New and Experimental Approaches to Writing Lives

Dr Jo Parnell, is Conjoint Fellow in the School of Humanities and Social Science at Newcastle University, Australia.

• Foreword, Caroline McMillenEditor's Preface, Jo ParnellIntroduction, Hugh CraigPART 1: FOUND LIVES: REFRAMING THE LOST, THE INANIMATE AND THE HIDDEN1. Obituaries: Behind the Public Tribute, Amanda Norman2. Writing the Lives of Objects and Things, Donna L. Brien3. Burra's Giant Onion and the Battle of the Somme, David Walker4. Revealing What It Means To Be Human: The Nature of Literary Docu-Memoir, Jo Parnell5. The Struggle in Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle, Michael SalaPART 2: MOVING LIVES: RELOCATING IN TIME AND SPACE6. Mapping Lives: (re)making place, Sonya Huber7. Spatial Experiments: Autobiographical Cartography, Vanessa Berry8. Brief Encounters: Curating GIFs, Memes and Social Media for Short Story Life-Writing, Emma Newport9. Biographical Lyric: Writing Lives in Poems, Page Richards10. Writing Lines, Writing Lives: The Art of Poetic Biography, Jessica L. WilkinsonPART 3: YOUNG LIVES: NEW GROWTH11. Giving Voice: A Different Approach to Life Writing, Willa McDonald12. Autobiographical Writing for Children: Anh Do's The Little Helperand Malala Yousafzai’s Malala’s Magic Pencil, Kate Douglas.

This collection offers a sweeping analysis of the many types of life writing. The personal and instructional tone of the essays makes this book accessible to students, and the exercises at the end of each chapter will allow anyone who has their own story to tell find their voice.