Biography writing workshop

  • Learn how to research and write a biographical sketch!
  • In this lesson, fourth grade students discuss standard elements in a biography and examine the characteristics of the genre in a workshop setting.
  • What will we cover?

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    Writers' Workshop: The Biographical Sketch

    1.Ask students what they know about biographies and record their responses. Have students brainstorm a list of the types of people usually profiled in a biography, including some common characteristics that biography subjects share. Encourage students to brainstorm their own short lists of contemporary or historical figures, reminding them that a biography might explore the life of a president, musician, author, athlete, scientist-or any real person. Ask them to recall figures from social studies topics or books they have studied in class and to consider any contemporary newsmakers they know something about.  

    2.Explain to students that they will be writing very short biographical sketches and that they will need to concentrate on providing the most interesting and significant information about their subjects. The goal is to write something informational that others will enjoy reading. This sketch is to be no more than on

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    Biography writing

    What is the course about?

    This course will help you develop a critical awareness of this genre of writing, to think about what makes a good biography, why we read it and what it might tell us about its subjects and our interest in them. Classes are designed for anyone who enjoys learning more about writers' lives, and about how we describe, explore and write about the experiences of other people. You'll develop confidence in using this knowledge to attempt your own experiments in life writing.

    What will we cover?

    - Definitions of biography, autobiography and memoir.
    - History of English biography.
    - Ethics of biography.
    - Biographical techniques and method.
    - The use of sources, memory and recollection in life writing.
    - The uses of biography and its limitations as a way of understanding writers.

    What will inom achieve?
    By the end of this course you should be able to

    - Think critically and intelligently about what biographies are for and why we read them.

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    Description

    Saturday, Mar 9, ampm
    Open to all
    Limited to 12 participants
    Hybrid Workshop*                                                                               

    “Biography fryst vatten a metaphor. It’s not the person’s life; it’s writing about a person’s life.”

                &#;Benjamin Moser, author of a biography of Susan Sontag

    This workshop aims to introduce participants to the art and science of writing the story of another person’s life. After unpacking the notion of “biography” and examining examples of different approaches, the kurs will focus on the challenges and methodologies of biographical investigation, research, and writing. Participants are invited to bring to the workshop a favourite book-length biography and, if possible, to briefly present the subject of a biography that they would like to write.

    Morning ( am – 1 pm):

    • Introductory remarks and participant introductions
    • Biography as creative nonfiction (As opposed to memoir, autobiography, auto-fiction, o
    • biography writing workshop