Man learning how to write biographies on a creative writing short course at West Dean

Creative Writing & Publishing

Certificate in Life Writing

Full Course Details
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Award: Certificate in Life Writing
Duration: 1 year, part-time
School: School of Arts
Campus: West Dean

This Certificate in Life Writing course is delivered in three weekend course units spread across the year, self-directed study and a final submission of 5,000 words.  It is delivered by experienced educators and authors, Joanna Moorhead, Hannah Vincent and Katy Massey.

The course aims to draw together a clearer understanding of the skills, knowledge and qualities that lend themselves to good life writing and is underpinned by a clear understanding of some of the forms and craft that enable the writer to produce high standard work.

Each weekend unit will be based in the inspirational environment of West Dean College’s historic rooms. It is aimed at writers who wish to commit to an extended programme of study without having to make a significant time commitment and who will benefit from a cohesive course that offers focus on the key elements of successful life writing over the course of an academic year.

It also offers a potential pathway to those interested in applying for the College’s Higher Education programmes in Creative Writing and Publishing.

Course structure

This course is designed for writers who want a thorough and cohesive course on Life Writing. It offers a deeper and broader raft of teaching, designed to enable you to take on a piece of longer writing. The focus is primarily on the development of the craft of writing in the context of Life Writing. At the end of the third unit, you will be expected to submit the first 5,000 words of a work in progress for feedback from the tutors.

On successful completion students will be offered an interview for the MA in Creative Writing and Publishing should they want to continue their studies and project. The MA is set up to facilitate the production of a completed novel but is exploring expanding its remit to facilitate Life Writing.

Course aims

Introduction
To introduce you to the key areas of Life Writing, including memoir, biography and autobiography, and to explore the similarities and differences. The course will also offer a brief overview of the history of life writing: from Plutarch and Vasari to Johnson, Woolf, Holroyd and Hermione Lee to present day.

It will encourage you to consider various aspects of being a life writer, including:

  • What right do I have to be a life writer? Whose life am I telling? Who ‘owns’ the story? Issues around invading others’ lives. Sensitivities and how to deal with them.
  • Introduce the skills of research and shaping your story.
  • Introduce you to the idea of transformational writing; how we change and are changed by what we write and how we write it.

Skills Development
The course will offer a stimulating and varied learning environment to enable writers to develop their skills around voice, style, tone, pacing and prose. Writing exercises will be used, along with discussion, textual analysis and a subject overview.

It will facilitate constructive critical thinking/reflection, editing and rewriting skills, contextual and critical studies.

Course units

Unit 1: What Is Life Writing?
Tutor: Joanna Moorhead | 30 January–1 February 2026

The first unit will include:

  • An introduction to Life Writing (history and possibility)
  • Form, style and voice
  • Whose life am I writing? Who ‘owns’ the story? Issues around invading others’ lives. Sensitivities and how to deal with them
  • Research
  • Writing exercises

Unit 2: Writing and Transformation
Tutor: Hannah Vincent and Katy Massey | 24–26 April 2026

This second unit will include:

  • Working with memory, ideas of ‘truth’ in writing
  • Using writing to ‘find out’ our story: sketching, journaling, morning pages
  • How are we changed by what we write?
  • Exploring what stories we want to tell
  • Writing exercises

Unit 3: Your Story
Tutor: Joanna Moorhead | 3–5 July 2026

  • Where does your project sit in the market? Who is this for, and who is it trying to reach?
  • Shaping your story: the fundamentals of good storytelling
  • How to find an agent and a publisher
  • Editing: how to make your prose sing
  • Writing exercises

Final writing

On the completion of the course, you will submit the first 5,000 words of a piece you have developed on the programme.

Submission date for 5,000 words: 5 September 2026 (two months following the final unit).

Feedback from the programme tutors: the following month by 5 October 2026.

Completion

On successful completion, you will receive a Certificate of Completion and be offered an interview for the MA in Writing and Publishing should you wish to continue your studies and project. The MA is set up to facilitate the production of a completed novel but is exploring expanding its remit to facilitate Life Writing.

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West Dean Campus Sussex Credit Mj Dearman

West Dean campus
School of Art Facilities Credit Chris Ison

Facilities
West Dean School of Arts Alumni Credit Thom Atkinson

Alumni
Funding your course

Funding
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School of Arts

Explore and expand your work in a uniquely immersive environment with its own connections to art history. Our School of Arts students enjoy specialist studio spaces dedicated to painting and drawing, sculpture and tapestry and textile-based work as well as exceptional exhibition space.

School of Arts

Entry requirements

The following qualifications will be considered for entry to the course: 

  • A commitment to attending all three units
  • Some experience of writing or attending a short writing programme
  • An ability to work respectfully and thoughtfully in a small group of fellow writers
  • An interest in and awareness of the life writing genre

Please read our standard Terms and Conditions for short courses. Specific Terms and Conditions include a commitment to attend all three weekend course dates listed, as no alternative course date can be offered for any that you are unable to attend. Therefore, no refund can be made for the course fee for any weekend you are unable to attend. Course locations for the weekend units are not interchangable.

Please bring:
Your usual writing equipment, notebook and pen and/or laptop to each of the study units.

Fees

The course fees are payable in advance of study. 

Course fee: £1,057 (non-residential, payable in one instalment covering all three units – payable by 19 December 2025 or at time of booking if after this date).

Accommodation is available at an extra cost at our Sussex campus. Find out more about our accommodation options and costs.

We may routinely increase our course fees from year to year for one-year courses as well as courses lasting two or more years and may review and change such course fees without notice.

 

How to apply

Online
Book this course online by following the payment link below.

Email
Email the Bookings Team [email protected]

Phone
Call us on (01243) 818 300 and select option 2

Any questions?

Please contact our Bookings Team at [email protected] or call (01243) 818 300 and select option 2

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    Tutors

    Joanna Moorhead

    Joanna Moorhead is an award-winning freelance journalist who writes regularly for The Guardian, The Times, YOU magazine, Good Housekeeping, Easy Living, Mumsnet and BBC websites. She has been part of the BBC news team covering Papal elections and has edited The Guardian's women and health pages.

    Hannah Vincent

    Hannah Vincent is a novelist, short story writer and award-winning playwright. Her first novel Alarm Girl was published in 2014. She wrote her second while carrying out PhD research at the University of Sussex in autobiographic practice. The Weaning was published in 2018. Hannah’s debut collection of short stories She-Clown and Other Stories was published in 2020. Hannah teaches creative writing on The Open University’s MA programme and she has taught life writing for New Writing South and Charleston. She is currently Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Brighton.

    Katy Massey

    Katy Massey has been an acclaimed memoirist, novelist and tutor for over 15 years. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing and her 2020 memoir, Are we home yet?, was shortlisted for the Jhalak and Portico prizes. Her Dagger-shortlisted crime novel, All Us Sinners, will be followed by a sequel in 2026.