'For me, writing is not an intellectual exercise. It's rooted in the body and the senses.' - Hilary Mantel

This 3-night retreat is an opportunity to nurture your creativity and explore how you can connect with yourself and others using the written word.

We'll use the stunning natural world around us at Maruia River Retreat as a springboard into our writing sessions, contemplating how patterns in our own lives are reflections of those in flora, fauna and landscapes. This will provide guidance for the shape and structure of your storytelling. You’ll practise how to write using all of your senses and how to bring yourself and others alive as bodies moving through environments, which will help you create vivid characters who drive your stories.

Daily writing workshops with daily Yoga, breathwork and meditation classes led by Lasse Holopainen, Maruia River Retreat’s resident yoga teacher.

Inclusions:

3-night Private villa accommodation with river, mountain and forest views
All meals including a Welcome Snack, daily breakfast, lunch and 3-course dinners
2 daily yoga and meditation classes
2 x 2-hour writing workshops
One-on-one support during private writing sessions
Guided nature walks in 500-acres of native beech forest
Forest bathing in the outdoor Stoked Hot Tub, Infrared Chroma-therapy and Finnish Sauna

Only 11 spaces available. Solo occupancy limited. Packages start at $1950pp for twin share. $500 reservations deposit.

For more info: cristina@maruia.co.nz for early bird offers.

About Kerry Sunderland

Kerry Sunderland is an Australian writer based in New Zealand. She has a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Victoria University of Wellington and was a joint winner of the 2018 Hachette Mentorship in Australia for an earlier draft of her soon-to-be-published memoir, Beyond the Blue Door.

She is coordinator of the Nelson Arts Festival’s literary programme, Pukapuka Talks, and offers residential writing retreats and short courses in creative nonfiction. From 2017 to early 2021, she was a part-time creative tutor at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.

Her personal essay, ‘Scared to Death’, was published in Headlands: New Stories of Anxiety (Victoria University Press, 2018). ‘Scared to Death’ deals with similar themes to Beyond the Blue Door. It is currently being adapted for the screen by Auckland-based producer David Jacobs and director Mia Maramara.

Elizabeth Knox CNZM says: “She is a writer with a brave and honest eye, and a strong feeling for landscape and how landscape acts on the people who live in it.”

BREATHE LIFE INTO YOUR WRITING: A WRITER'S RETREAT

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