Writers’ Residencies and Workshops
FOR TRAVELLERS WITH A TALE
“No-one has a life worthy of consideration about which a story cannot be told.”
Hannah Arendt
Words are windows on the world, and they are also windows into ourselves. We are storytelling organisms who, in our continual interpretation and reinterpretation of life-events, make ourselves in the stories we tell of who we are. Reflecting in-writing supports this important work of self-making. It “directs the gaze toward the regions where meaning originates, wells up, percolates through the porous membranes of past sedimentations – and then infuses us, permeates us, infects us, touches us, stirs us, exercises a formative affect” (Max van Manen).
If you have a tale to tell about your lived experiences, your work-in-the-world, your thoughts and feelings about being and doing, your ideas about life, itself, we invite you to join us on our Life-Writing Retreat in the Catalan Mountains, Spain, in June-July 2026, hosted by the NTL Writing and Publishing Hub.
This programme, at a farmhouse of medieval origins restored as a charming eco-hotel, will focus on the ‘doing’ of the writing process. Some participants will be returning from our previous Writers’ Residencies and Retreats in France, the UK and Spain to continue formulating their traveller-tales. We are also welcoming others who wish to commit concentrated time to their writing (a personal essay, an article, a book, a short story, a poem, a play, a blog etc). There will be extended periods to ‘Go Write!’ during the day. The staff will take a supportive role. They will invite morning ‘check-ins’; offer short workshops for life-writers of all narrative forms; be available for optional, individual ‘Tea and Talk’ consultations in the late afternoon; and convene evening feedback sessions in small groups on the candlelit terrace.
And when we are not writing or discussing our writing? We might gaze at the magnificent mountain-views, or swim in the pool, take a meditative walk along the spiral pathway in the grounds, enjoy forest-bathing, or simply busy ourselves, doing nothing, in this beautiful, quiet, restful place in the warmth of Catalonia’s Summer sun.
Dates: from 10.00am on Monday 29th June to 3.30pm on Friday 3rd July, 2026.
Location: La Garriga de Castelladral, www.masialagarriga.com/ca/
Cost: £1775 GBP inclusive of VAT for dinners with a glass of wine, and overnight accommodation for four nights in individual, spacious, excellently appointed ensuite bedrooms each with a writing desk and a terrace or a balcony with views of Monserrat, the farmhouse and its natural environment; plus morning and afternoon refreshments and lunches on five days. Partners are very welcome to join our party and can be accommodated at an additional cost of £725 GBP inclusive of VAT. Please note that this programme is offered on a strictly not-for-profit basis.
Transfer time and cost from/to Barcelona Airport: a one-hour taxi-ride for circa €150 euros for a group of up to eight people.
Staff: NTL members, Dr Kate Cowie (Dean and Editor of Practising Social Change) and Heather Berthoud, will lead the Retreat, supported by Dr Paul Taylor-Pitt and Emma Pearson. They are all experienced in the craft of making meaning of lived experience in-writing, and they are all published in a variety of articles, chapters, books and other contemporary forms of life-writing.
Available places: 12. (A small number of discounted places may be available on application.)
More information: please email Kate Cowie as soon as possible if you would like to express interest in this programme: editor@ntl-psc.org
The 2017 NTL Writers’ Residency in Provence, France: a case study in emergence
