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Story-Making, with Lucy Wadham
Dates: Sat 9 – Sat 16 Aug 2025
Cost: 515€ (course) + 935€ (accommodation & meals) = 1450€ (approx £1195)
Our lives are filled with stories – our own, those of our ancestors and those we hear from strangers. Faber novelist, Lucy Wadham, author of the memoirs, The Secret Life of France and Heads and Straights (Penguin) will help you coax these stories onto the page. Whether you’re interested in writing fiction or memoir, Lucy will help you hone your skills in order to build conflict and tension into your narrative and uncover its universal appeal.artist’s statement / conceptual statement at the start
The retreat will consist of daily 3-hour workshops with prompts each morning and a 1-hour group feedback session every evening.
Through writing exercises carefully crafted for the needs of each group and designed to fit into any work-in-progress, Lucy will build your confidence as a writer and give you some tools with which to combat creative block. By the end of the week you’ll feel ready to go forth into your writing life.
If you’ve every wondered if you can write a memoir, retreat for a week in Les Cevennes with Lucy. Enjoy the moments - serious, funny, emotional and warm - with an inspirational teacher. She started me on the next chapter of life with ideas, techniques and prodding to dig deep, recapture those memories, write straight from the heart. With her encouragement, openness and honesty, writing is not something I think about now, it is part of who I am. (Jenny Cater)
I was a physical wreck when I got to you and my mental state was pretty gloomy too. When I left, I felt light, free of pain and able to cope, and enthused about writing.” (Daphne Wilbraham)
Taking a writing course with Lucy Wadham is like working with a professional writer who is also a friend. (Diana Manley)
Access to a printer (bring a UBS key) can be arranged and we have a wifi point.
Massages are normally available from our on-site therapist, Frances. Walking maps can be provided, hammocks abound, and we’ll show you to the firewood pile in case you'd like to make yourself an outdoor fire in the evenings.
As part of the informal atmosphere at Gardoussel, guests are asked to participate in tidying up after meals, on a rota basis. This is generally considered to be a plus rather than a chore as it helps the group to get to know one another better.
Arrival is from 4pm on the first day, departure is after breakfast on the final day.
Pricing
Course cost is 515€ (approx £425)
Accommodation (single rooms) & meals (including wine) is 935€ (approx £770)
Spaces on this course are limited. To apply please send a brief email in the first instance to Sharon Black: sharonblackpoet@gmail.com to check there are still places available.
Tutor
Lucy Wadham has taught Creative Writing at Cambridge University (ICE) and the National Centre for Writing (NCW). She is the author of three novels and a bestselling memoir, 'The Secret Life of France,' all published by Faber. Another memoir, ‘Heads and Straights,’ was published by Penguin in 2013. She has several TV scripts in development and her debut poetry collection 'Fold' was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney First Collection Prize 2020.
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