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Solas Dreamtime Retreat
October 21 2022 @ 6:00 pm - October 23 2022 @ 3:00 pm
€295 – €410
An immersive weekend of poetry, landscape & stories in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht
With Annemarie Ní Churreáin
This event has now reached full capacity. We are looking into running the event again depending on interest. If you are interested and would like to be put on a waiting list for this, or if you would like to be put on a reserve list for this retreat (in the event a participant has to cancel) please contact info@thesonghouseireland.com with your details.
Due to the success and high demand of the February Solas retreat we are running this event for a second time this year. We anticipate this will sell out so and book your place early to avoid disappointment.
21st – 23rd October 2022
Following the sold-out success of the first Solas Writing Retreat Weekend led by Donegal poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin, The Song House is delighted to present a second retreat for writers of poetry at all levels. This retreat will offer poets a space to explore, reflect, share and(re)connect with your creative voice in the lap of Errigal & Muckish Mountain, and among the echoes and shadows of Lugh Lámfada and other mythological ghosts.
Unfolding over two nights and three days, and led by Annemarie Ní Churreáin, the programme will feature poetry workshops, readings and one-to-one feedback sessions. ‘Dreamtime’ is the theme for this weekend and poets are invited to submit a poem in advance of the weekend for group editing over the course of the weekend.
Guidelines for poetry submission
•Your submitted poem should total no more than 40 lines
•Your poem may or may not be inspired by the dreamtime theme
•Please do not submit a completed poem. Instead, submit a poem in need of editing
•Please submit the poem via email, in both a Word doc and a PDF doc
•Please make your submission to The Song House email address on or before 7th October 2022. The facilitator will print copies for all workshop participants and will share your photocopied poem during the weekend
Please be aware that whilst we will use creative writing prompts throughout the weekend to generate drafts of new poems, there will be a concentrated focus on learning from each other by group editing the submitted poems.
Participants are expected to bring writing materials. All hand-outs and photocopies will be provided by the workshop organisers.
Provisional Solas Dreamtime programme
(details to be confirmed)
o Friday night: Fàilte – Welcome dinner & reception with readings
o Saturday morn: Creative writing workshop 1
o Saturday afternoon: Amuigh Faoin Spéir- Outdoor time, weather permitting, with creative writing workshop 2
o Saturday evening: Oíche airneáin – a social gathering in the village pub to share stories and song
o Sunday morning: Creative writing workshop 3 followed by lunch
o Sunday afternoon: Slán abhaile- A closing event at The Workhouse Dunfanaghy
Participants will also have an opportunity over the weekend or in the days previous to or following the weekend, to meet one-to-one with facilitator Annemarie Ní Churreáin for a 30 minute discussion about their writing or practice.
Participants will also have a chance to meet one-to-one with facilitator Annemarie Ní Churreáin for a 30 minute discussion about their writing or practice. In order to accommodate everyone as best possible, these meeting slots may be scheduled during the weekend, in the days leading up to the weekend, and/or in the aftermath of the weekend.
Accommodation is available at The Song House (with a limited number of single rooms, and some shared rooms) or nearby locally.
Pricing
| Standard Price – shared twin room | €365 per person |
|---|---|
| En Suite – shared twin room | €410 per person |
| Camping price in the Song House garden | €315 per person |
| Non-residential price (includes all meals) | €295 per person |
| Single Room | €450 per person |
| Bunk Room with 2/3max others €330 | €330 per person |
Annemarie Ní Churreáin is a poet & writer from the Donegal Gaeltacht. Her publications include Bloodroot (Doire Press 2017) and The Poison Glen (The Gallery Press 2021). She is a recipient of the Next Generation Artist Award from the Irish Arts Council and a co-recipient of The Markievicz Award. Ní Churreáin is a former literary fellow of Akademie Schloss Solitude, Germany and a former artist-in-residence at Jack Kerouac House Orlando, Centre Culturel Irlandais Paris and Maynooth University of Ireland. The Yale Review surmised that “Ní Churreáin often captures a whole world of cultural and historical implications in a single, simple, but metaphorically rich image.” The Los Angeles Review of Books states “that Ní Churreáin can condense the prototypical life of a young Irish woman into half a page while sustaining the poem’s impact is testament to her ability as a storyteller, the vividness of her language, and the universality of the portraits she is painting…”. An Irish Times review noted Ní Churreáin’s voice full of ‘musicality’ ‘sensuousness’ and ‘fearlessness’.