Arvon Book of Life Writing

Fascinating, wide-ranging, hugely knowledgeable - an indispensable guide and a beguiling education William Boyd

Packed with insights and advice - just the inspiration to start writing! Jenny Uglow

This book shows how the best writers tell them, and offers advice on how to tell them yourself.

Biographers Sally Cline and Carole Angier teach life writing - an area of creative writing that is exploding in popularity - at the world-famous Arvon Foundation. They have distilled the essence of their popular course on memoir, autobiography and biography into this wide-ranging book.

The Arvon Book of Life Writing offers three fascinating ways into the genre.

First, reflections on their trade by the authors, exploring its special challenges: truth, memory, ethics, evidence and interpretation.

Second, personal tips and tales from 32 top British and American life writers - autobiographers and memoirists, literary, sports and celebrity biographers; plus a critic, an agent, a literary editor, two novelists, and a ghost writer.

Third, a practical guide, complete with exercises, designed for use in creative writing courses or by individual writers at home.

No other book contains such detailed, witty and professional advice on the genre.