Judith Wright at her desk, 1971. National Archive of Australia: A1200, L93728.

There are as many ways to write about a life as there are to live one. Historians trawl through the archives to bring people from the past into the spotlight, celebrities tell-all in their memoirs and some creative minds even experiment with the blurring of fact and fiction. The genre of life writing is very popular among readers. Biography, autobiography, memoir, published letters and diaries, essays – all are potential avenues for painting a portrait of a person and their story. 

Writing Lives is a new series of book talks hosted by the National Centre of Biography. Each event puts authors of new works of biography in conversation with academic experts to talk all about the possibilities, discoveries, puzzles and challenges involved in their many and varied forays into writing lives. 

This series is supported by Harry Hartog booksellers, who will have copies of the relevant books for sale at each event.