Family history: creative inspiration, research tips & writing strategies

About

9 & 10 October 2026 | In-person or online

After running these workshops across Australia for the last five years, I've met many people who want to tell their family history but don't know how to get started. You may recognise yourself in what I often hear:

• An older relative shared a remarkable story that risks being forgotten
• You’d love to know more about an exciting ancestor, but they weren’t rich, white, straight or male, so they cannot easily be located in the archives
• After hours on online genealogy websites, you are ready to find more meaningful information
• You’ve inherited piles of research but don’t know how to bring your ideas to life
• Getting published is a lifelong dream but you’re not sure where to begin
• Many dead ends resulted in the project losing steam

Family history is more than facts and dates found on expensive genealogy websites. It’s a lifestyle, process, book genre, source of inspiration, and a special document for future generations. But it’s rarely neatly presented to us.

Drawing on my experience investigating an ancestor for The Boy in the Dress, and local personality Brian Finemore for my forthcoming book, The Curator, I will guide you through the process of:

• locating buried stories
• choosing which narratives to pursue
• contextualising your ancestors’ world, and, finally,
• shaping your research into an engaging piece of writing.

Even if you don’t wish to publish your work commercially, this workshop will help you craft an engaging story for your family, community, and…