A Writing Weekend in the Black Mountains
Travel and Life-writing
with Ants Bolingbroke-Kent and Lois Pryce
June 7-9 2024
Is there a story from your life that you’ve always wanted to write but you’re not sure how to begin? Or maybe you’ve started – and got stuck? It could be a grand adventure, your family history, or an account of how you overcame a great challenge. Maybe you want to use your life’s experiences to make sense of events, or to help others. Real life stories have enormous power to engage and inspire readers but putting them down on paper can be daunting. Where do you even begin?
There are many ways to tell a real-life story – from the traditional to the experimental. And there are questions to consider before you start: ‘Whose story is it? Do you want to educate, entertain, or both? How much of yourself are you comfortable sharing? Whether you’re coming with a head full of ideas, a few rough chapters or a finely-honed synopsis, your tutors, Lois and Ants will guide you through the process. You will learn how to organise your ideas and create a structure, how to incorporate (and not drown in) your research, the use of dialogue and characterisation in bringing your story to life, and how to make those crucial decisions about what to include, and more importantly, what to leave out…
The course will be friendly, informal and above all, an opportunity to take part in one of our favourite pastimes – talking about writing and words with other like-minded souls. The number of participants are limited in order to form a small, intimate group, and as part of the shared experience, we will discuss the books we love and examine what makes them work. During the weekend you’ll get a chance to explore and experiment with these techniques in a number of writing exercises and you’ll be provided with printed hand-outs and reading lists. By Sunday afternoon, you will be inspired, equipped and itching to get started.
This weekend course will be held in the heart of Wales’ beautiful Black Mountains, part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. We’ll be based at Ants’ house, but in-between workshops we’ll be enjoying walks in the mountains, cooling dips in rivers and campfire chats under starlit skies (or around the wood-burning stove, depending on the weather). All meals are included and will be provided by a professional chef who specialises in vegetarian Middle-Eastern and Asian dishes.
I was struggling to get back into writing after having a baby and really felt I'd lost my mojo (as well as half my brain). The course really made me feel that writing is a muscle I can retrain. The tutors were incredibly encouraging as well and made me feel confident about my writing. I also feel much clearer about my plan for my work going forward.
Participant in Ants’ and Lois’ writing course, January 2022
I absolutely loved the tutors - they were supportive, warm, open, encouraging and positive and really complemented each other - both in the style of their work and in their energy. I nearly didn't do the course as they were both travel writers - and that's not a genre I wanted to particularly focus on - but it really was so relevant to all forms of life writing. The tutors facilitated the group really well, particularly given the limitations of zoom and the balance of exercises and practical writing was good.
Participant in Ants’ and Lois’ writing course, January 2022
Everything you need to know:
DATES/TIMES: 2PM FRIDAY 7th JUNE TO 4PM SUNDAY 9TH JUNE, 2024
LOCATION: TALGARTH, WALES
COST: £395 PER PERSON. Includes all food (dinner on Friday night, lunch and dinner on Saturday, and lunch on Sunday), teaching materials/handouts etc, plus a signed copy of Ants and Lois’ latest books.)
TO JOIN THE COURSE PLEASE SEND A MESSAGE TO LOIS VIA THE CONTACT PAGE
Accommodation isn’t included in the course price. You’re welcome to camp in Ants’ field for no charge. If you have a camper van you are also free to bring this and park it outside the house. For those who like a little more comfort, Talgarth and the surrounding area has a number of accommodation options.
The following Airbnb properties are within 5 minutes’ walk of Ants’ house.
This is a few doors down, and tiny weeny but great for one person.
This is about 5 doors down – super cool (owned by Alan McGee of Oasis fame).
