Unless specified, all seminars were held at the University of Sussex, Tuesdays 12.30-1.55pm, in the Russell Building, Room 12. (Wheelchair accessible.)

Professional Life-Story Detective

Date: 5 December 2008
Time and Place: Special Collections, the Library 2 - 3.30pm
Speaker: Branwen Davies, BBC Researcher
How do you trace the writers and copyright holders of archival documents? Branwen Davies will share her experiences, and offer invaluable tips, in tracing and working with Mass Observation diarists and other life writers as part of her work with the BBC.

Letters from Sierra Leone

Date: 18 November 2008
Speaker: Professor Fiona Leach, Education, University of Sussex
Fiona Leach will talk about reconstructing the lives of European and African women associated with Protestant missions in early 19th century Sierra Leone from fragments of life history documents.

One-day Taster Course in the Biographic-Narrative-Intepretive Method (BNIM) - Life histories, Lived situations and Ongoing personal experiencing

Date: 17 November 2008
Speaker: Tom Wengraf (London East Research Institute, UK)
The Centre is running a special day-long training in Wengraf's methodology for exploring lived situations and lived-experiences through biographic narrative interviews. The BNIM method has gained a large number of followers over the last 15 years and we are delighted to host its designer at Sussex. Please click here for details of how to apply.

Life Writing in Theory and Practice

Date: 4 November 2008
Speaker: Meg Jensen, Director of the Centre for Life Narratives, Kingston University. Co-sponsored by the Department of English
Do academics and professional writers see questions of truth-telling, ethical dilemma and self-representation in the same way? When writer and theorist share a classroom, an office, indeed a funded research project, can they talk to each other productively?

The Art of Memory

Date: 21 October 2008
Speaker: Barbara Loftus, Artist. Co-sponsored by the Department of English
Room: Arts E 419
Barbara Loftus is a figurative painter who combines performance, historical research and digital media with traditional studio practice. Her current project, which has been in progress for a decade, is concerned with a visual interpretation of trans-generational memory and explores the experience and perceptions from two generations - her Mother's and her own.