Faber & Faber

Beginning a Biography is a practical course for aspiring biographers, covering all aspects of writing a biography from selecting a subject, dealing with literary estates, compiling a bibliography, locating and shaping materials, working with archives, keeping notes and writing footnotes, to finding an individual voice and style and helping to find a publisher.

Course begins on 6 October 2009 | Course fees: £3,500

Biographies require time and research, and this is an intensive course specifically designed to inspire and prepare students for the writing which lies ahead. From October 2009 to March 2010, there will be 24 weekly evening seminars and 6 all-day (Saturday) workshops. At the end of six months students will have produced a plan, decided a structure, written a sample chapter and accumulated the resources to continue the project alone. In the final sessions, a literary agent and publisher will answer questions on how to turn the material into an eye-catching proposal.

The course will be led by Frances Wilson, but specific ‘masterclasses’ will be given by prize-winning biographers including Kate Summerscale, Andrew Motion, Peter Parker, and Alexander Masters. The Saturday workshops will include training sessions in the use of London’s premier research libraries.

As biographies debate with, respond to, and evolve from other biographies, students will be required to do a good deal of background reading in the genre at the same time as working on their own book.

The course will be selective.

Course Programme

All classes will take place at the new Faber offices:

Faber and Faber Ltd.
Bloomsbury House
74-77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA

The course consists of 24 two-hour evening sessions and 6 full-day sessions. All evening sessions will take place on Tuesdays from 7pm-9pm. Full-day sessions will take place on Saturdays from 10am-5pm.

Please note: There is a three-week Christmas break between sessions 14 and 15.

The subject matter of sessions as listed below is a guide only.

The exact course content will be finalized according to the experience and interests of the group and guest speaker availability. The detail of the course content is at the discretion of the Course Director and the Faber Academy.

Session 1:    Introductory session (06/10/09)     
Session 2:    Selecting your subject (13/10/09)        
Session 3:    Approaches - Cradle-to-Grave or Micro-history? (20/10/09)        
Session 4:    Workshop - Tour of British Library resources (24/10/09)
Session 5:    Dealing with literary estates (27/10/09)
Session 6:    Masterclass with Norma Clarke: Writing a Short Life (3/11/09)
Session 7:    Note-taking, referencing, footnotes (10/11/09)        
Session 8:    Shaping a life (17/11/09)
Session 9:    Workshop - Tour of Colindale Newspaper Library (21/11/09)        
Session 10:  Masterclass with Kate Summerscale: Researching with Newspapers (24/11/09)
Session 11:  Approaches to sex and sexuality (01/12/09)        
Session 12:  Working with letters (08/12/09)       
Session 13:  Masterclass with Peter Parker: Writing a Long Life (15/12/09)        
Session 14:  Workshop - Writer’s Houses: Tour of Thomas and Jane Carlyle’s House, followed by lunch and discussion (19/12/09)        
Session 15:  Approaches to place (05/01/10)       
Session 16:  Finding your voice (12/01/10)        
Session 17:  Masterclass with Alexander Masters: Writing a Life Backwards (16/01/10)        
Session 18:  Workshop - Tour of Public Records Office, Kew (19/01/10)        
Session 19:  Biographical morality (26/01/10)
Session 20:  Style (2/02/10)        
Session 21:  Presentations of research so far (09/02/10)        
Session 22:  Masterclass with Lucasta Miller: Myth and Metabiography (16/02/10)        
Session 23:  Workshop - Tour of the Wellcome Institute (20/02/10)        
Session 24:  Method Biography (23/02/10)
Session 25:  Approaches to childhood (02/03/10)
Session 26:  Biographical Obstacles and Breakthroughs (09/03/10)
Session 27:  Masterclass with Andrew Motion: Writing an Imaginary Life (16/03/10)        
Session 28:  Workshop - Progress reports and writing proposals (20/03/10)       
Session 29:  Peter Strauss, literary agent, and Julian Loose, Non-fiction publisher at Faber, discussing biography in the current market (23/03/10)        
Session 30:  The future: setting you on your way (30/03/10)  

NB: This is a provisional programme and subject to change.

How to Apply

There are 16 places available on ‘Beginning a Biography’.

Applicants should write a letter of application and return it to c/o Patrick Keogh at the Faber Academy no later than Friday 21 August. The letter should state why they wish to attend this Faber Academy writing course and what they hope to achieve. In addition, they should include:

1. A detailed outline of the figure(s) they wish to write about stating why this subject is interesting and would make for good biography. Please note that this copy will not be returned.

2. A stamped addressed postcard if they wish their application to be acknowledged.

3. A stamped addressed envelope for receipt of the results of their application.

Participants will be selected at the discretion of the Course Director and the Faber Academy.

The Faber and Faber Fellowship

Two places on the course will be allocated free of charge. These places will be chosen at the discretion of the Course Directors and the Faber Academy, and will be based on merit and not financial circumstances.

Course Director

Frances Wilson is the author of Literary Seductions, The Courtesan’s Revenge, and The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth. She was an academic for fifteen years before becoming a full-time writer, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She was a judge on the Biography panel of the Whitbread Prize in 2006, and she reviews biography for the Sunday Times.

Disclaimer

The Course Directors and Faber and Faber take no responsibility for lost or damaged applications and no correspondence will be entered into with unsuccessful applicants, although they may be invited to apply for future courses.

Successful applicants will be asked to pay a non-refundable deposit towards the course fees of £1,000 by 28 August 2009. The balance of the course fee, a further £2,500, will be payable in four further instalments of £625 on 6th October, 4th November, 2nd December and 6th January respectively. No refunds will be given to students who miss sessions or drop out of the course once the full fee has been paid.

The subject matter of course sessions is subject to change due to the level of experience and interests of the group and availability of guest speakers. The content of the programme is determined at the discretion of the Course Directors and the Faber Academy.

Although the Faber Academy is run by Faber and Faber publishers, admission to the course does not guarantee publication by them or any other publisher.