brisbane
brisbane

Writing Memoir

w/ Kris Kneen

This intimate, in-person 8-week course will set you on the journey of writing memoir. In a creative and supportive environment, Writing Memoir will offer you methods of accessing memories and recognising their inherent shape, finding your writing voice, bringing the details to life, creating the lived reality of your experience on the page and finding its structure.

Mondays 10am – 12:15pm (AEST), 9 March – 18 May 2026

 

Avid Reader – Brisbane

Avid Reader
193 Boundary St
West End QLD 4101

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$900 / $765 alumni

See below for early bird discount and save $100.


Writing Memoir with Kris Kneen is a Brisbane-based, in-person writing course presented by Faber Writing Academy.

How do we recreate experience on the page so that it retains its vividness – its ‘life-like’ qualities? How do we arrange our life’s events so they don’t read like a litany of everything that happened?

Join Kris Kneen in this intimate 8-week course for memoirists of all levels of experience.

In Writing Memoir, you will explore the craft of life-writing  – how to: start; access memory; use sensory detail; create scenes; find narrative perspective and voice; navigate the complexities of narrative and other structures; and finally, face the complex issues of writing a life.

Each week will include exercises, readings and discussion. There will be time in the last three sessions for students to present their writing for group workshopping, gaining valuable input from each other and clear guidance from Kris. In a warm and supportive environment, you will be encouraged to step into the creative process of constructing a life on the page. The writing skills and inspiration will equally equip you to write biography and personal essays; in fact it will start you on the journey of all creative non-fiction writing.

By the end of the course you will:

  • Have begun the journey of writing your own story (and/or of someone close to you);
  • Gained a knowledge of the craft of writing and be able to use the skills you have learned;
  • Gained confidence in your capacity to write;
  • Extended your knowledge of the literary genre of memoir.

Your course includes:

  • 8 x 2 hour in-person morning classes at Avid Reader Bookshop;
  • A complimentary copy of a recent A & U publication;
  • Critique on work produced for the course;
  • On completion of the course, alumni discounts on future Faber Writing Academy courses and books from the Allen & Unwin website.

Writers you'll be working with:

Kris Kneen

KRIS KNEEN is the award-winning author of fiction, poetry and non-fiction. They have been shortlisted for many awards including the prestigious Stella Prize. Their poetry collection Eating My Grandmother won the Thomas Shapcott Prize. Their latest book Fat Girl Dancing was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, The Qld Premier’s Literary Award for a…

Course outline

Session One: Monday 9 March, 10am – 12:15pm
Meeting Yourself as a Writer – learning about how you work, what you want to work on and why you want to put your life on the page.

Session Two: Monday 16 March, 10am – 12:15pm
Structures of Memoir – learning about common memoir structures and thinking about how you can structure the material you are working on in your project.

Session Three: Monday 23 March, 10am – 12:15pm
Sense, Memory and Memoir – using the senses to access memory and putting those memories on the page. Beginning a short essay which will become a part of your memoir.

Session Four: Monday 30 March, 10am – 12:15pm
Microcosm – Breaking it down into manageable pieces. Writing self-contained essays as the backbone for your memoir. Sharing our essay with the group and planning others using a modular approach to memoir.

COURSE BREAK – two week break for Easter holidays.

Session Five: Monday 20 April, 10am – 12:15pm
Time and Perspective – Following characters through a temporal space. Whose story is this and how to we organise their story through time?

Session Six: Monday 27 April, 10am – 12:15pm
Index Card Shuffle: Getting a bird’s eye view of your memoir using a process of creating discrete scenes.

COURSE BREAK – during this one week break you will be working on your essay to bring back to the group.

Session Seven: Thursday 11 May, 10am – 12:15pm
Whole class workshopping of student work.

Session Eight: Thursday 18 May, 10am – 12:15pm
Whole class workshopping of student work. In this final session we take a look at the pieces of your memoir that you have in hand and what is left to be written. You will leave with a plan.

Praise for this course

Thank you. This was an excellent course that has given me so many ideas to continue writing.” – 2025 course participant

Money well spent – comparable cost to other group writing I have undertaken, but better structure and more professional and responsive coaching. So sad it is over. Would happily have sat on Avid’s deck with these folk for the best part of forever.” – 2025 course participant

Loved reading and commenting on the other participant’s work and having their feedback on mine. Kris provided clear examples of key aspects of the writing process described in the course. This rounded the teaching out nicely.” – 2025 course participant

Love, love, love in person delivery. Love meeting other writers and the energy of meeting as a group.” – 2025 course participant

superb teaching – thankyou” – 2025 course participant

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How to Book

Save $100 off the full price of $900 with our Early Bird rate for this course!

Our special early bird discount is available until Jan 30 2026 and can only be received if paid in full. If you would prefer to pay in weekly instalments, this option will be available to those paying the advertised price of $900 if there are still places remaining in the course after 30/1/26.

Please see our terms and conditions for more information.

Alumni: Please enter your discount code at checkout. Forgotten or need the code? Please call us on (02) 8425 0171

Includes 10% tax