Spring non-fiction course at the Irish Writer’s Centre: ‘Writing from Life’

The Irish Writers’ Centre at Parnell Square have invited me to lead a two-day course, called ‘Writing from Life,’ next spring. I will be sending out a short reading list in January to those interested in participating.  I know how hard it is to get your fresh print in all its smudgy, trembling, first glory to enter a room and claim its reader without apology. Further details below.

Writing from Life with Selina Guinness

Sat 1st Mar + Sat 8th Mar • 10.30AM – 4.30pM • 2 days • €150/€135 Members

This course invites participants who have already started writing a memoir or non-fiction essays. It starts from the premise that many key elements of narrative fiction equally apply to writing non-fiction: creating a point-of-view, controlling the pace of disclosure, finding strong characters in vivid and credible settings. We will also consider the ethical and political questions raised by writing from life. Participants should come to the workshop with works-in-progress ready for development. Selina Guinness’s memoir, The Crocodile by the Door, was shortlisted in the Biography section for the Costa Book Awards 2012 and in the Best Newcomer category for the Bord Gais Irish Energy Book Awards 2012.