It is with great sadness that we note the passing of the great Michael Collins, a founding board member of Life Stories Australia and long-time ghostwriter, who died aged 75. Michael was born in 1949 in Dorset to John and Kathleen Collins. The story goes that his Royal Air Force father was not present at […]
Dad arrived in the mail yesterday. Due to the extremely reductive process of cremation, this formerly handsome man of 90 kilograms could now fit into a small cardboard box. If it were possible, he would be laughing at the absurdity of his final journey. Such is the nature of modern-day death and the available option […]
‘Genes’, as the American academic and neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky has written ‘…are not about inevitabilities; they’re about potentials and vulnerabilities’. Good genes don’t necessarily result in good outcomes – in sport or anything else. But they sure can help! My latest book – ‘It’s in the Genes, Australian Football Families’– tells the stories of some […]
The gentleman opposite was interviewed for someone else’s biography. He shared the bones of his own story. An incredible tale of migration and thriving despite childhood and other adversities. When I suggested he should write his own life story. His reply was cutting and quick. “I don’t believe in vanity projects,” he dismissed. “Not for […]
When you read a biography, do you feel like you’re in the story living the biographical subject’s life, feeling what they’re feeling and seeing what they’re seeing? To stimulate your imagination this way, biographers make hundreds of decisions. It’s these choices the biographer and LSA member, Gabriella Kelly-Davies, explores in her new podcast, Biographers in […]
‘And what did it look like?’ Thea, who was attending one of my life story workshops, looked as if a lightbulb had just been switched on. Her face became animated as she recalled leaving a smoky polluted town to move across the state to the countryside. Fresh air! Blue sky! The trees, the flowers …! […]
Have a look at the Life Stories Australia team in action at Clunes Booktown Festival recently. Featuring our members in attendance on the day from (left to right) Timothy Syrota, Des Tobin, Sally-Anne Watson Kane, Deborah Gough and Susan Pierotti. Footage and video created by Timothy Syrota, videographer and film maker located in Melbourne.
We had a terrific showing at the Clunes Booktown Festival talking to potential new members and to those with a story to tell. Thirty lucky participants enjoyed our sold-out workshop by Susan Pierotti designed for memoir writing or a loved one’s life story. It was a fantastic Life Stories Australia (LSA) information stand for writers and […]
Life Stories Australia’s vice president Susan Pierotti will give a two-hour workshop – Every Life Can Become a Good Story at Clunes Booktown Festival on Sunday, March 24. Susan will take you through some of the ways to get inspired to write a memoir or life story. While you are there come to see some […]
By Felicity Lenehan Once there was a time, dare I say its name, when there were two thing’s I couldn’t do due to lockdowns. The first was conduct life story interviews in person with my lovely clients. The other heartbreaking activity I could not do was take my children to see their grandparents. I came […]
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