Writing Lives: Texts, Techniques, and Creativity in Life-Writing

Unlock your creative potential on an exciting course which combines academic literary analysis with the opportunity to explore and develop your own writing voice. You will examine the literary genre of life-writing in its various forms, including biography, autobiography, and memoir, through close reading and analysis of key texts from diverse periods and authors such as Olaudah Equiano, Virginia Woolf, and Hermione Lee. You will explore and discuss life-writing modes, themes, and techniques, thinking about literary devices, experimentation, the roles of narrative and truth, and the subjectivity of personal and cultural memory. You will put these skills and discussions into practice with the opportunity to produce your own life-writing and receive personalised feedback in workshops and tutorials. This course will develop your literary analysis, hone your writing skills, and unlock your creative potential.

Click here for the Course Overview.

After studying this course you will be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of life-writing as a literary genre.
• Analyse literary works of life-writing and evaluate critically key modes, themes, and techniques of the genre.
• Produce your own life-writing with an analytical understanding of your aims as a writer and how to achieve them.

This course would suit students of the Humanities, including those with a background in English Literature, Theatre, Dramatic Arts, or History, and especially those who wish to develop their own skill and confidence as writers.

Available as a Residential or Online course on the following dates:

17th July 2023 to 4th August 2023

Find out more about the admissions criteria, programme fees, and how to apply.

Apply for a residential programme.

Apply for an online programme.

If you have any questions, or would like to know more, please do get in touch here.