Byron Writers Festival 2022

WORKSHOP SOLD OUT – contact [email protected] to join waitlist.

‘No-one is boring if they tell the truth,’ said Quentin Crisp.

You might have a deep need to heal and ‘set the story straight’ or simply want to make a record of your life for family and friends. But finding the best way to tell your story can be the hardest part of writing it, and ‘the truth’ of your life is often challenging and elusive.

Is the story you want to tell really the story you need to tell? What is the difference between the ‘truth’ and the ‘facts’? How do you decide what to put in and what to leave out? Is memory reliable? How can you reconstruct events and conversations which often took place many years ago? And how do you write honestly about your life without hurting those closest to you?

Based around practical writing exercises and constructive feedback in a supportive environment, this workshop will help you make people, places and important life events come alive on the page. Importantly, we will also address the ethical and moral issues involved in writing truthfully about the real people your life.

Date: Monday 22 August
Time: 10m – 4pm
Where: Byron Community Centre, Wategos 2. Upstairs at 69 Jonson Street, Byron Bay
Cost:  $145 General / $110 Members & Students

About the Facilitator

Alan Close has been writing for over forty years, during which time he has published fiction, poetry, short stories and creative non-fiction. He has written widely in the national print media, including a column on men and relationships for Good Weekend magazine. His most recent book is Before You Met Me: A Memoir Of One Man’s Troubled Search For Love. He edited the anthology Men Love Sex, which remains a benchmark of men writing about love, sex and relationships. He lives in Mullumbimby and earns a living working on other people’s manuscripts and as a writing mentor and teacher, both face to face and online.