Lulah Ellender on the personal and the universal in life writing

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