Category: Memoir writing

Alumni/Student success stories
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Gwen Wilson: the reluctant retiree publishes her first memoir

Back in 2005, around the same time as the Australian Writers’ Centre was first opening its doors, Gwen Wilson, then 50, was making the first scribblings for what would become her debut memoir, I Belong to No One. “I can trace its beginning to 2005, and it evolved through numerous

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Memoir writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Why you should write your memoir now, from Patti Miller

When many hear about someone writing their memoir, they often think of a famous person at the end of their life. But the truth is that anyone can write one at any stage. In fact, as memoir expert Patti Miller explains, they can write many. We spoke with her recently

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Memoir writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

The only piece of advice you’ll need – from Lex Marinos

Lex Marinos is an actor and Australian icon, appearing through the decades on the iconic Kingswood Country, Embassy, and more recently The Slap. He has also directed shows, written episodes for TV (notably the Bodyline mini-series), and last year penned a memoir entitled Blood and Circuses: An Irresponsible Memoir. During

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Memoir writing
Dean Koorey

Ian Simpson laughs at wheelchairs in his new book

Things like severe crippling injuries or diseases don’t typically make great fodder for a funny book. But for Ian Simpson, who has lived nearly half a century in a wheelchair, it’s as natural as writing about cups of tea or supermarkets. To find out the wheel story (cringe) we put

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Interviews with writers
Australian Writers' Centre Team

How Air Force Commodore John Oddie’s book took flight

You could say it was a painter who kick-started Air Commodore John Oddie’s journey to writing Flight Command: From the farm to the frontline. Specifically, Archibald Prize-winning portrait artist Ben Quilty, sent in 2011 as ‘official war artist’ (a legit profession since World War I) to paint the men and

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Lisa Venables: Memoir unearths a love of writing

Telling stories is what it’s all about here at the Australian Writers’ Centre. And for Lisa Venables, recounting a very difficult time in her family’s life provided her with both an emotional and creative outlet. That outlet became her book, Saving Zali – telling the story of her infant daughter’s

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Memoir writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Dad blogger on going from BLOG to BOOK

We hear a lot about the “mummy blogger”, but to (belatedly) celebrate Father’s Day, we thought we’d give a shout out to stay-at-home dad Clint Greagen – whose blog Reservoir Dad won Best Australian Blog 2013 in the Personal and Parenting category. Clint lives in Reservoir, Victoria (hence the name, although he admits the Tarantino connection is nice too) with his wife and four boys aged between two and nine.

His blog win turned heads at publisher Random House, who approached Clint to ask if he was interested in writing a book. His reply was easy: he would love to. And a year later, his “fifth child” was born – this time made of paper and given the same name as the blog that made it happen – Reservoir Dad.

For Clint, who began his blog back in 2008 when he started his stay-at-home duties, it felt good to receive validation for his efforts. “Yeah, it was just a great pat on the back and it’s sort of like, ‘Keep going, man, you can do it. You’re doing it right.’ Validation that I’ve got something to offer.”

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Memoir writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Memoir + Cancer = Hilarious

Meet Luke Ryan – a comedian who survived cancer twice; first at 11 and then again when he was 22. So instead of just waiting around to turn 33, he thought he’d tour the country performing a show called Luke’s Got Cancer – A Comedy, and then write a memoir, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Chemo. (Because that’s what all those brochures in the waiting room say you should do.)

His plan has been to take ‘laughter is the best medicine’ to the next level. Luke’s idea wasn’t to diminish what he or other cancer patients were going through, but to bring it out in the open and get people discussing it and feeling okay to discuss it.

Always a fun assignment, comedy and cancer. So we thought we’d throw a few questions his way.

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Memoir writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

This writer fluked his big break with a cute cover and a catchy title

Getting your first big break in writing can take a lot of hard work, determination, and maybe just a little bit of luck.

This is the tale of travel writer Brian Thacker, successful author of seven travel books including Rule number 5: No sex on the bus and The Naked Man Festival. His former life was as an advertising art director, and when you lose an account in advertising, many people lose their jobs. His was one of those jobs.

So he decided to do something different. “I saw an ad in a paper for tour leaders in Europe and winter work,” he recalls. “So, I got this big silly dream. I went over and got a job as a ski guide in Switzerland. And, in the summer I was taking tours around Europe, busloads of drunk Aussies and Kiwis around Europe.”

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Memoir writing
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Confessions of a Qantas Flight Attendant

I was browsing through the bookshop inside the Qantas Lounge at Sydney Airport when I spotted this row of books in prime position, ready to be snapped up by travellers eager for an easy read on the plane.

It’s interesting that Qantas are so keen to show off the book, considering that this cheeky memoir is not just about what flight attendants get up to on the job, but is also a scathing account of what the author portrays as cost-cutting measures by an airline that has an uncaring attitude to its staff. Coupled with endless vignettes of high-flying fun, it’s also a unique take on Qantas’s human resources practices and its entry into (and exit from) different markets from 2001 to 2013.

Perhaps Qantas’s PR department hasn’t read it. Or perhaps they just have a fabulous sense of humour. Let’s hope it’s the latter.

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7 Questions: Breast cancer survivor and author Tanya Curran Brown on writing her memoir

Tanya Curran Brown is a master hairdresser whose salon in Wollongong NSW has been the training ground for countless apprentices over the years. She’s also a breast cancer survivor. In 2005 she was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of the disease and eventually underwent a double mastectomy. She has now published her memoir on her journey – A Tale of Two Titties. In her book, Tanya hopes to shine a humorous light on a devastating disease and help other sufferers.

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