Yahoo News Writing and publishing your memoir: A hands-on weekend masterclass with Gavin Evans
It’s entirely untrue that in order to write a memoir, you need to be a former president, a key player in or witness to a historical event, or a reality TV star. Some of the most poignant, moving and funny memoirs have been written by people who held the belief that they had something interesting to say, and that there might be an audience for it.
The process itself begins with an idea - and this is the easy part, since it’s most likely an idea born from your personal experiences. But how do you develop those ideas into an angle that will make people want to keep reading? This weekend masterclass with Gavin Evans builds on his short memoir-writing class, to invite you to dig a little deeper.
Over the two days, you will learn how to expand the seed of your idea into one sentence, and then one page. Drawing on the work of other memoir writers, you will also explore the technical aspects of form and style, voice and tone, and tense. Gavin will also take you through how to structure your work into chapters, and you will have the opportunity to receive personal feedback on your writing from Gavin.
You will also learn about the publishing trade and how to ‘market’ yourself and your story, and you will complete this weekend course with a newfound confidence in your abilities to keep going.
Content
Your memoir idea in one sentence
Your memoir idea in 150 words
How to present yourself with voice, tone and tense
How to structure your story in 15 chapters
The building blocks of a good chapter
Getting published
Tutor profile
Gavin Evans has written eight non-fiction books, including his memoir, Dancing Shoes is Dead, three sporting biographies, three books on popular science and a coffee table sports book. He lectures in the Media and Culture department at Birkbeck College, University of London, and supervises journalism master’s students at Cardiff University. He has also worked as a journalist for more than 30 years and has recently written for the Guardian, the New Internationalist, the International Business Times, the Daily Mirror and BBC History Magazine. He has delivered a TEDx talk on feminism and fatherhood, which is available here.
Details
Date: Saturday 21 May and Sunday 22 May 2022
Times: 2pm-5pm (BST)
Price: Standard ticket £249 (plus £7.31 booking fee)
Capacity: 20 people
This masterclass is available globally. If you are joining us from outside the United Kingdom, please use this time zone converter to check your local live streaming time.
2pm BST | 3pm CEST | 6am PDT | 9am EDT
You will be sent a link to the online workshop two hours before the start time of 2pm (BST).
Sign up to our newsletter and you’ll be among the first to find out about our latest courses and special offers. You can also follow us on Twitter here.
Information on Guardian Masterclasses
To contact us, click here. Terms and conditions can be found here.
Returns policy
Once a purchase is complete we will not be able to refund you where you do not attend or if you cancel your event booking. Please see our terms and conditions for more information on our refund policy.
