Character Portraits – Escaping the Ego will focus upon constructing and depicting characters and personalities in poetry, using friends, family, lovers and strangers, objects and emotions, and most fundamentally, writing in the second and third person. This will inject verve and versatility into your writing, while sidestepping the inevitable trappings of purely autobiographical verse.
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Tutor: Rhian Edwards – Poet Rhian Edwards is a multi-award winning poet. Her first collection Clueless Dogs (Seren) won Wales Book of the Year 2013, the Roland Mathias Prize for Poetry 2013 and the People’s Choice 2013. It was also shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection 2012. Rhian’s pamphlet Parade the Fib (Tall Lighthouse) was also the Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice for autumn 2008. Rhian’s pamphlet Brood (Seren) was published in March 2017, a sequence of haunting bird poems about motherhood and marriage. Rhian’s poems have appeared in the Guardian, TLS, Poetry Review, New Statesman, Spectator, Poetry London, Poetry Wales, Arete and the London Magazine, Stand and Planet Magazine. Photo: Michael Suess |
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Guest, Wednesday evening: Polly Atkin – Poet Polly Atkin lives in Grasmere. Her first collection, Basic Nest Architecture, was published by Seren in February 2017. An extract from this was awarded New Writing North’s Andrew Waterhouse Prize in 2014 for ‘reflect[ing] a strong sense of place or the natural environment’. Her first pamphlet bone song (Aussteiger, 2008) was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Pamphlet Award, 2009, and second, Shadow Dispatches (Seren, 2013), won the Mslexia Pamphlet Prize, 2012. She has taught English and Creative Writing at Lancaster University, and the Universities of Strathclyde and Cumbria. She is interested in site-specific work, as well as where poetry might intersect with Disability Studies and in writing about the body, in poetry and prose. Photo: Kay Adkins |
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| PRICES | Fee includes all day and evening tutored workshop sessions, readings, accommodation and full board (not including alcohol).
Single – En-suite room £760 |
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| TO BOOK | £150 deposit payable on booking by PayPal, bank transfer or cheque, to secure place, balance due six weeks before start of course. Please see Terms and Conditions. |
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| WHAT TO BRING |
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| START TIME | Please arrive between 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm on Monday 6th August 2018. | ||||||||||
| END TIME | After breakfast, 10:00 am on Saturday 11th August 2018. | ||||||||||
| LOCATION | The Garsdale Retreat, Clough View, Garsdale Head, Sedbergh, Cumbria LA10 5PW
Nearest station: Garsdale – direct line from Leeds. |
Courses
The Garsdale Retreat provides an inspiring place to develop as a writer. Our courses offer opportunities for new, emerging and experienced writers. The tutors, all professional writers, lead workshops and also give one-to-one tutorials to help the individual student. In the remote and beautiful setting of The Yorkshire Dales, The Garsdale Retreat gives a wonderful opportunity to escape from the daily stresses of life and to draw inspiration from fellow students, tutors and the landscape itself.
All courses start on Monday afternoon, arrival time 4.00 – 6.00pm and finish after breakfast on Saturday, 10.00am
Course Structure
Although there will be slight variations, according to the type of course, students can generally expect the following outline:
Each day begins with a morning workshop at 9.30am where students explore particular aspects of the chosen genre and take part in writing exercises to further their understanding and expertise. Tutors also write alongside the students, sharing and developing work with participants. The immediacy of hearing or reading an expert’s emerging work gives invaluable insight and inspiration into the art of writing. All students have opportunities to share their work with the tutor and fellow writers in a safe, supportive and nurturing environment in which individual work is respected and confidence developed.
There is a mid-morning coffee break and the session finishes at lunchtime (1.00pm)
After lunch, participants are free to do whatever they like, such as: relax, go for walks, enjoy The Dales, draw, paint, read or work on individual writing projects.
All students have at least one individual tutorial which usually takes place in the early evening after tea and homemade cake.
Each evening there is an after-dinner event. The precise nature of this varies according to the type of course but participants can typically expect a tutor reading on Tuesday followed by a reading from a guest writer on the Wednesday evening. There is an informal activity on Thursday such as a student ‘open-mic’ night, or a tutor devised activity. On Friday, students and tutor take part in a reading of their work from the course-produced anthology.
All courses end after breakfast on Saturday.
Poetry Course Anthology
An integral part of poetry courses is the production of an anthology of writing produced in the week. It is, of course, accepted that work may not be completely polished and there is an element of work-in-progress about it. However, the aim of the anthology is to reflect a flavour of the work accomplished on the course by both tutor and participants and to provide them with an attractive record of their time at Garsdale. The Retreat stores copies of anthologies in the library, providing pleasure and inspiration for future students.
