Embrace lifelong learning with a short course

When Sydney Peen’s family enrolled him on our Life Writing and Writing Life Short Course as an 80^th birthday present he had some reservations. “I thought I’ll be twice the age of the tutors and probably could be great grandfather to the students,” he tells us, “but I like a challenge.”

Despite his initial nerves, the course proved to be very fulfilling for Sydney and the experience inspired him to start working on his memoirs. We caught up with Sydney to find out more about his interest in creative writing and hear about the moments in life that have shaped him.

The art of life writing

After the birth of his first grandchild in 2005, Sydney’s daughter gave him a blank book titled “An Essay to My Grandson”. Some years later the family booked him a place on our Life Writing and Writing Life Short Course to help him get started.

Students on our Life Writing and Writing Life Short Course explore how life and writing can merge in unexpected ways. During the sessions, students try their hand at writing different genres of narrative non-fiction, such as personal essays and memoirs, profiles and interviews, and travel writing.

“I now have five beautiful grandchildren and I would like them to know something more about me than the old boy who told them silly jokes and taught them slightly smutty rhymes,” Sydney explains. “I wished I had spoken more to my father about his early life. This writing course is the stimuli I needed to do this for my children and grandchildren.”

Travel diaries

Sydney grew up in east London and went on to work for the local government, a career which later took him all around the world.

“One of my areas of expertise was in the conduct of elections,” says Sydney. “This particular interest led me into the most rewarding and exciting period of my working life, when I was invited to join a team of election observers, under the auspices of the United Nations, to follow the first democratic elections in Sierra Leone.”

“This was the first of many similar missions which took me to many parts of the world that I would never have had the opportunity to see and experience,” Sydney tells us. “Africa, Russia, South America and many trips to Asian and east European developing states, experiencing many strange, amusing, exciting and, occasionally, slightly risky incidents.”

Sydney's travels have provided an important source of inspiration for his writing over the years. “Keeping diaries during my travels, particularly in Spain and Italy, was my first introduction to descriptive life writing,” he says. “I found that as I was writing I was actually reliving the most enjoyable moments of each trip, recalling special people, places and even meals shared with camino friends.”

Exploring new ideas

For Sydney, the Life Writing and Writing Life Short Course was a great way to explore new ideas through the various writing exercises set by course tutor, Joanna Pocock.

“I loved the feeling of walking across Granary Square, entering the university building, meeting Joanna and my lovely classmates,” says Sydney. “Difficult to gauge the age range in the class, but I reckon I could give them 50 years start. But from day one the age difference disappeared.”

“Joanna was so welcoming and encouraging,” says Sydney. “Within the first half hour she set us a small 15-minute essay and I was so fired up with alternative ideas, I just didn’t want to stop writing. I was enjoying myself. And so it continued for the whole of the course. My wife and daughter, having seen how much I have enjoyed and been inspired by the course, are now encouraging me to sign on again next year."

“With Joanna’s encouragement I am now completing my memoirs for my family,” says Sydney. Using photographs as a starting point, Sydney plans to document his election missions. “One photograph can revive so many memories, time, place, even sounds or smells,” he says, “I have lots of ideas buzzing around in my head.”

Check out our upcoming short courses to find out what's coming up.