Autobiographical Writing
An autobiography….is the story of someone’s life written by that person.
A biography… is the story of someone’s life written by someone else.
Activity 1. Using a table like the one below, decide which are autobiographies and which
are biographies. Make sure you justify your choices.
Biography
Autobiography
What are your reasons
1
2
3
4
2. Which one of the book covers does not fit either category? Why?
Autobiography
An autobiography is written in first
person because it contains facts about the
author’s own experiences. For example,
“I was born in London in 1980”.
An autobiography recounts key
incidents/events in the author’s life.
It is written in chronological order.
“I suppose I better write a little bit about the legend that is Comedy
Dave. He used to do technical bits at the station, and in the days of
Mark and Lard at breakfast, the show came from Manchester. Dave
had the task of fading the news up every half hour. What a job.”
“It’s been eleven years since I performed stand up at the open-mic
night in Manchester. I’ve just watched it back on video and it was
odd because, as soon as I saw myself, my nerves came flooding
back. “
“I don't love you any more.' I stared at Peter in total disbelief,
unable to take in what he'd said, the words cutting into me like
knives. 'It's not true, you don't mean it!' I cried out. 'You do love
me, I know you do. And I love you. We've only just got married!‘”
“The first time I was rude to someone I was four
years old. Unfortunately, my mum was the
victim. It was December 1963, less than a month
after President Kennedy had been assassinated
in America.”
Task: To write an autobiography
• Start writing your autobiography in Chronological
order.
 When/where you were born
 Childhood
 School
Use a
 Hobbies
 Holidays different
paragraph for
 Sports
 College
each topic!
Books/TV/Film
Family
Friends
Your feelings
Where you want to
be in 5 years.
Relationships
The places you
have lived.
Your heroes
First memory