An Enriching Writers Workshop in a Thrilling Setting
Welcome to "Love Comes in at the Eye "on the Wild Atlantic Way
“Love Comes in at the Eye" was established in 2017, in breathtaking Renvyle, Ireland, and is like no other writing workshop around. It is a curated workshop for established writers, be they journalists, poets, novelists and memoirists—even lyricists and playwrights-- working on pages -- creators who want high-level reflection and direction. We write each day, collaborate each day, and evaluate progress each day. We are a group of ten with two leaders. Those two are Jacki Lyden, founder, memoirist and award-winning former NPR host --who’s led scores of workshops in Ireland and the US. And Jayne Anne Phillips, novelist, essayist, teacher and Pulitzer Prize-winnier 2024. Jayne Anne Phillips, author of six novels, and Night Watch, a Civil War era story of mother and daughter, aboutu escape and transformation, is set in the real life Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia. It is a masterpiece of American literature, a war and a testament to what writing can do in troubled times. Novelist Tayari Jones hail s her as "a brilliant artist working at the height of her powers. Word by word, and line by line, there is no one better. ”
Connemara, with hundreds of lakes and estuaries and mountains, on the Atlantic Coast, is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is rife with folklore and history (Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats) and place of inspiration. We take advantage of a landscape which is entwined with the the imagination. The workshop borrows its title from "The Drinking Song Poem" by William Butler Yeats. A century ago, Yeats himself wrote and honeymooned at Renvyle House, and various writers have passed through its rooms, from James Joyce to Seamus Heaney. Most of the expenses – excluding five dinners – are covered in the fee of $4050, including transportation in Ireland and RT from Shannon airport. (But not airfare) Discounts are available for early registrants.
Being in an English-speaking country with an enormous love of literature is an immense plus. Nearby Clifden in Co. Galways hosts an arts festival annually , with some of the biggest names in literature, so it is a literary town. Margaret Atwood and Paul Lynch, Kevin Barry and Claire Keegan, have all read there. We read one night at Clifden Christchurch. We take an archaeological hike with an amazing Bronze Age archaeologist. The goal is progress, clarity, and finished work-- amid camaraderie and daily reading. Please write to us to tell us what you’d like to work on. Submit pages to Jacki.Lyden@gmail.com. You will need to send us up to 20 pages, but not more. So let us hear from you!
Tell Me More
How Does This Work?
After the earthquake political news we’ve had this year, art and literature offer both a refuge and enduring response to authoritarianism. I hope you’ll join Jayne Anne and me as we continue to make work in Ireland, do a community reading in Clifden, mingle with Irish people and soak up each other’s company and the astonishing landscape. You will receive personal attention as desired. Submissions require a $150 fee for reading your work, unless, of course, we already know it, or your're returning. Discounts of 7% are offered from now through the end of the year. A deposit of $900 (less submission fees) is required if you are accepted (nonrefundable except for health reasons.) The remainder of the monies is due by March 1. With 7% off, call it $3750. So take advantage of submitting as soon as you can.
Please write Jacki.Lyden@gmail.com and include submissions of your work of up to 20 pages.
How does this work?
Besides tuition and lodging, nearly all your transportation, (not airfare) and most of your meals except for five dinners out and a few lunches, are covered, as is a Bronze Age hike. See below.
We'll send a coach for those who fly in to Shannon International Airport, on May 22, and we send a coach back on the last day, May 31. Renvyle Hotel is at the tip of the Renvyle Peninusla. It's a four-star hotel, rooms have thrilling views, of mountains or water or gardens, and common areas are inviting and relaxing. There's usually a turf fire in the evenings. (The Nobel-prize winning Irish poet Seamus Heaney and the former President of Ireland--also a poet!-- have both stayed here .) Opening night there's champagne and local oysters! There is much local seafood.
Every afternoon, at 1pm, we gather in the library having turned in our work earlier. We read each other’s pages, led by Jayne Anne and Jacki, with supportive but focused comments. (We may do some generative exercise, too) We have a short lunchbreak, maybe outdoors if we're lucky. We're usually done around 5:30 or 6pm.That leaves at leasathour's walking or private time til we get ferried to dinner, which we enjoy at an interesting variety of area restaurants, including Ballynahinch Castle. We are very near Connemara National Park, for the adventurpis and there are many gentle walks on the Renvyle grounds. Our goal is to send you home with pages of profound accomplishment.
The "Love Comes in at the Eye"reading at Christchurch, at 7pm on May 28. This is a way of getting the community involved, and area writers and leaders. The reading becomes a program and podcast on Connemara FM, and we meet after for dinner at a pub in Clifden. Check out what our writers have to say about the workshop!