Life Righting Collective

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Life Righting Collective

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The Life Righting Collective is a not for profit membership organisation.

The LRC runs courses to encourage self-exploration through life writing, raises funds for course fees and brings people together to share their stories and grow community. By providing a safe space to share our stories with others from all walks of life, the LRC promotes inclusiveness, cross-cultural learning and mutual understanding.

30/09/2026

Scenes from our recent in-person Keystone Memoir course facilitated by the incomparable Dawn Garisch. Look out for the next one coming to you 29th - 31st January 2027.

15/09/2026

EDIBLE MEMOIRS COURSE: Writing the Plate, Savouring our Stories

In this one-day course, based on our established Life Righting Keystone Memoir Course, we will use exercises to write stories that focus on all the senses and emotions conjured by food.

Our memories of food: they can take us back to the heady aromas of our grandmother’s cooking, negotiations over lunchboxes, an incident at the family breakfast table, the stench of compulsory school dinners and the hollow pain of going without.

Is our first food memory that of our mother’s milk? Maybe so. Often, because nourishing food and adequate shelter tend to go together, good food memories are about a feeling of home – of warmth and belonging. These memories can both feed and comfort us.

Then there is the tyranny of the diet and the scale, the spiritual practice of the fast, the rituals of food around weddings and funerals, the rhythm and routine of food preparation and mealtimes – these are imbued with aspects of our humanity that we can explore through writing.

In this one-day course, based on our established life righting Keystone Memoir Course, we will use exercises to write stories that focus on all the senses and emotions conjured by food. We will share those memories and also share our food – each of us bringing to the communal lunch table a simple pre-prepared edible memory: a part of who we are expressed in what we eat.

(NOTE: We will have access to a fully-equipped kitchen: but please bring your food memory dishes fully prepared so we can easily heat them up on the day (if heating is required): there is an oven, a microwave and ample fridge and freezer space.)

DATE: Saturday 28 November 2026

TIME: 9.30am – 4.30pm (including an hour to share our food memories from 1pm to 2pm)

VENUE: Marina da Gama, Cape Town: 10 places only

FACILITATOR: Giles Griffin

For more information please email us at [email protected]

10/09/2026

KEYSTONE MEMOIR COURSE: Routes to meaning

Writing about your own life can help you connect with the story you are living and it can help to heal or manage the effects of trauma.

We all have a story to tell from our own lives about how we became who we are. Stories about the way we were born, or about how someone helped us. About how we got ill, or overcame a terrible loss. Stories about how someone we loved hurt us, or how a political or spiritual circumstance almost broke us. Stories about how we were bullied, about how an accident changed the course of our lives, or about how we were able to make a difference in someone else’s life.

These stories are often invisible to others. They might still influence the way we think and feel in ways we don’t fully understand. Writing about your own life can help you connect with the story you are living and it can help to heal or manage the effects of trauma. It is a powerful way for us to communicate and to grow compassion for ourselves and for each other. The tools we need to write effectively are also tools that help us live more creatively and less anxiously.

Whether you are writing fiction or plays or poetry, life writing skills can help you deepen observation of our human preferences, habits and tendencies, and how they impact on ourselves, other people and the natural environment. During the course we will find refreshing approaches to assist us in putting our personal stories down on the page. Beginner writers are welcome.

Dates: Friday 18 September 2026, Saturday 19 September 2026 and Sunday 20 September 2026

Times: 2pm to 6pm Friday; 9am to 2pm Saturday and Sunday

Venue: 4 Airlie Place, Constantia

Facilitator: Dawn Garisch

Email [email protected] to book ✨

07/04/2026

✨KEYSTONE MEMOIR COURSE: Routes to meaning✍️

We all have a story to tell from our own lives about how we became who we are. These stories are often invisible to others. They might still influence the way we think and feel in ways we don’t fully understand.
Writing about your own life can help you connect with the story you are living and it can help to heal or manage the effects of trauma. It is a powerful way for us to communicate and to grow compassion for ourselves and for each other. The tools we need to write effectively are also tools that help us live more creatively and less anxiously.

Join multi-award winning author and poet, Dawn Garisch, for this in-person three-day memoir writing course where we will find refreshing approaches to assist us in putting our personal stories down on the page. Beginner writers are welcome!

"This course allowed me to write freely without the inner critic interfering. The group experience made me feel less alone. Dawn is an inspiration. Her ideas are phenomenal, the extracts chosen were both thought-provoking and moving. The creative exercises were very helpful in accessing our own particular memories." ~ Hildegarde le Roux, Cape Town

🏠Venue: 4 Airlie place, Constantia
🗓️Dates: Friday 15 May 2026, Saturday 16 May 2026 and Sunday 17 May 2026
🕜Times: 2pm to 6pm Friday 15 May; 9am to 2pm Saturday 16 May and Sunday 17 May
💸Fees: Options from R1500 - R3500

For more information and bookings, go to https://liferighting.com/courses/keystone-memoir-course-routes-to-meaning/

21/03/2026

☕ Sunday Story Brew 📖
A Sunday ritual from the Life Righting Collective
There’s something about a quiet Sunday morning — the stillness, the light, the space to pause and read something real.
Each week, we share an excerpt from one of our writers — a story of truth, reflection and connection.
These stories remind us that when we write about our lives, we make meaning of them — and in doing so, help set things right.

✍️ This week’s story:
“Lament For Catherine” by Roz Hoek
Read the full poem here → https://liferighting.com/author_stories/lament-for-catherine/
Meet the author → https://liferighting.com/bio/bio-roz-hoek/

Make a cup of tea. Take a breath.
And let this story find you.

17/03/2026

Join us on the 18th and 19th of April at the Norval Foundation in Tokai for the two-day course: How We Respond To Art.
When we view an art work that moves us, there is a resonance with our personal experience which can also be collective. In the creative process, the artist has explored new elements through the work, and invites the viewer to make connections that can transform or expand the way we see, think and feel.

Facilitated by multiple award-winning author and poet, Dawn Garisch, the course will help develop our capacity for creativity - the innate resource that promotes curiosity, restores us and re-energises us.

🏠VENUE: Norval Foundation, 4 Steenberg Rd, Tokai, Cape Town
📅DATES: Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 April
🕓TIME: 10:30am – 1:30pm daily (refreshments incl.)
💸COURSE FEE: R600 or R1200.

❗Please NOTE: an entrance fee of R220 per day will be required at the Norval Foundation. This can be purchased on arrival or online. Alternatively, an annual membership of R500 can be purchased on arrival or online. If you are already a member then no need to pay entrance fee. Bonus!

For more information and bookings, go to the link in our bio or email [email protected]

07/03/2026

☕ Sunday Story Brew 📖
A Sunday ritual from the Life Righting Collective
There’s something about a quiet Sunday morning — the stillness, the light, the space to pause and read something real.
Each week, we share an excerpt from one of our writers — a story of truth, reflection and connection.
These stories remind us that when we write about our lives, we make meaning of them — and in doing so, help set things right.

✍️ This week’s story:
“The Boy Who Learnt How To Run” by Tracy Bailey Smith
Read the full story here →https://liferighting.com/author_stories/the-boy-who-learnt-how-to-run/
Meet the author → https://liferighting.com/bio/bio-tracy-bailey-smith/

Make a cup of tea. Take a breath.
And let this story find you.

05/03/2026

Everywhere you go, there you are. This is true even when we view a work of art. Our likes and dislikes are aspects of character and culture, our personal and collective histories. We make associations all the time, whether we are aware of this or not. A work of art that evokes a strong response is a window through which we can explore who we are, how we arrived here and how to proceed.

Join us on the 18th and 19th of April at the Norval Foundation in Tokai for the two-day course: How We Respond To Art. Facilitated by multiple award-winning author and poet, Dawn Garisch, the course will help develop our capacity for creativity - the innate resource that promotes curiosity, restores us and re-energises us.

🏠VENUE: Norval Foundation, 4 Steenberg Rd, Tokai, Cape Town
📅DATES: Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 April
🕓TIME: 10:30am – 1:30pm daily (refreshments incl.)
💸COURSE FEE: R600 or R1200.

Please NOTE: an entrance fee of R220 per day will be required at the Norval Foundation. This can be purchased on arrival or online. Alternatively, an annual membership of R500 can be purchased on arrival or online. If you are already a member then no need to pay entrance fee. Bonus!
For more information and bookings, go to https://liferighting.com/courses/how-we-respond-to-art-writing-into-deeper-connection/
or email [email protected]

Address

Cape Town

Telephone

+27834461161

Website

http://www.liferighting.com/

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