing. More experienced writers are also welcome, though should be aware this is an introductory course. Bring paper and pen and expect to take notes and bring ideas and questions too.

Find out more about our Non-fiction writing at City, University of London courses

Timetable

The Writing the Memoir short course takes place on a Friday and Saturday between 10.00-12.30.

City Short Courses follow the academic year, delivering courses over three terms. These include:

  • Autumn - October
  • Spring - January
  • Summer - April

Benefits

  • Learn from a professional memoir writer and novelist.
  • Taught in small groups
  • Awarded a City, University of London certificate

What will I learn?

You will leave with a firm grounding in key aspects of writing a memoir and what you will need to consider before embarking on a memoir of your own.

Areas covered will include:

  • Aspects of memoir-writing - what makes a good memoir?
  • How to get started: ideas about structure and style
  • Finding your voice: the importance of reading to writing
  • What is “truth” in memoir-writing? Dealing with subjectivity and problematic material
  • How to begin: the writer’s notebook

Assessment and certificates

A two-day, seminar-style workshop. Written exercises in class. Q&As with the tutor throughout.

Eligibility

The workshop is most suitable for those new to memoir writing. More experienced writers are also welcome, though should be aware this is an introductory course.

Bring paper and pen and expect to take notes and bring ideas and questions too.

English requirements

The course would best suit writers fluent in English.

Recommended reading

Writing on Writing:

  • Write to the Point, Sam Leith, Profile Books
  • The Art of Memoir, Mary Karr, Harper Perennial
  • On Writing, Stephen King, Hodder & Stoughton

General Reminiscence:

  • Period Piece, Gwen Raverat, Faber
  • Blood Knots, Luke Jennings, Atlantic Books
  • Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Jeanette Winterson, Jonathan Cape

Dealing with difficult or contentious subject matter:

  • Give Me Everything You Have, James Lasdun, Vintage
  • The Lost Child, Julie Myerson, Bloomsbury

Writing about personal involvement in historical events:

  • The Return, Hisham Matar, Viking Penguin
  • War in the Val D’Orcia, Iris Origo, Pushkin Press
  • The Places In Between, Rory Stewart, Picador

Memoir based around a specific experience or event:

  • On Chapel Sands, Laura Cumming, Chatto & Windus
  • H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald, Jonathan Cape
  • A Boy in the Water, Tom Gregory, Penguin Books
  • The Light in the Dark, Horatio Clare, Elliott & Thompson

Tutors

  • Marcelle Bernstein

    Marcelle Bernstein is a novelist, non-fiction writer and journalist. Her newspaper life began on The Guardian Women's page, then the Daily Mirror newsdesk. As a staffer on the Observer Colour Magazine she profiled musicians, artists, actors, writing in-depth interviews ranging from Jean Rhys, Agatha Christie and Roald Dahl to Dusty Springfield. About her non-fiction book Nuns, Publishers Weekly said 'brilliant' and The Times 'a marvellous book'. Many best-selling novels followed. Sadie won an Arts Council award; Body & Soul became a television drama series starring Kristin Scott-Thomas, won a Silver Bear and a BAFTA nomination; Sacred & Profane was filmed with Gérard Depardieu as Pacte du Silence. She is currently writing about an abusive marriage.

    Marcelle's books are translated into 23 languages. She writes for major newspapers and magazines world-wide including The Observer, The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Washington Post and Saga Magazine. She has taught Creative Writing and Media at the University of Greenwich.

    Marcelle appears on TV and radio and at festivals. She is now a Consultant Fellow for the Royal Literary Fund and runs bespoke writing workshops, all with an emphasis on creativity.

  • Jane Shilling

    Jane Shilling is the author of two memoirs, The Fox in the Cupboard (Viking, 2004), about horses and single motherhood, and The Stranger in the Mirror (Chatto & Windus, 2011) about the experience of middle age, which was a Radio 4 Book of the Week and has been translated into Italian, Swedish and Chinese.

    After reading English at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, she worked for the publishers Viking Penguin, the literary agency Anthony Sheil Associates, as a sub-editor on the Daily Telegraph arts pages and weekly magazine, and as deputy features editor of the Times. She became a freelance writer in 1998 and has written on books and the arts for publications including the New Statesman, Prospect magazine, the Evening Standard and the Daily Telegraph, for which she writes a weekly column. She has appeared at literary festivals and on television and radio. In 2015 she was a judge for the Costa Biography Award.

    She is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Greenwich University, and is working on a novel based on the life of a nineteenth-century Russian artist.

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