WRITING TERRITORIES, WRITING RETREAT
May 12th - 17th, 2023
CREATING IS A SUBVERSIVE ACT
And so is writing fiction, manipulating words in order to drive them to a more intimate level of consciousness.
This writing retreat is designed and built on the concept of psychogeography and the Flâneur, a term most famously popularized by the poet Charles Baudelaire, which refers to the absent-minded walker who wanders through certain places, experiencing emotions and thoughts as they observe the landscape around them.
The writing retreat will take place at a carefully chosen location, intended to channel the participants' inspiration and allow the place to become an integral part of the learning and writing process, transforming itself - as time goes by and the evolution of the space occupied by the teacher and those who will be writing/creating - into a place of the soul and a seat of awareness of what the writing and the stories are bringing into existence.
Through readings, debates and exercises, the teacher will explain how territories can intersect with a writer's thoughts, emotions and even soul and manipulate it for the purpose of creation.
Participants will discover places in their own selves that may never have emerged before, and they will be captivated.
“This writers retreat is held in italian”
IDENTITY
At a moment in time, when it has become so easy for humans to travel, the concept of identity is a constantly expanding category, the idea of belonging is increasingly fraught with implications. Where you come from determines who you are, what you have experienced, how you perceive things, and how you express yourself. Where you went adds new nuances and new perspectives, reinterpretations. How does this flow into the stories you create?
WHO WE ARE, WHO WE WERE
During the writing retreat, which will take place mostly outdoors and in selected locations, the teacher will explore the role that geographic origin and surrounding territory play in creative production. Not only in the relationship between the writer and their writing, but also within fictional worlds, where the character becomes a product of the cultural context in which they are placed, just as the setting of a scene is the result of the setting, among other things.
Writing fiction is a visceral affair. During the writing retreat, participants will be led to look inwards and find themselves through the writing process, retracing a previously beaten, possibly forgotten path, in a kind of interplay between our inner and outer selves.
Texts by authors such as Cormac McCarthy, Walter Benjamin, Jack Kerouac, Giovanni Verga, Gesualdo Bufalino, Pierpaolo Pasolini, as well as contemporary authors including Paolo Cognetti, Paolo Nori, Tommaso La Branca will be examined and analysed.
Workshop participants will be directly involved in exercises and techniques designed to inspire creativity. Stories and short stories will also be created during the workshop, and then read and discussed with the teacher. Excursions in the surrounding area will be organized with the aim of finding an environment that is conducive to writing and to the search for the storytelling self.
Email lab.lebalene@gmail.com for more information and how to register. The detailed schedule will be provided on request.
REGISTRATION COST
The cost for the entire writing retreat, including accommodation for five nights, breakfast/brunch and dinner (excluding drinks) is 1,100 Euro.
WHEN AND WHERE
The writing retreat will last five days and will take place from May 12th to 17th, 2023, at Agriturismo AIA, Contrada Carignano Grande n. 52 Nardò, LE, Italy, 73048
“This writers retreat is held in italian”
MEET THE TEACHER
Mattia Grigolo is a writer, publisher, and freelance journalist. He grew up in Milan and moved to Berlin in 2013 where he began teaching creative writing for Italian expats. He founded the creative hub Le Balene Possono Volare (Whales Can Fly) and in 2014 the Italian Embassy in Berlin, the Italian Cultural Institute and The Committee for Italians Abroad honoured him as Italian of the Year in Berlin.
In 2017, together with Mauro Mondello, war reporter and Yale World Fellow 2020, he founded Yanez magazine.
In 2021 he founded the literary magazine Rivista Eterna. In the same year he made his debut with the book La Raggia, published by Pidgin Edizioni. In January 2023 he was among the finalists for the Zeno Literary Prize. Her second book, a collection of short stories published by Terrarossa Editions, will be released in May 2023, and in October 2023 Moscabianca Editions will publish his novel.
He has led workshops on creative writing and writing therapy, together with psychotherapist Giulia Borriello - Chairwoman of the Association for Mental Health Abroad. He has taken his workshops and seminars to Barcelona, Berlin, Leipzig, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Milan, Rome, and Pescara.