Writing as Wayfinding is a one week retreat where writers are invited to explore how writing can help us understand the places we come from, the places we find ourselves now, and the places we are going. 

Workshops and activities will be hosted by experienced authors and lecturers. These exercises will offer both practical techniques and artistic inspiration for how writers can navigate landscapes – internal and external, past, present and future, real and imagined. 

Our retreat takes place in the beautiful coastal village of Criccieth, at a spot where the land-bound once stood with their faces to the horizon, watching for loved ones to return from the sea. Outdoor writing activities will make this retreat an all encompassing creative experience.

The retreat is organised to allow for plenty of flexible time for your personal and creative needs. For this reason, we are also keeping admission capped at a maximum of 7 people. 

This is a perfect retreat whether you are starting a new project and seeking direction, writing a piece with a strong connection to place and landscape (internal or external), or reworking a project with its roots in personal community or place history. All genres are welcome.

Although there will be slight variations, participants can generally expect the following outline:

8.00 – 10.00am: Breakfast*

10.00am – 12.00pm: First workshop – Students explore particular aspects of the chosen genre and take part in writing exercises to further their understanding and expertise. All students have opportunities to share their work with the tutor and fellow writers in a safe, supportive and nurturing environment in which individual work is respected and confidence developed.

12.00 – 2.00pm: Lunch* and free time

After lunch, participants are free to do whatever they like, such as: relax, go for walks, enjoy The Dales, draw, paint, read or work on individual writing projects.

2.00 – 4.00pm: Second workshop/activity/one-to-one tutorials

4.00 – 6.00pm: Writing time

6.00 – 8.00pm: Dinner (self-organized)

8.15 – 9.30pm: Optional evening time together (readings, oral storytelling, etc)

All students have one individual tutorial of 30 minutes with the tutor in the course of the week which usually takes place at a mutually agreed time, usually in the afternoon.

*For breakfast and lunch, a hamper of fresh quality ingredients will be provided (catering for all dietary requirements) and the participants will have free use of the kitchen to prepare their meals.

Sample Workshops

• Finding the core wound at a story’s heart
• Charting a course through a project
• Writing for the environment
• The crossing between historical and personal places
• Making meaning through place writing

These workshops are presented as examples only and are subject to change.

Dr. Sabrin Hasbun

Dr Sabrin Hasbun is an Italian-Palestinian transnational writer. She has always had to mediate between two cultures and every day for her is a journey across borders. She studied literary theory at the University of Pisa, the Sorbonne University of Paris, and Bath Spa University where she obtained her PhD in Creative Writing and History in collaboration with Exeter University and with AHRC funding support.

Through her practice and career she has worked with diverse groups around the world, across cultures, languages and generations. She has created, organised, and facilitated events, workshops, and working groups to highlight and disseminate the importance of practice-based disciplines to negotiate complex identities.

Sabrin believes in the extremely generative power of collective creation and action and her research focuses on collaborative practices to explore histories of marginalised groups. She has recently worked as writer, editor, translator, and trainer for several institutions – including the Holburne Museum in Bath, the Embassy of Palestine to the Holy See, and the international journal Transnational Literature — and published articles, both individual and collaborative, about collective creation in communities. Sabrin is looking to publish her first book, the family memoir “Wait for Her”.

Alyssa Hollingsworth

Alyssa was born in small-town Milton, Florida, but life as a roving military kid soon mellowed her (unintelligibly strong) Southern accent. Wanderlust is in her blood, and she’s always waiting for the wind to change. Stories remain her constant.

Alyssa is a current PhD Candidate at Bath Spa University. She received her BA in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Berry College and her MA with honors in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University. In 2013, she won a prize from the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity for her creative non-fiction essay, Naan in the Afghan Village.

She is represented by Amber Caraveo at Skylark Literary. Her debut The Eleventh Trade was the UKLA 2020 winner for the 7-10+ category and has been translated into over seven languages. Her second book The Invisible Boy was on the James Reckitt Hull Children’s Book Award KS3 Shortlist in 2022. Both were published by Roaring Brook/Macmillan (U.S.) and Piccadilly Press (U.K.).