Practice 101: Memoir as Catharsis

Join Arts Northern rivers for our first Practice 101 session of the year at the opening of Literary Allsorts, presented by Kyogle Readers and Writers. This free 2-hour workshop facilitated by author and journalist Tim Baker will lead writers through the unique process of writing a memoir and will explore how writing your story can help you heal.

Many of us have long understood the therapeutic powers of storytelling. Join best-selling and award-winning author Tim Baker to delve deeper into the world of therapeutic writing. Tim’s cancer memoir Patting The Shark (Penguin, 2022) began life as personal writing therapy, and he holds a creative writing PhD with a research focus on writing therapy and bibliotherapy. Tim uses free writing exercises to warm up the writing muscles and access the subconscious. We’ll discuss how to make the personal universal, to zoom in and zoom out, to make our personal stories resonate with a wide audience by recognising commonalities of the human condition.

We’ll explore writing craft more generally, evoking all the senses, building in questions the readers will want answers to, so they keep reading. And we’ll learn the power of reading one’s work aloud, even if only to ourselves, to make our writing sing.

Session Details:

Practice 101: Memoir as Catharsis

Friday 15 May, 2pm - 4pm

Kyogle Memorial Institute, Stratheden St, Kyogle NSW 2474

About Tim Baker:

Dr Tim Baker holds a Creative Writing PhD from Griffth University with a research focus on the efficacy of writing therapy and bibliotherapy to manage difficult emotions like grief and trauma. He has run a sold-out series of writing therapy workshops through the Byron Writers’ Festival and runs reading groups at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre as a form of peer support and social prescribing for people whose lives have been impacted by cancer. Tim has managed a stage four cancer diagnosis for ten years and as a patient advocate has led the call for a more integrative approach to cancer care. Bibliotherapy is gaining great currency as a low cost, evidence-based, easily deliverable form of social prescribing to address isolation, anxiety and other mental health challenges. Tim is uniquely qualified to deliver these services, which represent a neat alignment of his professional skillset, academic research and lived experience.

Tim is an award-winning journalist specialising in surfing history and culture and the best-selling author of numerous books on surfing. His latest book Patting The Shark documents his journey managing a stage 4 cancer diagnosis for the past ten years. He is a former editor of Tracks, Surfing Life and Slow Living magazines, and a two-time winner of the Surfing Australia Hall of Fame Culture Award. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review, the Guardian, the Sunday Age, the Bulletin, Inside Sport, GQ, Text Journal as well as surfing magazines around the world.

Free event – spaces are limited.

If you are unable to attend, please ensure you release your ticket so another local artist or arts worker can benefit from the session. If booked out, please join the waitlist and you will be notified if a place becomes available.

Contact the host of Practice 101: Memoir as Catharsis – Kyogle Literary Allsorts

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