Finish Your Memoir with Kris Kneen
Are you ready to accept the challenge and prioritise your own work for a change? Or are you a writer with experience in another form who is looking to tell their own story? Commit to your memoir and make 2026 your year to get it done!
Applications have now closed.
Dates: This course has closed.
Delivery: Online.
Fees: $3250 or $3150 for Varuna alumni. Payment terms are negotiable if you cannot pay the whole fee upfront.
Places: 8 participants will be selected for each class (small group).
“Kris Kneen’s memoir course was extraordinary: both the structure, insights, writing prompts and depth of engagement with the wider field of memoir writing, with other writers in the course, and with what it opened up about my own project. I knew it would be good - but it was better”
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In this nine-month online workshop series Kris Kneen will lead a small group of writers to work together with the aim of each writer finishing a draft of their memoir. Writers with an existing draft who wish to finish a complete redraft will also get a lot out of this program.
Examining your own unique writing process and putting in place support rails, this Varuna masterclass will look at different aspects of the memoir writing process, break everything into small, manageable blocks, and work towards setting deadlines and meeting those deadlines with the support of a cohort of writers at a similar stage of their writing process.
We will use the expertise within the group as well as the guidance of some of the greatest and most innovative memoir writers to examine your own work, find the cracks and rework the material until you are happy with the final result.
This is a small group program for 8 participants.
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In this course participants will:
Examine your own writing practice and adjust your work plan to suit your personal style.
Meet and get to know other writers at a similar point in their memoir writing process who will become your writing cohort, your support crew and your cheer squad.
Keep regular personal deadlines to help you stay on track to finishing your memoir.
Find new ways to structure and think about your book, and break the work up into smaller, more manageable pieces.
Find a small section of your book to refine as a calling card – an essay, an extract or sample to test in the real world.
Look at alternative methods of telling a personal story. Is the voice of your book the right voice to use? Are there better styles that suit your story?
Explore the beginnings of great memoirs, what catches a reader’s attention and forces them to read on. Are there ways you can find a stronger beginning to your story. Is it a re-ordering or a unique new scene?
Examine your story in the wider context of the world unfolding around the personal events. Look at the microcosm and the macrocosm of your unique story.
Deep dive into character - are the people in your story the right characters for the book? Are you missing key members of your cast? Are you featuring people who do not need a voice in the story?
Save others from harm and explore ways of obscuring identities, using metaphor and fictional methods of presenting the real world. Enact an empathetic approach to writing about people who have had a negative impact on your own life.
Explore how much is too much? We will look at the line between sharing generously and over-sharing. What needs to be saved for your therapist and what needs to be shared with a reader?
Bring what is hidden into the light and examine the areas of your life you are avoiding in your story. Decide if you should be leaning in to that discomfort.
Troubleshoot and identify the problem/s with your book, finding ways to overcome them.
Dig deep by planning and executing a last big push towards a first draft.
Re-write by stepping back from your work and finding ways of rewriting the (not great) first draft.
Finish strong by exploring meaningful endings.
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Please note that we may be able to offer two cohorts, and if so, the second program will run on Monday evenings - see dates below.
SEMESTER 1 - Monday class
Class 1: Making a Plan
Class 2: How memoirs are structured
Class 3: Fiction vs Memoir
Class 4: Hybrid and alternative structures
Class 5: The body is implicated
Class 6: How do we navigate time
Class 7: Casting and perspective - who tells the story
Class 8: What are you afraid of?
Class 9: Breaking it down into manageable pieces
Class 10: Microcosm - creating an excerpt for publication
Class 11: Check in and revising the planCOURSE BREAK
SEMESTER 2
Class 12: The situation and the story
Class 13: Traps, tricks and pitfalls
Class 14: Sharing and oversharing
Class 15: There are no baddies
Class 16: What is it all about
Class 17: Index card shuffle
Class 18: Workshopping
Class 19: Workshopping
Class 20: Workshopping
Class 21: Workshopping
Class 22: Into the FutureSEMESTER 1 - Tuesday Class
Class 1: Making a Plan
Class 2: How memoirs are structured
Class 3: Fiction vs Memoir
Class 4: Hybrid and alternative structures
Class 5: The body is implicated
Class 6: How do we navigate time
Class 7: Casting and perspective - who tells the story
Class 8: What are you afraid of?
Class 9: Breaking it down into manageable pieces
Class 10: Microcosm - creating an excerpt for publication
Class 11: Check in and revising the planCOURSE BREAK
SEMESTER 2
Class 12: The situation and the story
Class 13: Traps, tricks and pitfalls
Class 14: Sharing and oversharing
Class 15: There are no baddies
Class 16: What is it all about
Class 17: Index card shuffle
Class 18: Workshopping
Class 19: Workshopping
Class 20: Workshopping
Class 21: Workshopping
Class 22: Into the Future -
Kris Kneen is an experienced mentor and facilitator, as well as the award-winning author of memoir— Affection and The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen — and fiction: An Uncertain Grace, Steeplechase, Triptych, The Adventures of Holly White and the Incredible Sex Machine, Wintering, as well as the Thomas Shapcott Award-winning poetry collection Eating My Grandmother. They have written and directed broadcast documentaries for SBS and ABC Television. Their latest memoir is Fat Girl Dancing.
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“Kris Kneen’s Finish Your Memoir program encouraged us to approach our manuscripts in new ways. Thanks to Kris’ suggestions, and feedback from other class members, I’m inspired to explore different approaches to my second draft. I greatly valued Kris’s kindness, too, and the encouragement and openness of the other participants. And I look forward to keeping in touch with my classmates! ”
— Virginia Muzik, 2025 participant“Kris Kneen’s memoir course was extraordinary: both the structure, insights, writing prompts and depth of engagement with the wider field of memoir writing, with other writers in the course, and with what it opened up about my own project. I knew it would be good - but it was better.”
— anonymous, 2025 participant“The Finish Your Memoir course with Kris Kneen was invaluable for keeping me accountable and motivated during the long, difficult process of wrestling with material and trying to craft a meaningful story. Kris is a patient and encouraging teacher, and has great suggestions for getting unstuck when your writing isn’t working for you.”
— Anita Punton, 2025 participant“Finish Your Memoir gave me everything I needed to continue writing, as well as a greater knowledge of the field, and of possible approaches and common problems. I was greatly inspired and encouraged. Thank you Varuna, and Kris Kneen.”
— Sarah St Vincent Welch, 2025 participant“This is a really useful, hands-on program with structured writing exercises and a sharing of knowledge and experience across the board. Kris was really open to our questions and queries, allowing their experience to permeate the group. ”
— Louise Martin-Chew, 2025 participant“Kris Kneen was a wonderful teacher and mentor, providing careful and compassionate feedback on our work in progress memoir pieces. They gently pushed us to consider different narrative structures, viewpoints and hybrid styles, which I will take with me into my future work.”
— Sam Elkin, 2024 participant“The online memoir writing masterclass was one of the best learning and collaborative experiences I’ve had. Kris Kneen’s teaching drew us together and drew the best out of us. Our group of seven gelled and became a stimulating and supportive community. We read lots and we wrote lots and, by year’s end, had mostly pulled together a first draft of our memoir.”
— Clare Boyd-Macrae, 2024 participant -
Entry to this course is by application. Writers will be selected based on the creative potential of their work, commitment to craft, openness to collaborating with peers and the balance in the group. If we receive enough strong applications we will offer the program in two cohorts and will curate each of the groups to maximise peer-to-peer connections, taking preferences into account where possible.
Course fees are $3250 or $3150 for Varuna alumni. Payment terms are negotiable if you cannot pay the whole fee upfront.
Applications closed.
Please refer to Varuna’s general submission guidelines for any questions on formatting your work.
Feel free to call 02 4782 5674 or email amy@varuna.com.au to discuss your application.