Life on the Page: Annie Ernaux and Life-Writing with Patti Miller

Join acclaimed writer and teacher Patti Miller as she explores the work of Nobel Prize–winning author Annie Ernaux and the radical possibilities of life writing.

From Ernaux’s early autobiographical texts to her unsparing explorations of class, gender, memory and shame, discover how her commitment to telling the truth of lived experience reshaped contemporary literature. Through readings from Ernaux’s work, reflections on her diaries and essays, and insights drawn from Patti’s own decades-long engagement with memoir and autofiction, we’ll consider how personal history becomes political, and how writing the self can challenge silence and erasure.

Patti will also share reflections on her own practice as a pioneer of life writing in Australia, and discuss the enduring influence of Ernaux’s work on writers seeking to make meaning from ordinary lives. She will also discuss her memoir writing tour in Paris this October, an immersive experience for writers interested in place, memory, and the art…