"An enormously rich week, beyond all my expectations. Susan is an exacting, intuitive and insightful teacher who gets you to think carefully about the power of words and where they can take you, if you let them. Yes please to next year too!"
The Art of Play – A Five Day Writing Retreat
The aim and theme of this retreat is to remind ourselves that writing has much more in common with play than work, and that what gets in the way of writing is what gets in the way of play – our pesky inner critic and thinking there’s a “right” way to do it. Taking inspiration from other particularly playful writers, we’ll use the week to shake up our dormant inner child, abandon convention and become magpies, collecting those bright, shiny things that bring both vitality and our own unique selves into our writing.
Led by experienced tutor and novelist Susan Elderkin, the retreat will be structured around morning workshops and will include a one-to-one tutorial and a mid-week guest speaker (read on!) You’ll have a room of your own, three delicious meals a day (cooked in-house using fresh, local ingredients), and the run of a beautiful stately home. Expect the week to be relaxing (afternoons free to spend as you wish, drinks before dinner, candle-lit tables, dogs, log fires) while also focussed: Susan tends to attract writers who are dedicated and keen. Expect to leave with a full notebook, a renewed sense of where your writing is going, and a gang of new writerly friends.
The retreat will run from Monday lunch to Friday lunch, and includes: five 3.5 hour workshops, a one-to-one tutorial, a talk from the special guest speaker, all meals, and your own beautifully decorated bedroom in the house. Prices start at £915 (depending on the room you choose).
Your tutor, Susan Elderkin, has been running retreats and workshops like this for over 20 years. The author of two award-winning novels and two books about bibliotherapy, she has taught on the MAs in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, Goldsmith’s and City University.
If you’d like to find out more, please email Susan at hello@susanelderkin.com or Harry on Harry@pennardhouse.com.
"An enormously rich week, beyond all my expectations. Susan is an exacting, intuitive and insightful teacher who gets you to think carefully about the power of words and where they can take you, if you let them. Yes please to next year too!"
