Activities at Atsitsa Bay, Greece
The Stories of Your Life with Alison Habens
Sat 5 - Sat 12 Jul 2025
The Stories of Your Life with Alison Habens
Always wanted to write your life story but didn’t know where to start? This course will lead you in a series of fun and interesting life-writing tasks. From your earliest memories, those tales of your school days and siblings, pets and pursuits, through the rites of passage, work and marriage: you will be able to tell about the triumphs and the tragedies on your personal timeline, and see the whole story laid out as a screenwriter might plot the film or a novelist plan the book.
All the sights, sounds and smells of your childhood will be conjured up, while you play with the characters of your real-life friends or foes, and practise technical skills around writing in past and present tense, first or third person. Working in prose, poetry or script, whichever you prefer, we’ll even explore where you got your name from, and experiment with ideas that may have come from dreams.
As well as meeting the muse of ancient Greece, our discussions will include possible avenues of publication and routes to readership, and Alison will be able to offer individual advice on your writing during the course. This creative writing class is likely to touch on memories which may be painful: you won’t have to read aloud unless you are happy to. The activities are designed to be comfortable and enjoyable, and will allow you to produce first drafts of short stories, articles, poems or scripts; with the potential to develop a full-length memoir or semi-autobiographical novel based on the story of your life (so far).
What's included?
Alison's course is held in Atsitsa Bay on Skyros island in Greece and is part of the wide range of courses and activities available. The holiday includes full board twin shared accommodation in an eco-hut. Single upgrades and twin shares in the house are available. Chat through the website, call +44 (0)1983 86 55 66 or email holidays@skyros.com to discuss your requirements.
About Alison Habens
Dr Alison Habens is the author of six novels, including Dreamhouse, Pencilwood and The True Picture. Some are modern, some historical, and most are semi-autobiographical in some way! She also writes and performs poetry, with several pieces appearing in print. See www.alisonhabens.com and her Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages for the latest publications.
Alison is the course leader for Creative Writing at the University of Portsmouth. Many of the professional tricks and tips she teaches to future novelists can also be used to enhance personal wellbeing, and Alison has studied the subject of narrative therapy for her project called Ink:Well. She's also interested in 'divine inspiration' and that big question all writers are asked: 'where do you get your ideas from?'
She lives in an old church on the Isle of Wight and commutes to work by hovercraft.
