with YVONNE CULLENon Inishbofin Island, Co. Galway, Aug. 14-21, 2015

The InishbofinJaunt

Writing Holiday

Best Creative Writing Teacher in Dublin” -

DUBLINER MAGAZINE. “Writes beautifully and can pass on the skill” -

THE IRISH TIMES.

“If you are thinking of going, just go! Just go!” DEBBIE GILBERT, Connecticut, U.S.A. “Exactly what my writing needed” - KATIE MARTIN, DublinWith  Yvonne’s  guidance  and  encouragement,  and  the  quiet,  reflec7ve  magic  of  the  island  as  reinforcement,  your  crea7vity  will  flourish.

23 years teaching writers in Ireland, 7th years of island writing trips.

086 1701418, yvonnesworkshops@gmail.com

Inspiration, peace & fun... Best Creative Writing Teacher in Dublin” - DUBLINER MAGAZINE.

“Writes beautifully and can pass on the skill” -THE IRISH TIMES.

The InishbofinJaunt

Writing Holidays 2016

WITH YVONNE CULLEN, Inishbofin Island, County GALWAY

“

Departure options: NEXT TRIP: SATURDAY 12th SEPTEMBER, 2015

START TO WRITE

. You can also rent bikes here, though you’ll wheel them as much as you’ll freewheel on them!

/ ! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !

COURSE OPTIONS:

INISHBOFIN ISLANDSTART TO WRITE, DEVELOPING WRITER and “Get Creative” COURSES plus GUIDED WRITERS’ and NOVELISTS’ RETREATSJune 2-9, Aug 27-3 Sept., & Sept 3-10, 2016 “Life-changing!” CELINA VIETAS, DUBLIN

“Just what my writing needed!”

KATIE MARTIN, DUBLIN

“You wove a web of magic round us!”

TOMMY BYRNE, ATHLONE

“A fantastic week, with brilliant people. Heaven on earth!”

“Yvonne is a people whisperer who has the ability to meet you where you’re at and send you off with a toolkit to support your writing practice. I was on a writing retreat recently with Yvonne and find myself still dreaming of the landscape. If you on any level enjoy writing I recommend you attend.”

MAIRIN HARTE, Dublin

I attended a writing retreat with Yvonne Cullen in Inishbofin last winter and it was absolutely life changing. No exaggeration. Yvonne will always manage to get the best out of you and give you the energy to keep you going. Thanks to her I'm back writing after many years.

CELINA CAULFIELD, Clogherhead

OPTIONS:

(1)START TO WRITE/ DEVELOPING WRITER. For beginner writers OR those with some experience and an interest in taking a fresh ‘foundation course.’ If you have some experience, I can tailor our foundation course to your needs. I will also augment the course, for developing writer participants, with 1-1 time focused on your existing writing goalsCOURSE CONTENT: 5 x 2.5-3 hr writing classes daily from day after arrival.(In 2-9 June Bofin Jaunt from 3-5 June these will be delivered in small bursts to allow attendance at INISH culture festival on the island at same time. See http://inishfestival.com/ Own time writing. Social time, meals and excursions with group as you choose.

(2)GUIDED WRITING RETREAT: requirement: projects ongoing or ready to commence. RETREAT CONTENTS: Own writing time, plus invitation to drop in on 3-5 (your choice) of our morning START TO WRITE classes during the week for 1-1 focus during these meetings, plus individual time 1-2 hours with me as required. Social time, meals and excursions with group as above.

(3)NOVELISTS’ RETREAT. As per Retreat above plus I will read up to 20,000 word synopsis and plot outline ahead of departure.

€625 till end 2015.

Full reading service, appraising your MS as a whole ahead of departure is also available for a further fee of €350. (NB this is not a copy edit, but what I call a Vision edit read, looking at your story’s strengths and weaknesses overall plus at habits in your writing which are aiding or detracting from the piece as it stands. This read gives you access to my insight for a fraction of cost of a full edit and allows me to be as helpful as possible to your project while we are on the retreat.

ALL TRIPS OFFER: *7 nights’ single room s/catering accomm.*breakfast food, lunches, and there will also be the option for from 2-4 (your call!) home-cooked dinners,pooling ingredients, with readings and writing-related chat as we cook and eat *easygoing performance night *social nights *informal discussions with me *my own and our assistant’s expertise and help with the organising of further trips and outings such as off-road jeep tours, archaeological or historical walks. *We try to also include a special trip at a small optional extra cost, each week. These have, in the past, included: a boat trip to the abandoned and richly storied island of Inishark, &, on INISHTURK Jaunt, a trip to the pilgrimage island of Caher.

WHICH JAUNT TO CHOOSE? As well as Bofin, we go to Inishturk North and to Rossbeigh, Co. Kerry, you see! Bofin is more accessible than Turk, easier to walk, utterly beautiful and offers many amenities. Turk, being far smaller than even ‘3 mile by 5 mile’ Bofin, offers beauty and peace that is out of this world. Rossbeigh in Co. Kerry is our easiest venue to reach, and really handy for the public regional bus service. It is also a gorgeous atmospheric house across the road from one of Ireland’s loveliest beaches! That said, public transport will get you with relative ease to either Bofin or Turk if you choose to take the Jaunt to one of those. Course content and focus also varies trip to trip. see www.yvonnecullen.wordpress.com. So you might just have to try them all!

FEES: FULL PACKAGE: Course (1) and (2) €675, Course (3), Guided novelists’ retreat €700.PACKAGE B: TUITION and MEALS (Sort your own accommodation option) For Courses (1) and (2), €425 plus accomm. of your choice at your own further cost.(See below).For Course (3)tuition fee €500 plus accomm. Source accommodation from www.inishbofin.com or with my help for 5% booking fee.

Independent accommodation costings: just to give you an idea: B n B average €425 total ACCOM. spend, (plus 5% if you prefer me to source this for you).HOTEL, with 6 months’ advance booking €350-400, shorter notice, rates rise and rooms get scarcer! HOUSES on Bofin from €350 - €800 depending on time of year and size). OFFERS:Discount of 20% on self-catering accommodation for couples or pairs of friends sharing a room. Tuition fee less 10% per person also. Same 10% discount applies when you REFER A FRIEND. FRIEND OR PARTNER who wishes to come on the trip and share your room but not take the course may join us for a flat charge of €400 for the week’s accommodation and food as outlined above.SEE LOYALTY DISCOUNTS for Jaunts on back page.

______________________________________

The cool breezes, the quiet mornings, the chatty afternoons and evenings.   Starting the day in contemplation, spending the day sharing life experience and ending the day in reflection.  Often, too often, reflecting or imagining without a pen in hand.  A reminder to myself.  Put it down on paper.  Put it down on paper.   Put it down on paper. From composite palette

Stories and sharingPoetry composedWayfaring

Drawn to meditationBy those mountains blueStone walls threading from

a spool of a different hue

CONNIE REID, WICKLOW

“A fantastic writing jaunt... You always manage to propel us on some unexpected adventure. It was truly a treat for the mind, body and soul…..chilling with a purpose!!”Suzanne O’Flaherty, Dublin.

“A very enjoyable week away in the middle (well, nearly) of the ocean; no stress in the journey (no passports, no security checks; no cattle queues); a very warm welcome from Yvonne; a lovely group of participants with a range of writing experience from beginning/experimental to progressing well. Great passion and encouragement throughout the week from Yvonne; a very relaxed, optional reading of participant’s work towards end of the week in the only pub on the island. Then again the ease of transition (with a little sadness) back to the mainland – no baggage checks, no removal of belts and shoes, no cattle prods!”

Frank McGuinness, Dublin

My eyes are turned away to shade them from the sun, but I can close them now and remember the blues, blues, blues of the sea, the hills and the sky.  RITA KOCH.

‘ISLAND HOUSES’ accommodation: Depending on length of your course, 5-7 nights in comfortable houses with great views. All breakfast and lunch basics, basic household supplies, linen, towels, fuel for wood stoves and all heating covered. Do note that these are simple houses, and plan to keep comfortable in part through dressing warmly.

Houses ranging in size from small to very large will be shared between 2-5 participants on individual room basis. Many bedrooms are ensuite. Those which are not are usually larger rooms and tend to share the main bathroom of their house with one other room at night.

ACCESSIBILITY and THE BOFIN JAUNT: At present, the Jaunt involves getting on and off a small ferry which is not set up for disabled users. To get around independently on the trip also involves walking on narrow and often pot-holed and hilly rural roads and tracks and the sometimes muddy driveways by which our houses are accessed. To fully enjoy the Jaunt as it is currently configured, it is my opinion that you will need a basic level of both mobility and comfort while walking. N.B. I hope in the future to be able to offer completely accessible Jaunts.

There’s something about an island...One of the most westerly spots in Europe: INISHBOFIN lies approx. 10 kilometres out in the North Atlantic, level with the Killary fjiord, and also level with the Mayo-Galway county borderline. In the past, as a result of its location, in fact, Bofin has belonged to each of Galway and Mayo, though these days it is a Galway outpost, reached from the mainland of Ireland via the pier in Cleggan, Connemara.

Historical figures and forces of all kinds have left traces on Bofin: from early Christian monks to the pirate queen Grainne Mhaol and the soldiers of Cromwell. Coming to Bofin, today, you are connecting with a tiny culture shaped by all that history, and, due to its remoteness, still showing the traces of much of it, too.

There’s a long view of time available to you here, for sure. And equally available to you on Bofin is the chance to see how you fare in a simpler life and what’s important to you after you’ve left your life behind.

Leaving urban and suburban life behind for Bofin can, for the thoughtful visitor, in fact, be like taking off on a tiny easygoing Camino. Which is not to say there isn’t also a world of fun to have in Bofin, because there is. Not to mention

black-dark starry skies, white beaches, cliffs and lakes, monastic ruins, green roads and bogs. Or that best of all experiences on Inishbofin, ( or IN Bofin as people say there) when you’re watching the morning or evening boat leaving for the mainland (because you can see it from everywhere there), but you still haven’t gone...

The May, August and Sept Jaunts to Bofin this year will be the 23rd, 24th and 25th group Writing Jaunts I’ve organised. I’d be delighted to bring you along!

Yvonne Cullen.

OUR OTHER JAUNTS in 2016 at a glance, by venue, date and theme: ( levels are explained elsewhere in brochure!)

INISHBOFIN:

June 2-9: START TO WRITE and bonus Get Creative module using INISH festival to inspire you, plus concurrent NOVELISTS’ RETREAT

August 27-Sept. 3DEVELOPING WRITER COURSE plus Concurrent WRITERS’ RETREAT

Sept 3-10 START TO WRITE plus WRITERS RETREAT INISHTURK

July 2-9, START TO WRITE (and bonus Get Creative course) plus WRITING RETREAT

July10-16, DEVELOPING WRITER plus NOVELISTS’ 6-night retreat. July 23-30, START TO WRITE plus optional DIVE INTO POETRY writing and poetry appreciation course. ROSSBEIGH, KERRYAug 13-20, Start to Write and Developing writer plus concurrent Writers’ Retreat.

To book or discuss a course or to add your email to the ISLAND JAUNT database for seasonal updates, phone me on 086 1701418 or email yvonnesworkshops@gmail.com

Heading west

Still so glad to be on this road, the sametussocky field lover, one crow lover Happy here and happier over there.

The same piece of grit, worked and moved inside this mother-of-pearl day. Yvonne Cullen

Ts and Cs of booking: Weather is the element of these trips hardest to predict. All conditions below have grown from the need to balance together (1) that fact (2) your investment, and (3) the risks I take in organising these events.

(1) Acceptance of weather-related delay: (an unlikely but not impossible part of the adventure!) For these trips to be possible, a delay of a max of two days to our start date re adverse sailing conditions has to be foreseen. (N.B: With over 20 trips undertaken in 7 years, we have never yet had to alter our departure date by more than a couple of hours, but it has to be envisaged!) In such circumstances, you will receive a pro rate rebate re accomm fee, for your consequently shorter island stay, and all tuition will be delivered in the shorter timeframe. If you have travelled a long distance to reach us for the scheduled departure date, and cannot return home to await it, you will need to budget for accommodation in CLIFDEN OR CLEGGAN while we wait out bad weather, in the case of the BOFIN Jaunt. I can help you sort this out at the time. I can also billet participants together in family rooms in B n Bs / hotels to minimise this cost.

If the weather puts off the trip for longer than two days, ACCOMM/ food/fuel portion of your total fee will be returned to you immediately. TUITION portion of €375 will be held as CREDIT towards any other courses I run anywhere in Ireland, good for 3 years. These are certain to include TURK and BOFIN island trips at least 6 times a

year. Every effort will also be made to reschedule this specific trip to other dates that suit you. For your part, in order that these trips are possible without putting an unworkable risk on my side alone, it is a condition of booking that you agree to these partial refund partial credit terms. Please tick here to indicate that you agree (tick here ) in order that I may book you on the trip you wish to now attend.

(2) POSTPONEMENT BY ME or Cancellation on my part: If illness on my part or other personal circumstances of my own cause a postponement, you will have the choice immediately of (1) full refund of all money paid, (2) refund of accommodation charge plus CREDIT for tuition €375 towards any of my trips or courses over the next 3 years. If my circumstances cause a complete cancellation, full and total immediate refund will be due to you.

(3) CANCELLATION BY YOU: If you need to cancel for any reason, cancellation will affect your payment as follows:

Cancellation more than 4 weeks prior to departure will result in full refund, no penalties.

Cancellation 2 weeks - 4 weeks prior to departure will result in CREDIT FOR YOUR FULL FEE minus 20% accommodation compensation sum in re

re-organising/ altering bookings of accommodation to reflect your non-participation. Cancellation less than 2 weeks prior to departure will give you TUITION CREDIT of €375 for any course or trip with me for 3 years. To go B and B on a future trip in these circumstances, supplement will be payable, minimum €200, and will depend on the applicable cost of B and B at that time).

TICK to indicate you have read and accept the above.

(4) INSURANCE RE OWN-TIME ACTIVITIES ON BOFIN:For own time walks, and any other activities you may wish to build in around our course on Bofin, I require that you take out or make sure you already have TRAVEL INSURANCE that covers these kinds of activities. Any activities or trips you choose to involve yourself in outside of class-time are beyond the scope of my own teaching Public Liability insurance. It would make the trips prohibitively costly if I was to insure myself to indemnify you against these risks and I cannot do so. Please tick here ( ) to indicate you have read and understood the above note and have organised activity holiday travel insurance for this trip. N.B. This insurance will also cover you for loss due to cancellation by you at a point beyond the JAUNT’s booking and cancellation deadline.

BOOKING FORMPRINT AND POST TO YVONNE CULLEN, 2 Lr Eden Rd, Glasthule, County Dublin, Ireland. Email yvonnesworkshops@gmail.com for PAYMENT OPTIONS or phone me re on 086 1701418Name_________________________________

Address_______________________________

_____________________________________

Email_________________________________

Land line_______________ Mobile________________________

COURSE YOU ARE BOOKING:START TO WRITE/ DEVELOPING WRITER (tick)

GUIDED WRITING RETREAT (tick)

OPTION OF YOUR CHOICE:(A) ISLAND HOUSES ACCOMMODATION OPTION €675.

(B) TUITION ONLY, SOURCING OWN ACCOMM OPTION €400

Would you like me to source B n B or hotel accommodation for you for option (B)? (Adds 5% to accommodation fee).CUT OFF for this service: 12 weeks prior to departure in high season.FOR B and B, GUEST HOUSE or HOTEL, expect to pay from €60 guest-house, from €65 per person per night in a hotel, low season, rates rise steeply high season.)Are you interested in optional archaeological/ historical walk from local guide Tommy Burke, at extra charge of €20? Tick here ( )Are you interested in optional extra half-day boat trip to INISHARK with a guide? (expect €50 (tick )

What are your aims in coming on a JAUNT WRITING TRIP?________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________Have you any mobility or other medical challenges we should know about as we work out how best to accommodate and look after you?

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Have you any food allergies of which we should be aware as we shop for the trip? Please give details here:

DISCOUNTS FOR LONGTERM STUDENTS. MIGHT YOU BE ENTITLED TO A DISCOUNTED FEE?

Have you taken two x 10 week or longer courses with me in the last year? Tick here if so ( ) 2 places at 10% discount on each course if you have! For students who have taken the last 3 ADVANCED WORKSHOPS in a row, I will be able to offer 1 place at 15% LOYALTY DISCOUNT on each trip. Please tick ( ) if this applies to you!

And finally, thanks very much, on behalf both of my own little writing-teaching business and of the Bofin businesses you support with your booking, for choosing the INISHBOFIN JAUNT! I look forward to meeting you IN Bofin! (Or in TURK or in KERRY if you choose to try out those venues!)

Yvonne

SEE www.yvonnecullen.wordpress.com re other 2016 Jaunts!

F

Inishbofin Jaunt, June 2-9 2016

Creative Writing Holidays 2016

with Yvonne Cullen

24 years teaching writing in Ireland! 8th yeaaunts.

Coinciding with INISH FESTIVAL: http://inishfestival.com/A

This June’s Bofin Jaunt has been designed to flow around the fantastic INISH Arts and Culture festival. To get the most out of our course, as we will be using Inish for inspiration, participants are required to book a season pass to Inish, (€60 early bird, till 30 April,

€75 thereafter). See site above to book. Friday through Sunday we will have breakfast, lunch and dinner classes, with more conventional morning classes of 2.5 hours per class duration Monday through Wednesday. A celebratory reading together for an invited

audience will end our week on Wednesday night. All in all, you can expect 16 contact hours with me on our trip, and an ideal warm up into your own creative expression via the host of inspirations at Inish and all around you on lovely Bofin.

WHEN DOES OUR EVENT BEGIN? Our official welcome night is THURSDAY June 2nd at 7.15, when I will greet you on the dock in BOFIN and bring you to your lodgings on

the island. Later that night, you will be COULD I ARRIVE LATE TO THE COURSE OR LEAVE EARLY?

Within reason, I will try to assist you if you need to do either of the above. It isn’t possible to alter standard course fee/ standard package fee in these situations but short stays in either the island hostel or DOLPHIN HOTEL may be possible. COntact me to discuss

and for contact details for the above. THE BOAT TO THE ISLAND, LOGISTICAL DETAILS:

If arriving THURSDAY night, your ferry will leave CLEGGAN in Connemara at 6.45 P.M, which means, for a calm start to your trip, get to Cleggan at 5 p.m., 5.15 at latest!

PARKING IN CLEGGAN FOR YOUR TRIP:There is a brand new official supervised carpark in Cleggan, charging by the day (c €5 per day). It is 15 minutes’ walk to the pier. Best, as a result, to drive close to pier, carry your (non valuable) luggage to the dockside baggage shelter, retrieve your car and re-park it in

the official car-park, sit in to Olivers for a drink or snack, and stroll to the boat at 6.25, You can buy your ticket on the dock ( most people do, €20 return). Boat departs without exception AT its departure time, see www.inishbofinislanddiscovery.com for details of

sailings. The 11.30 a.m. and 6.45 p.m. boats are the sailings relevant to the June trip. Do watch the time when it comes to catching the boat. If you miss a boat, you’ll have to put yourself up in Cleggan and join us the next day! I’m on 0861701418 if that transpires!

If interested in the JUNE JAUNT TO BOFIN, please do make contact soon. I will need to close the booking on this trip on 30 April due to the intense demand for accommodation on the island at that time. July Jaunt bookings will close mid May, and Rossbeigh Jaunt booking will close end June. It may still be possible to book any of these trips after those dates but at 10% surcharge to encourage you to book soon; ).

Hope to see some of you on an island or in Kerry, before too long!

www.inishbofinislanddiscovery.com for ferry times and detailswww.inishbofin.com for island info in general.www.inishfestival.comwww.yvonnecullen.wordpress.com for my own wide range of classes, trips and events including Inishturk Jaunts through July and Rossbeigh, Kerry Jaunt 13-20 August.Phone me on 086 1701418.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Yvonne Cullen