2027: Heather Yanda

***The dates are confirmed for this workshop and will not shift by a day or two***

COURSE OVERVIEW

As the American poet Mary Oliver said, “poetry begins as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth.”

Join us in Southern France’s ‘original wilderness’: In the two-hundred-year-old Studio Preniac, we will discover and refine our poetic voices.

Each morning, we will discuss what poetry is, explore how limitless poetry is as a form of art, and consider how powerful our words are.  We will discuss such topics as description, narrators and narrative voice, point of view, metaphor, setting, rhyme, prose and experimental poetry, and the difference between rough and final drafts. We will begin the week by writing one poem and rewriting it throughout the week, as we learn new techniques.  In the process, students may also create other poems, as ideas come.

This will be a flexible time: if writers arrive with questions or goals, I am happy to discuss them.  We will read excerpts by other poets and learn from them as we work on our own pieces. 

We will experiment with different ways to inspire ourselves, create a Personal Universe Deck of words, create word collages, and write from photographs or even music.

Afternoons, we will stroll Studio Preniac’s magnificent grounds with our notebooks: find places that inspire us to get to work, looking at how this place, and history itself, influences our words. I am happy to work individually with people during this time.  Students may also choose to mentor each other.

By the end of the week, I am hoping everyone will have at least one poem they feel is either finished or nearly so; they should also have the beginnings of several others.  More importantly, I hope students will leave here, excited to continue writing poetry.

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE BOOKING FORM

(For pricing, please see below)

BIOGRAPHY

Heather Hallberg Yanda teaches in the English Department at Alfred University, in the hills of upstate New York.  She has poems published in such journals as Galway Review, Raven’s Perch, and Clackamas Literary Review.  Late Summer’s Origami, her first collection, was published by Ashland Poetry Press in 2020; she is looking for a publisher for her most recent collection, What the Stones Borrowed.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yandaheather/

PRICING

Prices per person for 2027 are as follows:

The cost of our creativity holidays includes the following:

• Course fees and basic materials
  (except for any course-specific materials that the tutor requests you bring with you)
• Airport collection and drop-off
  (allotted airports and times only)
• Accommodation
  (price varies by type of accommodation selected - we assume single occupancy by default unless you specifically request to share with a friend/partner)
• Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
  (One dinner and one lunch taken at a local restaurant - individual checks)
• Tea and coffee throughout your stay 
• Aperitif and wine/beer with evening meal
• Transport to and from any excursions
• Bed linen and towels
• Access to all amenities throughout your stay
• Local tourist taxes

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE BOOKING FORM