The Wild Words retreat this year takes place in Puivert, the home village of the co-facilitators of this retreat - Wild Words’ Bridget Holding and Vanessa Cook of Wild Swan Living.
The Pyrenean village community, life and stunning natural environment will form the backdrop to your word-crafting. You’ll be invited to join in village activities and events which may include: foraging, crafts, tracking wild animals, wine tasting, wild swimming, walking in the mountains, wild cooking, eating meals sourced from local organic ingredients, visiting the Cathar chateaus, and drinking at the village bar. A week of writing is enriched and inspired by the troubadour history and centuries of storytelling.
In this small group, nature-based week, we’ll share experiences, track down our authentic voice and discover the stories we truly need to tell. You’ll transform experiences – from joyful to traumatic – into spoken and written poetry and prose. You’ll come away with both individually and collaboratively crafted work. To support this process there will be readings of inspirational poems, as well as art, montage and body awareness exercises.
Bridget will address subjects including sensory impressions, body sensations, emotion, point of view, the narrative arc, rhythm, tension, voice, character and dialogue, form, working with personal and/or traumatic material, and the role of storytelling in enabling human beings to survive and thrive. We’ll explore the (often unconscious) structures and techniques that, when we sit down to write, creates the idea of ‘block’, as well as gain an equal understanding of how to arrive at ‘flow’.
We’ll also make use of a process known as ‘found verse’ that uses using verbatim words as a basis for poetry and prose. By the end of the week you’ll have used the smallest signs to covey the most vast, transformed the unspeakable into words, and laughed a great deal with like-minded souls.
Vanessa will be guiding us into the wild. She will lead us on a wild walk, into opportunities to open ourselves to new ways of engaging with the landscape through basic bush skills, including foraging, tracking and wild swimming. She will also take us on a medicine walk, guiding us to deepen our communication with the land and with our inner voice. She will be running the kitchen for us during the retreat, preparing delicious meals, lovingly made for us to enjoy. (See Wild Swan Living for more about Vanessa).
Wednesday 14th until Tuesday 20th September 2022. Cost: £985/ 1180 Euros. Price covers full board in gite accommodation (except for one lunch and one evening meal out), alcohol, tuition and activities. Please note there are some optional extras.
Watch this space - we’re working on offering a camping option!
This is the first retreat we’ve run in two years, and it will fill up. Book early!
Fill in the contact form on the Retreats page for further information, or to request a booking form. Or email hello@wildwords.org
Non-residential places also available- prices upon request.
