Family History Writing Workshop

Have you ever wanted to write your family history? This workshop series will help you get started, under the guidance of Nick Barlay, a writer and teacher experienced in writing the history of his own family throughout twentieth century’s war-torn Eastern Europe.

Not merely a writing practice, this workshop will help you reflect on the meaning and importance of family history, and on how to overcome the challenges associated with writing about “home” and “displacement." You will learn how to include artefacts or photos in your narrative and what they may be able to reveal about people and places. Storytelling techniques will be approached, to bring to life lived experience, for example 'creating characters', evoking the places and worlds of family members, and using dialogue and scenes to narrate life-stories.

Nick Barlay’s workshop will be an opportunity to share ideas, complete short writing exercises, get advice on your own project of preserving your family history, and have fun experimenting.

This workshop is proposed in complement to the Armenian Institute’s Heritage of Displacement oral history project, aimed at documenting and preserving stories of Armenian diaspora heritage in the UK. The project is funded by a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, thanks to National Lottery players.

Workshop is limited to 12 participants. Anyone is welcome to register: tickets are £14 (£8 for students) and free for all the volunteers involved with the Heritage of Displacement project, interviewers and interviewees.

This event is part of Heritage of Displacement: Oral Histories from the UK Armenian Communities (2023–2026), funded by a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, thanks to National Lottery players.

About the Speaker

Nick Barlay is the author of four acclaimed novels and one book of non-fiction. He has written award-winning radio plays, contributed to short story anthologies, and his journalism has appeared in many publications. He was named one of Granta’s 20 best young British novelists in 2003, until it was discovered he was too old to be young. Barlay was born in London to Hungarian Jewish refugee parents. Scattered Ghosts, the story of his family over 200 years, is available in the UK, Hungary and the USA. It was longlisted for the 2015 Wingate Prize. He is currently writing a non-fiction book, The Suicide of Eva Izsak, supported by an Arts Council England award.