Join Karen McLeod, prize-winning author and creative writing tutor, for an online introduction to writing creative life stories and memoir.
This short workshop will introduce:
- What is life writing/memoir - the benefits of writing regularly
- Examples of strong beginnings/structures
- Inspiration on how to use personal archives
- Guided writing exercises to access personal life stories and memories
- How to spot your story
By the end of the workshop you will have begun to understand life writing, which stories are ‘calling to be written’ and how to begin planning your ideas. You will have also started writing and exploring your life through set writing exercises. This motivational and inspiring workshop will end with a sharing of top tips from workshop leader Karen McLeod, plus a chance to ask a question or two.
Please do log in ready to write with a pen and some paper/notebook. Also, do note, no one will be expected to share their writing during this workshop.
A link to the ZOOM meeting will be sent out a few days before the workshop.
Karen McLeod is a London-based writer, performer, creative writing tutor and writer-in-residence at Bookseller Crow bookshop. She is the author of In Search of the Missing Eyelash. Initially published by Jonathan Cape, it won the Betty Trask Award and was translated widely. Her memoir, Lifting Off (Muswell Press, June 2024) – also classed as autofiction due to the many blank spots in her past – is about the 12 years she worked as long-haul cabin crew and how and why she went into free-fall.
Karen teaches creative writing with Polari LGBTQ+ Literary Salon, the National Centre for Writing in Norwich, and the Arvon Foundation.
When Karen is not writing, or talking about writing, she can be found treading the creaky boards at theatres, cabaret clubs and pubs as her comedy alter ego, the self-appointed Poet Laureate of Penge, Barbara Brownskirt.
Student feedback 2024
“I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a creative course so much. It has truly opened my eyes, expanded my mind and encouraged me to write more. Thank you again for being such an inspiring teacher and running such fantastic classes!”
“I got exactly what I wanted and needed on your course! I was looking for ways to access writing that felt all locked up inside of me and I didn’t want to ‘learn to write like everyone else’… Thank you for an absolutely fantastic course.”