October is the chosen month for the inaugural Memoir Salon. The stone-fruits trees of Melbourne are signalling with their new shoots a time of renewal and new beginnings. It may be that October – with it hints of looming end-of-year and all its connotations and prospects of frenzy – is the best time to claim a space for our writing. If we can safeguard our commitment at times of accelerated pace, we may be cruising in the later months of surfing through the highs and lows of that peculiar thing we call our life journey. As the adage goes, a paragraph a day keeps the doctor away. This sounds convincing enough and I may try it for myself!

The idea of a salon germinated during the two weekend memoir-writing workshops I led with a wonderful group of people who were keen to keep up the momentum of the strong bonding experienced over wine and words. I am hoping to witness such connections evolve within the salon: the sharing of experiences, the forming of writing groups and the cultivating of friendships.

The Memoir Salon is yours to occupy, shape and enrich into what you want it to be. We want to hear your opinions, you dilemmas, and always, your stories. We want to celebrate together the idea of thinking and writing about the self.

Welcome to the first salon!