Memoir: Begin Writing Your Life

Course starts Monday 28 September 2026

This is an in-person course which requires your attendance at the weekly meetings in Oxford on Mondays, 10.30am-12.30pm.

Week 1: So you want to write a memoir?

Week 2: Other people’s children

Week 3: Your own flesh and blood

Week 4: Back to the beginning

Week 5: Defining moments

Week 6: Mums and Dads

Week 7: The beginning of the end

Week 8: The end of the beginning

Week 9: Sharing and feedback

Week 10: What next?

Course aims

• To study a variety of life writing texts and produce an original piece of life writing.
• To read and understand a variety of life writing.
• To analyse the ways in which life writing sustains the reader’s interest.
• To provide a positive atmosphere in which students can explore their reading and writing from first draft to finished piece and give constructive feedback to others.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will have been given the opportunity to have learnt how to:

• respond to different forms of life writing with growing confidence and understanding;
• be able to write in a manner which engages and sustains the interest of the reader; and
• be able to transform their own experiences into original writing.

Level and demands

The Department’s Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, ie first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.

Teaching methods

• Reading and discussion of texts in groups and pairs;
• Textual analysis;
• Directed writing tasks.

Assessment methods

Only those students who have registered for assessment and accreditation, in advance of the course start date, can submit coursework/assignments for assessment.

Assessment

You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first of 500 words is due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.

Mr Jeremy Hughes

Jeremy Hughes has published two novels – Wingspan (2013) and Dovetail (2011). He was awarded first prize in the Poetry Wales competition and was short-listed for an Eric Gregory Award. He also publishes short fiction, life- writing and reviews. He studied for the Master’s in Creative Writing at Oxford.

Academic credit

Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme (CATS Points)

Please note, students who do not register for assessment and accreditation during the enrolment process will not be able to do so after the course has begun. If you wish to gain credit from completing this course you must register to do so before the course starts.

Only those who have registered for assessment and accreditation will be awarded CATS points for completing work to the required standard. Please note that assignments are not graded but are marked either pass or fail.

Learn more about the Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme.

If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education at the Department you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee for assessment and accreditation.

Digital certificate of completion 

Students who are registered for assessment and accreditation and pass their final assignment will also be eligible for a digital Certificate of Completion. Information on how to access the digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course attended. You will be able to download the certificate and share it on social media if you choose to do so.

Fees

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, or are a care-leaver in the UK, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Concessionary fees for short courses

Recommended reading

Recommended reading is optional and you are not required to purchase these books to study this course.

Library facilities

All weekly class students may become borrowing members of the Rewley House Library, part of the Bodleian Libraries, for the duration of their course. Prospective students whose courses have not yet started are also welcome to use the Library for reference.

• More information about the Library can be found on the Bodleian Libraries website. 
• This guide for Weekly Class students also provides further information.

Preparatory reading

• The Arvon Book of Life Writing: Writing Biography, Autobiography and Memoir / Cline, S & Angier, C.
• In the Blood: A Memoir of My Childhood / Motion, A.
• Writing Life Stories: How to make Memories into Memoir, Ideas into Essays and Life into Literature / Roorbach, B.

Recommended Reading List

Module code: O26P477CRW

How to enrol

Please use the ‘Book now’ button on this page.

How to register for accreditation and assessment

To be able to submit coursework and to earn credit (CATS points) for this course, if you wish to do so, you will need to register and pay an additional £60 fee. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. 

Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process will not be able to do so after the course has begun.

If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education at the Department you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.

View our terms and conditions

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