Autobiographical Writing An autobiography is the story of someone’s life written by that person. A biography is the story of someone’s life written by someone else. When we read autobiographies and biographies, we learn about a person’s life. We may be inspired by their achievements, or we may just learn about their everyday life.

Activity 1. Using a table like the one below, decide which are autobiographies and which are biographies. Make sure you justify your choices. Biography Autobiography What are your reasons 1 2 3 4 2. Which one of the book covers does not fit either category? Why?

Blurb A: Her story is a Cinderella Fairytale of an 1. Read the blurbs from the two autobiographies shown and examine their front covers. A. What kind of audience do you think the blurb is written for and why? B. Who might the front cover appeal to? C. What kind of readers might be interested in the topics, such as fashion/family life, that are mentioned in these blurbs? D. Which words and phrases in each blurb have been used to appeal to that audience. Blurb A: Her story is a Cinderella Fairytale of an ordinary Liverpudlian school girl who was transformed into a style icon and cover girl, sought after by fashion and lifestyle magazines the world over. Welcome to my World is Coleen’s chance to reflect on this amazing journey and share her love of fashion with her fans. From puffa jackets to Prada bags, Coleen reveals the secret behind her famous wardrobe, her style, her guide to shopping, he do’s and don’ts, her beauty regimes and her body workouts. It’s also the story of a young girl who has managed to keep true to her working-class roots whilst being catapulted into a world beyond her wildest dreams.

1. Read the blurbs from the two autobiographies shown and examine their front covers. A. What kind of audience do you think the blurb is written for and why? B. Who might the front cover appeal to? C. What kind of readers might be interested in the topics, such as fashion/family life, that are mentioned in these blurbs? D. Which words and phrases in each blurb have been used to appeal to that audience. Blurb B: Alan Bennett recalls his childhood in a sequence of tales that are funny, touching and told in his unique style. Hampered as he sees it by a family that never manages to be quite like other families, he recounts his early years in Leeds – a place where early in life one learned the quite useful lesson that “life is generally something that happens elsewhere”. Hiking every Sunday, trips into town and teas in cafes, it’s an ordinary childhood – his father a butcher, his mother a reader of women’s magazines who dreams of coffee mornings, cocktail parties and life “down south”. Here Alan Bennett relives family crises, early pieties and the lost tradition of musical evenings around the piano, with the wry observation and ironic understatement that has earned him a place in the forefront of contemporary writing.

Dearest Kitty, My hands still shaking, though it’s been two hours since we had the scare. I should explain that there are five extinguishers in the building. The office staff stupidly forgot to warn us that the carpenter, or whatever he’s called, was coming to fill the extinguishers. As a result, we didn’t bother to be quiet until I heard the sound of hammering on the landing (across from the bookcase). I immediately assumed it was the carpenter and went to warn Bep, who was eating lunch, that she couldn’t go back downstairs. Father and I stationed ourselves at the door so we could hear when the man had left. After working for about fifteen minutes, he laid his hammer and some other tools on our bookcase (or so we thought!) and banged on our door. We turned white with fear. Had he heard something after all and did he now want to check out this mysterious looking bookcase? It seemed so, since he kept knocking, pulling, pushing and jerking on it. I was so scared I nearly fainted at the thought of this total stranger managing to discover our wonderful hiding place… Activity: Read the extract on the right and identify the main features of autobiographical writing