On Saturday 17 March from 2-4pm there will be a Life Stories Session, an introduction to researching and writing the story of family histories with writer Aletta Stevens, based on the experience of writing her recently published book Looking for Uncle Joop: A Long-Lost Story from Nazi-Occupied Holland [Ashgrove Publishing, 2017], which is the story of Aletta Stevens' search to find out what happened to her Dutch uncle who was killed in Friesland in World War II, an emotional journey with some surprising discoveries, including an involvement with the Resistance and a lasting legacy amongst the local people who remember him to this day.

This Life Stories Session will include an introduction to the story of Uncle Joop and how the information was gathered and pieced together by the author to form not just a history, but a memoir. There will be a focus on how snippets of historical information can be transformed into a cogent story. This session is suitable for all who are interested in how to research their family history and are interested to understand how to interpret, translate and transform known and found factual information into a narrative memoir. 

Aletta Stevens grew up in Holland, born to an Indonesian father and a Dutch mother. After graduating in English Language from Sheffield University, she set up as a freelance translator in the UK. Her translation of the biography of Dutch film director Paul Verhoeven was published by Faber and Faber, and she is a r Buy Tickets egular contributor to ITI Bulletin, the journal of the Institute of Translation & Interpreting. 

There will be a book signing and copies of Looking for Uncle Joop for sale after this free workshop. 

Booking essential to reserve a place.