‘What happened to the writer’, Vivian Gornick suggested, ‘is not what matters; what matters is the large sense the writer is able to make of what happened’. This is the central challenge of writing memoir: to move beyond the headlines into the kind of insight that can structure a story. The events of our lives only truly engage the reader when we bring in the necessary detachment to convince them of our trustworthiness. It means being seen not just as we want to be seen, but also as others see us.
In this session we will peel off layers of the onion to uncover some of the deeper motivations for memoir beyond our desire to write our story; motivations that will persuade, convince and carry your reader to the final page.You’ll also get an inside look at postgraduate study at Northeastern University London, including an overview of the MA Contemporary Creative Writing programme and a live Q&A with our expert panel.
