CREATIVE WRITING COURSES

‘MY LIFE – MY STORY’ 10 - 17 MAY 2010
‘WRITING FOR CHILDREN’ 7 – 14 JUNE 2010
'WRITING ABOUT PAXOS' 13 - 20 SEPTEMBER 2010
‘UNLEASH YOUR WRITING POWER’ 4 - 11 OCTOBER 2010

The beautiful Greek island of Paxos is a truly inspirational location in the Ionian Sea just nine miles south of Corfu and it is hard to imagine a better place to hone your writing skills.

In Summer 2010 we are running four holiday writing courses there: ‘My Life - My Story’, ‘Writing for Children’, 'Writing about Paxos' and ‘Unleash Your Writing Power’. All four courses are aimed at helping you to develop your creativity and are equally suitable for those with previous experience and for complete beginners; what is important is a desire to write.

'My Life - My Story' (10 – 17 May) provides a golden opportunity to explore the apparently everyday aspects of life and to discover the significance of your own experiences. Whether you want to write for publication, for children and grandchildren, or simply to understand the magic and meaning of your own life, this course will help you tell your tale in a way that’s lively, interesting and engaging. It is suitable for all levels of ability and is an ideal follow-on course for anyone who has done ‘Unleash Your Writing Power’.  

The course will be led by Judi Goodwin, a journalist and trainer with wide experience in both print and broadcast media. Judi has been a regular feature writer for national and regional newspapers, and also a freelance broadcaster for BBC Radio. She takes a holistic approach to teaching, offering individual coaching to help students overcome their personal hurdles. She now specialises in home interest and lifestyle journalism, and trains journalists and professional writers in London and abroad. 

‘Writing for Children’ (7 – 14 June) is an inspiring, challenging, thought-provoking and fun course for anyone who has ever wanted to write for children. Whether you tell stories to your own children or grandchildren and want help getting them down on the page, or find yourself writing morning, noon and night, and want to consider turning your hobby into a career, this course will help you discover if you could create the next Horrid Henry, Harry Potter, Pippi Longstocking or Paddington Bear, or whether you might be the next Philip Pullman, Michael Morpurgo, Lauren Child or J K Rowling.

The course will be led by Jo Unwin, an experienced writer, editor and Children’s Literary Agent at the prestigious Conville and Walsh Literary Agency, representing children’s authors such as David Bedford and Philip Caveney, as well as comic writers for adults (Charlie Brooker, Vic Reeves, Steven Appleby). Before taking up her present post with Conville and Walsh, Jo was an actress, well-known voice-over artist and writer of award-winning children’s television programmes (Byker Grove, My Parents are Aliens).

'Writing about Paxos' (13 - 20 September) offers you the chance to explore the fascinating landscape of Paxos through your own creative writing. Spirit of place has always inspired writers, from Thomas Hardy’s Dorset to Lawrence and Gerald Durrell’s Corfu, and, whether you are an absolute beginner or an experienced writer, Paxos will provide the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in an inspirational place and find a rich source for your own poetry or prose.  

The course will be led by Adam Strickson, an experienced writer, tutor and frequent visitor to Paxos, who is a Teaching Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Leeds, where he is also in the third year of a part-time PhD in ‘Adaptation and Libretto’ in collaboration with Opera North. Adam has taught poetry, fiction, life writing and the use of myth and landscape as creative sources and has written plays for several theatre companies. His first collection of poetry was published in 2005.

'Unleash Your Writing Power' (4 - 11 October) is an inspirational and innovative workshop that will unblock the barriers to your creativity and help you to inject energy, power and magic into everything you write. The unconventional techniques can be applied to fiction or non-fiction, articles, stories, family history, marketing or business communications, or even a best seller. We first ran this course on Paxos in 2009 and it was an enormous success.

This course will also be led by journalist and trainer Judi Goodwin.

Cost of Courses: 'My Life - My Story' and 'Unleash Your Writing Power' each cost £645 per person. This includes tuition, accommodation in a shared villa with private pool near Loggos and return transfers between Corfu and Paxos. 'Writing for Children' costs £595, which includes tuition and accommodation in a shared villa with private pool near Loggos. It is also possible for anyone who has their own accommodation or who wishes to be more independent just to join the group tuition sessions. 'Writing about Paxos'  costs £275 per person and does not include accommodation or transfers. A programme of optional activities including Greek cookery, Greek dancing and walks will be available at additional cost.

Second Holiday/Course Discount: We will give you a discount of £40 if you book any two holidays or courses in Summer 2010.

More Information: Do have a look round our website and, if you would like further information about any of our holidays and courses or about Paxos more generally, then please do not hesitate to Contact Us.

Expanding our Programme: We are always looking to expand the range of holidays and courses that we offer. If you have a special interest or an activity that you would like to pursue whilst on Paxos or elsewhere in Greece, or a holiday or course that you would like to lead, then we would love to hear from you. 

We look forward to seeing you on Paxos soon.