‘Everyone has a book in them’. Do we? Perhaps it’s true when we write from our own experience. Whether it’s a single episode from your life to craft into an essay, or a whole family history that’s itching at your writing hand, this course will help you find the extraordinary in the authentic – with people, places and events that come alive on the page.
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Tutor: Linda Cracknell – Writer Place, memory and motion are at the heart of Linda Cracknell’s writing. A great walker, as reflected in her 2024, non-fiction, ‘Doubling Back: Paths trodden in memory’, she also excavates history and myth in fiction with Caithness-set ‘Call of the Undertow’ and ‘The Other Side of Stone’ which focuses across time on a Perthshire woollen mill. Her latest book, ‘Sea Marked: Throwing a Line to a Coastal Past’ is a memoir exploring her seafaring ancestry in north Devon. She lives in Scotland and teaches creative writing widely, subscribing to Susan Sontag’s advice to writers: ‘Love words, agonise over sentences and pay attention to the world. Sea Marked: Throwing a Line to a Coastal Past. Published September 2025 saraband.net/sb-title/sea-marked/ Photo: Robin Dance |
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Wednesday Evening Guest Reader: Alan Johnson – Writer Alan Johnson was General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union before entering Parliament as Labour MP for Hull West and Hessle in 1997. He served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010. Before that, he filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. Until 20 January 2011 he was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. His childhood memoir ‘This Boy’ was published by Bantam Press on 9th May 2013. It won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, and the Orwell Prize, Britain’s top political writing award. His second volume of memoirs ‘Please Mr Postman’, was published in September 2014 and won the National Book Club award for Best Biography. The final book in his memoir trilogy, ‘The Long and winding Road’, was published in September 2016 and won the Parliamentary Book Award for Best Memoir. Alan retired as an MP before the 2017 general election after 20 years as an MP. A fourth memoir about his love of music (‘In My Life – A Music Memoir’) was published in 2018. His first novel, ‘The Late Train to Gipsy Hill’, appeared three years later, followed by ‘One of Our Ministers is Missing’, in September 2022 and then ‘Death on the Thames,’ in 2024. His concise biography of Harold Wilson was published by Swift Press in 2024. Alan spent eight years on the BBC’s ‘This Week’ with Andrew Neil and Michael Portillo and appeared regularly with Steph McGovern on Channel 4’s ‘Steph’s Packed Lunch’. He has also been the agony uncle for Saga Magazine as well as reviewing books for various publications. He was appointed Chancellor of the University of Hull in June 2023 and lives in East Yorkshire with his wife Carolyn. |
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| PRICES |
Fee includes all day and evening tutored workshop sessions, individual tutorials, tutor and guest readings, accommodation, inc. sheets and towels and all meals (not including alcohol). Single – En-suite room £1,150 |
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| TO BOOK |
£200 deposit payable on booking by bank transfer, PayPal or cheque, to secure place. Balance due six weeks before the start of the course. Please see Terms and Conditions. |
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| STRUCTURE OF THE WEEK | See Structure of the Week (tab above) | |||||
| WHAT TO BRING |
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| START TIME |
Please arrive between 3:00pm and 4:00pm on Monday 5th October 2026 Tea, cake and housekeeping information 4.30pm Introductory Workshop 5.30 – 6.30pm |
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| END TIME |
After breakfast, 10:00am on Saturday 10th October 2026 |
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| LOCATION | The Garsdale Retreat, Clough View, Garsdale Head, Sedbergh, Cumbria LA10 5PW Nearest railway station: Garsdale, on the Leeds – Carlisle line. For directions, see Find Us section on the Contact page. |
All courses start on Monday afternoon.
3.00 – 4.00pm: Arrival time
4.30pm: Housekeeping/Course information with tea and cake
5.30 – 6.30pm: Introductory workshop
7.00pm: Dinner
All courses end after breakfast on Saturday (10.00am).
Course Structure Tuesday – Friday
8.00 – 9.00am: Breakfast
9.30 – 11.00am: First workshop – Participants explore particular aspects of memoir / life writing and take part in writing exercises to further their understanding and expertise. All participants 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.
11.00 – 11.30am: Coffee break
11.30am – 1.00pm: Second workshop
1.00pm Lunch. After lunch, participants are free to do whatever they like, such as: relax, go for walks, read or work on individual writing projects.
4.30pm: Tea and cake
5.30 – 6.30pm: Third workshop
7.00pm: Dinner
All participants on a course have one individual tutorial of 30 minutes with the tutor in the course of the week. These will take place in the afternoons.
Each evening, at 8.30pm – c.9.30pm, there is an after-dinner event:
Tuesday – the tutor will read from their work.
Wednesday – poetry/music performance from Hamish and Rebecca.
Thursday – reading from a guest writer.
Friday – a shared reading of the ‘work-in-progress’ anthology produced during the week.
