A five-day intensive workshop for writers who are ready to share their life story, outside of friends and family.
Delivered by Benjamin Law, you will come out of this five-day intensive with a toolkit and roadmap for writing down the most important story of your life: your own.
Spend five days surrounded by the spectacular natural beauty of the Blue Mountains National Park and enjoying the hospitality of Varuna, the National Writers House. The perfect place to prioritise the story you want to tell.
This five-day intensive is for writers who are ready to share their life story with a broader readership, outside of friends and family. When so much has happened in your life, where do you start? How do you ensure your story is engaging instead of a glorified Wikipedia entry? How do we go about navigating the ethical minefield that is writing about real people in our lives?
Lunch will be provided at Varuna each day.
Participants should be writers who are committed to finishing a memoir project. Writers - published or aspiring - from First Nations, migrant, queer and disability communities are particularly encouraged to enrol.
Day 1 |Introduction to Memoir: What Makes a Good Memoir?| Evening welcome drinks
Day 2 |Research and Prep: Interviews, Archives & Journals
Day 3 |Craft: Structure, Exposition, Hooks, Humour, Perspective, Description, Character, Action & Dialogue
Day 4 |Ethics & Discipline: How to Navigate the Minefield of Writing About Real People
Day 5 |Writing and Feedback Intensive
This workshop is an 18+ event.
ABOUT BENJAMIN LAW
Benjamin Law is an Australian writer and broadcaster.
He’s the author of The Family Law (2010), Gaysia(2013), the Quarterly Essay Moral Panic 101 (2017) and editor of Growing Up Queer in Australia (2019).
Benjamin is also an AWGIE Award-winning screenwriter and playwright. He is the co-executive producer, co-creator and co-writer of the Netflix comedy-drama Wellmania (2023),playwright of Melbourne Theatre Company’s acclaimed plays Torch the Place (2020) and Dying: A Memoir (2025), and creator and co-writer of three seasons of the award-winning SBS/Hulu/Comedy Central Asia TV series The Family Law(2016–2019).
One of Australia’s most prolific interviewers, Benjamin has deep-dived with Jennifer Coolidge to a crowd of 8000, Fran Lebowitz at the Sydney Opera House, Martha Stewart to an audience of 3500, and interviewed the likes of Bernie Sanders, Gloria Steinem, David Suzuki, Michelle Yeoh, Matthew McConaughey, Roxane Gay, David Sedaris and Brian Cox – both the English physicist and Scottish actor – for his weekly column in Good Weekend.
As a broadcaster, he has hosted ABC TV’s two-part feature documentary on Chinese-Australian history Waltzing the Dragon, episodes of ABC TV’s Compass and ABC Radio’s Conversations,and Stop Everything with Beverley Wang for half a decade. He has also appeared on TV shows like Australian Survivor(Ten), Filthy Rich and Homeless(SBS), Q&A(ABC), The Drum(ABC) and The Project (Ten). He has also written for over 50 publications in Australia and beyond—including the Monthly, frankie, Guardian, Monocle and Australian Financial Review.
He is the co-chair of Co-Curious, board member of Story Factory and an ambassador for Plan International Australia, the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation, Twenty10 and the Pinnacle Foundation.
Benjamin has a PhD in creative writing and cultural studies from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). In 2019, he was voted one of the 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians, winning the Arts & Culture category of the Asian-Australian Leadership Awards.
He works and lives on Gadigal Country, part of the Eora Nation (Sydney, Australia).
KEY INFO
WORKSHOP: Memoir Writing with Benjamin Law
Dates: Monday-Friday, 30 November - 4 December 2026
This workshop is an 18+ event.
VENUE, PARKING and ACCESS
This is a seated event.
Parking onsite is limited to individuals with access needs. Please email varuna@varuna.com.auto request a suitable parking spot.
Drivers can drop-off their passengers onsite and then move to the recommended parking area.
Recommended parking is curb-side on Cascade St (not Sherman Avenue) and walking to Varuna's main entry.
Varuna's driveway, car park and gardens are uneven and care is recommended when accessing the property at all times.
If you require T-loop, closed captions, Auslan interpreters or accessible parking, please contact Varuna directly on varuna@varuna.com.au or call 02 02 4782 5674 to speak to Erin English.