Episode 7

Lulah Ellender on the personal and the universal in life writing

Published on: 3rd August, 2022

Lulah Ellender is an author, creative non-fiction writing teacher and writing coach based in Sussex. Her latest book Grounding: Finding home in a garden is about a single growing year in her garden after her mother died and her family was in danger of losing the home that they had lived in for 10 years. We talk about how Lulah weaves together the stories of many other gardens and the artists who created them into her own personal narrative alongside non-fiction elements of plant and garden history. She sees her role as taking the reader by the hand and leading them through, rather than memoir being particularly about her.

Lulah also tells me about her flexible online courses in Life Writing, her favourite books about writing, the importance of close reading your favourite books and reading widely around your topics of interest.

Links

Grounding - Lulah Ellender

Elizabeth's Lists - Lulah Ellender

Lulah's writing courses


Maggie Nelson - Bluets

EveryBody - Olivia Laing

The Artists Way - Julia Cameron

The Art of Memoir - Mary Karr

Bird By Bird - Anne Lamott


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About the Podcast

Not Too Busy To Write
Writing amongst life's many other demands
Penny Wincer is not too busy to write. Except of course, sometimes she is too busy to write as much as she would like. Join Penny as she has conversations with other writers about writing, publishing and creativity whilst juggling all the demands on them such as motherhood, caring and other paid work.

Penny Wincer is the author of Tender (Hodder, June 2020), a mother of two, a non-fiction writing coach and an Australian and long-term resident of London. She’s currently writing her second narrative non-fiction book, Home Matters (July 2024) and working on her first novel.

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Penny Wincer

Penny Wincer is the author of Tender: The Imperfect Art of Caring (Hodder, June 2020) and is a single parent to two kids, one of whom is disabled. She is also a non-fiction book coach and an Australian and long-term resident of London. She’s currently writing her second non-fiction book and working her first novel.