Put Life onto a Page!

Learn to write memoir with writer Sophie Cousins...

Memories shape us; they can impact how we navigate the present and approach the future. They make up our internal biographies – the stories we tell ourselves and one another about what we’ve done with our lives.

In our fast-paced lives, memories can often get swallowed up and forgotten – that is, until we put them onto the page.

Memoir is storytelling in its most primal form; it’s a private invitation into the inner world of a writer that can impact both the author and reader in a profound way. Memoir writing can be a valuable experience that takes you on a journey of self-discovery and soul-searching.

Over the course of three hours, we will discuss what memory means to us, learn the basics of writing memoir, undertake writing exercises and workshop ideas so you can go home and start writing with confidence and passion.

What will we do? What will you learn?

We will explore some big questions. What is impactful storytelling? Why is it important? What is memoir? How is it different from other creative non-fiction genres? What makes for a good story?

Learn writing techniques

Delve into your past and explore story ideas

Undertake group and individual writing tasks and receive feedback

Your workshop facilitator, Sophie Cousins is a writer and author who recently returned to Australia after working overseas for more than a decade. Her work has been published in publications including the Guardian, New York Times, The London Review of Books, Meanjin, and Atlantic from countries including Nepal, India, Afghanistan, Mexico, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Syria and Iraq . She has received numerous grants and fellowships including from the National Geographic Society to write about Australia's First Nations' response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the South Asia Journalists' Association to write about women's reproductive rights in Sri Lanka.

Join us for this workshop on Saturday 24 August from 10am-1pm.

$40 per person + booking fee

Tea and coffee provided.

BYO notebook and pen.