I’m sitting in a café, notebook in front of me, scribbling down my memories about a time I was in hospital. I feel a sense of release as the words pour out. From illness to grief, motherhood to caring for loved ones, writing about personal experiences can help us feel less alone, and is important in challenging taboos and furthering important conversations. Look on the shelves of a bookshop and you’ll likely see dozens of memoirs where authors share something of themselves with readers who are anything from curious about another person’s life to hoping to see something of their experiences reflected in someone else’s words.
The value of life writing
I talked to Kate McBarron, a writing for