One Hundred Stories...

One Hundred Stories...

Okay, so maybe there's more than 100 stories climbing up and up the sides of this hallowed staircase but I just couldn't resist using this photo I took on a recent visit to Deakin Uni library.  Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I just love libraries and really enjoy spending time wandering around in them wherever I go. I find it combines both of my passions - creative design together with creative writing as they often hold intriguing displays, interesting reading and working spaces and loads of local favour providing a true sense of the community they serve.


Which leads me back to the title of this post. I recently attended a memoir workshop conducted by a writer I had admired for quite a long time now, Alice Pung http://alicepung.com/blog/. I find her work is so approachable as she writes about her family in clear but concise language with such humility and compassion that her readers feels as though we already know her well. It's a gift she's prepared to share and the day was both intriguing and exhilarating as the group shared fragments of our work.  By the time we left we had renewed enthusiasm for our own projects and had made some valuable new connections with talented writers. 

We also learnt a few of the biographers golden rules, such as this outstanding example from The Talmud, "We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are".

Alice is also an ambassador for that enterprising team of young writers down at 100 Story Building http://www.100storybuilding.org.au/ who are busily pushing over all sorts of barriers and stereotypes to create a whole new generation of young readers,writers, producer and directors through their amazing literacy programs in the working class suburbs of Western Melbourne. Check it out...