Living On Three Continents: Writing Workshops In Chile
Susan and Gordon Siddeley will again be running 14-day writing workshops at their vineyard home in Chile's beautiful central valley. Authors Beth Follett and Stuart Ross will be leading and encouraging participants. There will be lots of sunshine, fine wine and good comradeship, and a chance to see and learn something of Chile and its literary heritage.
Susan has been a regular contributor to Open Writing with her entertaining and surprsing columns. To read them click on Living On Three Continents in the menu on this page.
These events in Chile promise to be a remember-for-the-rest-of-your-life experience. Herewith the full details of the workshops.
* *
Details for the 2006 Los Parronales 14-day Writing Workshops
Costs:
Airfare, plus an inclusive daily rate of £55 (double-occupancy) or £67 (single-room occupancy).
Preferred payment is two post-dated cheques: one for Dec 1st ’05 for half the total cost, the other for the last day of the holiday ( 22nd Jan ’06, 12th Feb ’06 or 5th Mar ’06) for the rest i.e. half the total cost minus the reservation fee. These to be received by November 28th ’05.
Daily Rate includes:
* Workshop fees for group of ten (Beth) twelve (Stuart).
* Bed, breakfast and evening meal.
* Lunch when the group is on the farm
* Day-trips, excluding bus fares, restaurant meals, tips and museum entrance fees.
* Airport pick-up and drop-off
Meals:
* Breakfast: buffet style with fruit, cereals, yogurt, eggs, cheese and toast
* Lunch: soup, salad, sandwiches and local dishes e.g. empanadas
* Complimentary Happy Hour
* Dinner: chicken, meat, fish, light dessert, served with Chilean wine
(Please specify any special dietary requirements)
Day Trips: Three full day and two half-day outings to be chosen from
* Coastal tour to Algorrobo and holiday resorts south of Valparaiso, including Pablo
Neruda’s Isla Negra House
* Coastal trip to Valparaiso, Pablo Neruda’s Port house
* Downtown Santiago including the Cathedral, Pre-Columbian Museum and
Plaza de Armas
* A vineyard tour
* Lower Andes Foothills and Nature Park /Wild Life Sanctuary
* The bohemian ‘Bella Vista’ district and Pablo Neruda’s Santiago House
Plus - A night out at the “Los Buenos Muchachos” folk-show restaurant.
Available in free-time periods:
* Swimming, walking, biking, horse riding, games,
To Bring:
* Medical and Travel Insurance (very important)
* Sun-cream (suggested SPF 25+ strength) Most days in Jan/Feb are intensely sunny
* Phrasebook
* Jacket for evenings, sandals for beach and patio, walking shoes for trails
Accommodation:
Single and double rooms are available. Occupancy depends on booking order and is therefore subject to availability. All rooms have en-suite bathrooms, or bathrooms shared between two bedrooms. Each room has a desk or table for writing, with drawers, shelves and wall hooks for storage and clothes. There are many quiet corners both indoors and out for independent working and there is a small library of reference and other books.
Travel:
Browse the net or use your travel agent to get the best deal. Workshops start on a Monday. Arriving the day before is ideal.
Chile has a reciprocal one-time “life of passport” landing tax for Canadians of US$80. For US citizens the tax is US$100. British passport holders are exempt.
Los Parronales is happy to answer any questions you may have regarding travel, but requests that each participant be responsible for their own travel arrangements to and from Chile – noting that the earlier an airline booking is made, the easier it is to choose from available flights and fares.
Money:
The Chilean peso is valued at approximately $1000 pesos to the pound stirling. ATM’s - readily available as in the U.K. - are the best way to obtain local currency. Exchange houses at the airport and in Santiago also change money.
Please mail your completed reservation form to:
S. Siddeley
473 Ontario St.
Toronto,
On. M4X 1M6.
Canada.
NB:
Phone calls to Canada can be made from the farm, with a typical rate of 25cents Canadian per minute. The rate is slightly more for the UK.
Electricity is 220v. Small transformers to 110v are available free of charge if requested for computers and radios. Hair driers are provided in each bathroom since transformers may not support driers brought from overseas.
Summer in Chile is dry, cloudless and hot – 25 to 30 degrees Celsius - during the day, but cooler at night. It rarely rains during Jan. Feb. and March. A high number UV sun cream protection is recommended.
* * *
"Reality 2006’
‘Six Memos for the New Millennium’
Writing Workshops with - Beth Follett
Santiago, Chile Jan 29th - Feb 12th and Feb 19th - 5th Mar 2006
In late January through March 2006, I will be teaching two Creative Writing Workshops in
Santiago, Chile.
I am a writer and editor, and have, for 9 years now, been the driving force behind Pedlar Press, an
independent Canadian literary publishing house. For the past six summers, I have been a director of the Creative Writing programme at Centauri Summer Arts Camp.
In the first workshop ‘Reality 2006’ we will consider literary works by contemporary writers.
We will discuss and thoroughly examine some of the elements of poetry and fiction.
We will examine the vocation of the writer, the responsibility a writer carries as witness to the world and its manners, the human heart and its morals; how a writer must know the complexities of the world even if her characters and speakers do not. We will ask, ‘what is truth?’ and how do we know it?
This is a workshop suitable for absolute beginner to published writer, and is an extension of "The Reality Project" introduced in Chile in January 2005.
In the second workshop ‘Six Memos for the New Millennium’ we will consider the eponymous essays of Italo Calvino, as well as works by other now-deceased writers. This workshop will focus primarily on the ethics and elements of Fiction and Memoir.
For more details, please contact the host of the retreats - Susan Siddeley: motocad@rogers.com
Beth Follett, Pedlar Press, PO Box 26, Station P, Toronto ON. M5S 2S6. Tel: 416.534.2011
* * *
“WHAT BECOMES A POEM”
A Poetry Workshop with Stuart Ross
Santiago, Chile, January 8th to 22nd, 2006
The 20th century exploded the poem, and the debris is filled with treasures. Formal and traditional verse gave way to more open and exploratory forms — and the pleasures derived from experiencing them are immense.
In this workshop — suitable both for beginning poets and those more accomplished — we will plunge into the adventures of poetry through writing, reading, and discussion.
Each day you will create new work through lively directed exercises, and explore the works of contemporary poets from the Americas and Europe. We will discuss what a poem is, what it’s for, how to read it, and issues of audience, translation, and publication.
As the double-edged title of this workshop suggests, the focus will be on what material a poem can derive from and what it is that gives a good poem its energy and individuality.
I invite you to come to Chile with an open mind and imagination, and leave with a portfolio of new poems, an enriched knowledge of today’s poets, and an expanded sense of what becomes a poem.
STUART ROSS …
… has been leading poetry workshops for more than a decade. He is the author of dozens of poetry chapbooks, as well as four major collections, including Farmer Gloomy’s New Hybrid, which was shortlisted for the prestigious 2000 Trillium Book Award, and the acclaimed Hey, Crumbling Balcony! Poems New & Selected. He is also the editor of the anthology Surreal Estate: 13 Canadian Poets Under the Influence and the poetry journal Syd & Shirley.
Active in the Canadian literary scene for 30 years, Stuart is the co-founder of the Toronto Small Press Book Fair and the literary editor for This Magazine.
Join us on a vineyard in Chile’s beautiful central valley for an unforgettable two-week experience.
For more details
Email: hosts Susan and Gordon Siddeley — motocad@rogers.com
Phone: 416 968 0769
