how to write your
memoir
Learn how to tell your story in this three-part online course
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Doors close 15 Oct
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Doors close 15 Oct *
In this course taught live online, I will guide you through how to tell your own personal story. I’ll show you how to take your earliest ideas and thoughts and shape them into a narrative. I’ll talk you through how to weave your deepest emotions and memories through prose. The course will be creatively inspiring as well as emotionally transformative.
The three 1-hour workshops will give you the tools and inspiration you need to bring your memories to life on the page. Don’t worry if you can’t join live - every session will be available on replay.
We will cover:
❤️🔥 The essentials of storytelling: What makes a great story, how to keep people hooked, how you can figure out the best way to tell your own story, and how to paint a picture with words.
❤️🔥 Building your narrative: Where to start your story, how to cherrypick key moments in a lifetime of memories and how to create a structure.
❤️🔥 Honesty and truthfulness in memoir-writing: How do you decide how much to share? What about when your story intersects with that of others? And how reliable is your memory anyway?
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WHO THIS COURSE IS FOR
You might be a professional writer wanting to move into writing memoir. Or you might write as a hobby in your spare time. Maybe you feel called to record your family history as an heirloom for future generations, or you’ve lived through so much you want to write as a healing, cathartic experience. Perhaps you are building your personal brand and want to show up with confidence.
You do not need to be an experienced writer to be on this course, you only need to have lived a life that you want to write about.
This is about diving into your memories, creating the written equivalent of a photo album, and learning how to be vulnerable and honest on the page. Wherever you are in your writing journey, this course will show you how to be the author of your own story.
Put simply, if you want to tell your story, this course is for you.
Priya Joi
Hi, I’m Priya! In this course, I’ll draw on my 25 years’ experience as a journalist and memoirist to guide you through three weeks of writing and sharing. My memoir M(other)land on race, identity and belonging was published by Penguin in 2023.
I’ve coached writers for several years, and spoken on stages and at festivals, and in this course I will meet you right where you are - no snobbish literary critiques, no expectations, just warm encouragement and community.
why this is the perfect time
What if by the start of 2025, you had:
A proposal for the memoir you want to publish
Ideas for first-person narratives you could pitch to newspapers and magazines
A clearly defined personal narrative to build your brand
A structure for the family story you want to record as a legacy
The autumn sometimes feels like prep for Christmas - where we ramp up work after the summer lull, and start having to wrap up warm again as the sun disappears for many months to come.
What if you gave yourself this time to be creative? What if you allowed yourself to dream that your story could really come to life by the start of 2025?
This course will give you the energy and motivation you need to write your story.
dates for your diary
The sessions will be taught live, with a Q&A at the end of each one
Oct 22, 12pm UK time
Oct 29, 12pm UK time
Nov 5, 12pm UK time
Every session is available on replay, so don’t worry if you can’t make it live.