Catherine Simpson – Tutor
Tutor
Sam Miller – Guest Reader
Guest Reader
1st – 6th September 2025
Course Date

‘There are no insignificant lives, only inadequate ways of looking at them.’   Michael Cunningham        

Memoir writing is the art of writing your own story in your own voice. In this course you will learn techniques to access your stories and memories, to get them on the page, and to shape and focus them for maximum impact. We will also cover bringing characters alive on the page, finding your own voice and creating a sense of time and place in your writing.

Everyone’s life experiences are unique and deserve to be told. Join us to write your own story.

Suitable for writers of any level of experience, or none.

Catherine Simpson - The Garsdale Retreat

Tutor: Catherine Simpson – Writer

Catherine Simpson has published two memoirs: When I Had a Little Sister, about the death by suicide of her sister, Tricia, and One Body about growing up and growing older in a woman’s body. One Body was shortlisted for the Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022, in the Scottish National Book Awards. Catherine has also published a novel Truestory inspired by raising her autistic daughter Nina. In 2021 Catherine wrote and narrated a dramatic monologue on Radio 4 called ‘Driving Dad to the Old Folks Home’ which was a Radio 4 ‘Pick of the Week’. The audio version of One Body was selected for World Book Night 2023.

Guest, Wednesday evening: Sam Miller – writer

Sam Miller was born and brought up in London but has spent much of the last 25 years far away from the United Kingdom. He has worked for the BBC as a reporter and a trainer, and as Country Director for the organisation’s development arm, BBC Media Action, in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He continues to work, on and off, for the BBC.

His family memoir, Fathers, was published by Penguin in 2017.

He is also the author of Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity (2010), A Strange Kind of Paradise: India Through Foreign Eyes (2014) and Migrants: the Story of Us All (2023), and is the translator of Alfred Assollant’s nineteenth-century French-language novel The Marvellous (but Authentic) Adventures of Captain Corcoran (2016).
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 £1,115
Single – Shared bathrooms £1,065
Shared Room (2 Beds) £1,015pp – single supplement £50
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.
STRUCTURE OF THE WEEK See Structure of the Week (tab above)
WHAT TO BRING
Boots/outdoor shoes/trainers suitable for walking on rough/wet paths.
A waterproof jacket or coat, plus waterproof trousers if you like to walk in the rain!
Toiletries – we have one hair dryer available for use. Hand wash and shower gel are provided.
Writing materials: laptop and your personal writing preference – notebook, paper, pens etc.
Cash for tutors/guest readers/other participants’ books. The nearest cash machine is in Hawes, six miles away!
START TIME

Please arrive between 3:00pm and 4:30pm on Monday 1st September 2025

Tea, cake and housekeeping information 4.30pm

Introductory Workshop 5.30 – 6.30pm

Dinner 7.00pm
END TIME

After breakfast, 10:00am on Saturday 6th September 2025
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.

Arrival time 3.00 – 4.00pm.

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 during the week. These will take place in the afternoons.

Each evening, at 8.30pm, there is an after-dinner event:

Tuesday – the tutor will read from their work.

Wednesday – reading from a guest writer.

Thursday – poetry/music performance from Hamish and Rebecca.

Friday – a shared reading of ‘work-in-progress’ produced during the week.