6-Day Writing Retreat in Sintra

1 – Schedule

• Sunday, 8th September
  2 pm - 6 pm: Check-in at venue
  6 pm - 7 pm: Opening workshop
  7.30 pm: Welcome dinner

• Monday, 9th September
  10 am - 12.30 pm: Writing workshop
  12.30 pm - 5.30 pm: Free afternoon
  5.30 pm - 7 pm: Follow-up workshop
  7.30 pm: Dinner

• Tuesday, 10th September
  10 am - 12.30 pm: Writing workshop
  12.30 pm - 3.30 pm: Free time
  3.30 pm - 6.30 pm: Guided tour at Palácio da Pena in Sintra and its gardens
  7.30 pm: Dinner
  9 pm - 10.30 pm: Candlelit workshop

• Wednesday, 11th September
  10 am - 12.30 pm: Writing workshop
  12.30 pm - 5.30 pm: Free afternoon
  5.30 pm - 7 pm: Follow-up workshop
  7.30 pm : Dinner

• Thursday, 12th September
  10 am - 12.30 pm: Writing workshop
  5.30 pm - 7.30 pm: Sunset at the beach
  8 pm: Farewell dinner
  9 pm - 10.30 pm: Open-mic

• Friday, 13th September
  10 am - 12.30 pm: Final writing workshop

2 – Workshop duration

A total of 21 hours of tutoring/writing sessions.


3 – Themes we will explore

• Settings from memory;
• Inner/outer landscapes;
• Place, language, culture, identity;
• Writing with saudade;
• Tales from the city;
• Place and placelessness.
  
  

4 – What we will read

• Brooklyn (Colm Tóibín);
• Hopscotch (Julio Cortázar, translated by Gregory Rabassa);
• Invisible Cities (Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver);
• Tales from Outer Suburbia (Shaun Tan);
• The Buddha in the Attic (Julie Otsuka);
• The Flea Palace (Elif Shafak);
• The House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros);
• The Return (Dulce Maria Cardoso);
• When I Sing, Mountains Dance (Irene Solá, translated by Mara Faye Lethem).

(previous reading not compulsory)


5 – Who is tutoring and hosting?

• Elena Traina | Creative writing tutor

Multilingual writer and researcher in Creative Writing Studies at Falmouth University (UK). Teacher at Scuola Holden (Italy), Escuela de Escritores (Spain) and Escrever Escrever (Portugal).

• Conceição Garcia | Escrever Escrever CEO

Founder and CEO of Escrever Escrever, the hosting organisation, Conceição Garcia is passionate about writing, the city of Lisbon and teaching storytelling. Escrever Escrever has been running writing workshops since 2008 and is a long-standing member of the  European Association of Creative Writing Programmes .

6 – How was it last year?
Watch the testemonials.