Writing Cultural History: Technique, Style & Ethics
How do we begin to bring to life, to interpret and make cultural sense of the past?
It can be difficult enough, as writers, to interpret the present and know the meaning of things around us. How then do we begin to bring to life, to interpret and make cultural sense of the past?
Cultural history is a broad and increasingly popular genre, asking us to explore where our social, cultural and intellectual traditions come from. Why do we believe what we do, and how do those beliefs affect the way we lead our modern lives, conduct our professional and personal relationships, and interact meaningfully with a complex world?
This practical workshop will encourage emerging writers to think about their craft, examine their possible biases and consider the ethics of making judgements on past lives, as part of a broader appreciation of the requirements of writing cultural history.
Learning Outcomes
Understand the nature and challenges of writing cultural history
Workshop techniques for bringing the past to life in compelling prose
Consider the ethics of history and the interpretation of human behaviour
Consider the use and interpretation of source documents
Engage in real-time cultural history writing exercises.
Format
This is a hybrid workshop with a focus on craft; it will be held in-person at Queensland Writers Centre and live streamed simultaneously to an online audience. It is a level 2 course for emerging writers but is suitable for writers of all levels.
About Luke:
Luke Stegemann is a writer and cultural historian based in southeast Queensland. He has written on art, politics and history for a wide range of Australian and Spanish publications. Luke is the author of The Beautiful Obscure (2017) and Amnesia Road: Landscape, Violence and Memory (2021). This work won the 2021 QLA Non-Fiction award, the NIB Literary Award and was a runner-up in the NSW Premier’s Prize for Australian History. In 2018, Luke received the Premio Malaspina in recognition of his ‘outstanding contribution to the development of cultural relations between Australia and Spain’.
For more information about Queensland Writers Centre’s Program of Events and answers to FAQs, please visit: www.queenslandwriters.org.au/program-info