Memoir Seminar

Distinguished New Zealand author and literary activist Dame Fiona Kidman visited Oamaru recently at the invitation of the Friends of the Janet Frame House, and gave a seminar on the writing of memoir. I attended the seminar myself and found it inspiring and informative. There was a full house for the first part of the workshop at the "Janet Frame Room" at Waitaki Girls' High School, and then later we had a light lunch at the former Frame family home at 56 Eden Street. It was a beautiful day and the participants then found private spaces around the grounds of the house to carry out a writing exercise, afterwards coming back to the sitting room, to share their written passages if they felt like it. There were some excellent pieces read out, indicating that many of the workshop participants were already very talented writers. We all agreed it had been a very worthwhile time, another of the excellent literary events organised by the "Janet Frame Eden Street Trust" ably led by their chairperson Carol Berry.