In June of 2014 I treated myself to one of the most remarkable journeys I have ever been on. Yes, it was Paris…and that’s always an amazing journey. But what made it special were the people that accompanied me on the journey. When you participate in the Left Bank Writers Retreat in Paris, you instantly become family with a handful of writers as you traipse together through the same Paris that Ernest Hemingway knew and loved. It is the opportunity of a lifetime to see Paris through the eyes of the LBWR facilitators.
And they are currently having a holiday discount!
Now accepting registration for summer session of the LBWR, June 19-25, 2016
Holiday Discount, register before December 31, 2015 and save $200
As a past participant in the LBWR (June, 2014), I can tell you it was one of the highlights of my traveling/writing life. We lunched at amazing sidewalk cafes frequented by Hemingway, we wrote in the Luxembourg Gardens and in the Tuileries, we visited many museums, we took the Metro to Montmartre. We did it all. And the organizers–Darla Worden, Sarah Suzor, and, Travis Cebula–were absolutely incredible. There is not a thing about Paris that Travis Cebula does not know. He is just a non-stop wealth of knowledge. This is important when you have your evenings to yourself and you’re new to the city of lights. Travis was there with an answer to all inquiries when it came to mapping out our evenings in Paris. The three of them went well beyond all expectations, making my first experience in Paris a truly memorable one I will carry with me forever.
Honestly, beyond the tours of Hemingway’s haunts and the writing exercises in the most beautiful parks of the city, we all just connected. And it was certainly implied that every year makes up another special familial group of Left Bank Writers. With Darla, Sarah and Travis serving as the glue that holds each year’s group together…you really can’t go wrong.
If you’re a writer, allow the LBWR to show you a Paris you have never seen before while simultaneously kick-starting your writing to the next level. You won’t regret the experience. If there is a writer in your life and you’re looking for the perfect writing gift to help encourage their path…THIS IS IT. Give them Paris and Hemingway and Darla and Sarah and Travis! It’s a combination like no other. Beautiful City + Beautiful People = Unforgettable Awesome
Here’s the latest missive from the LBWR…you can read more about the program in their words:
Holiday Gifts for Writers: Paris Tops the List
Left Bank Writers Retreat in Paris announces holiday sale plus top-5 book suggestions
Denver, Colo. – Nov. 10, 2015 – The Left Bank Writers Retreat, a small-group six-day writing workshop and literary tourism experience held in Paris each June, has some great gift ideas for that writer on your holiday shopping list. “Of course you can’t beat a chance to find writing inspiration in Paris firsthand,” says Left Bank Writers Retreat founder and director Darla Worden, “so we have to suggest that as a starting point.”
As a holiday gift-giving incentive, anyone signing up for this summer’s retreat before Dec. 31 will receive a $200 discount off the $1,999 tuition for a reduced price of $1,799. The Left Bank Writers Retreat will take place June 19-25, 2016, and tuition covers all daily expenses during the retreat from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (breakfast, lunch, admissions fees and transportation around the city, as well as writing instruction). Writers are responsible for their own airfare and lodging.
Open to all levels of writers, the Left Bank Writers Retreat in Paris includes morning writing sessions, coaching and one-on-one time with the instructor for a maximum of eight writers, as well as lunch each day, admission to museums and area sights and a picnic on the banks of the Seine. Recommended by the Los Angeles Times as a chance to follow in Hemingway’s footsteps and cure writer’s block, the workshop includes a literary tourism experience that treats attending writers to many of the sights featured in the Woody Allen movie “Midnight in Paris” as well as some newly opened and off-the-beaten-track literary landmarks.
“If a trip to Paris is larger than a shopper’s budget allows,” says Worden, “books about Ernest Hemingway and Paris also make excellent gifts.” She recommends the following list of titles, old and new, to add to shopping lists:
1. Hemingway in Love: His Own Story by A.E. Hotchner
2. Hemingway’s Paris: A Writer’s City in Words and Images by Robert Wheeler
3. Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation: A History of Literary Paris in the Twenties and Thirties by Noel Riley Fitch
4. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
5. The Nick Adams Stories (Audible Audio Edition) by Ernest Hemingway, read by Stacy Keach
The Left Bank Writers Retreat is named for the now-famous writers who lived on Paris’s Left Bank during the 1920s. Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, James Joyce and F. Scott Fitzgerald are some of the expats who wrote in Paris, congregating in the city’s cafes and bars to share ideas. During the June retreat, participants experiment with many of the Left Bank writers’ techniques.
Applications for the June 2016 retreat and registration information are online at www.leftbankwritersworkshop.com/register
Darla Worden is a writer who lives in Jackson, Wyo., Denver, Colo., and Paris. Worden has written widely for magazines and authored several books. She writes the popular blog Frenchophile and is currently working on a book about Hemingway’s Paris.
Now in its seventh year, the Left Bank Writers Retreat takes place on the historic Île Saint-Louis in the heart of Paris. Writers arrange their own lodging and transportation to Paris. For additional information, visit www.leftbankwriters.com.
Media Contact: Darla Worden, WordenGroup Public Relations, darla@wordenpr.com, 303.777.7667
Make a decision that will change you or the writing loved one in your life. I promise…it will be incredible!
Some pics of my Left Bank Writers Retreat adventure!
KEVIN CRAIG 