Shaping Memory into Memoir
with Alison Wearing
13-17 April 2025 - SOLD OUT!*
Inn at Laurel Point
Victoria, BC, Canada
*BUT CANCELLATIONS DO HAPPEN!
If you’d like to be notified if a space becomes available,
please click the button to join the waitlist:
Clarity, Vision, and Inspiration
Victoria in the spring feels like a deep breath of light, emerging life, and possibility. This 4-night memoir writing retreat is designed to offer a literary version of those things: clarity, vision, and inspiration, as well as rich connection and community.
Overview of the Retreat
This retreat offers a balance of inspiring teachings and the chance to expand the possibilities for your writing, approach your story with fresh eyes, open to new insights and ideas, and replenish your creative well.
Bestselling author Alison Wearing will offer focussed daily teachings on the critical elements of memoir and how to employ these in your writing, including how to sculpt your narrative to maximum effect, and the essential questions you need to ask of your story as you write it. Afternoons will be devoted to small group sessions, ensuring that all participants have a chance to discuss and explore their ideas and projects in depth over the course of the retreat.
The aim of this retreat is to provide you with literary nourishment and inspiration, direction and clarity, as well as the support you need to move forward with your ideas and writing projects with renewed enthusiasm and energy.
Just to clarify: If you are looking for direct feedback on your manuscript, this is not the retreat for you. But if you are looking to deepen your understanding of the essentials of memoir and the many things you need to consider, explore, refine and employ when crafting your story or book; if you are looking for a literary kick-start, sparkling inspiration, companionship, joy, beauty, insights and connections, nourishment and light — this will be a good fit for you. :)
“This retreat surpassed my expectations in all ways. Alison has a unique and gracious way of delving into the heart, structure and craft of memoir writing while creating an atmosphere comfortable for us to share our own work as we learned. Insightful and inspiring!”
A Literary Spring
Last year’s inaugural retreat in Victoria, Canada, was one of the finest I’ve ever experienced (truly!), and I can’t wait to do it again.
As is the case with all the retreats I’ve lead over the years (from Mexico to the south of France to Stratford, Ontario, to Tuscany), I have curated this one with care and attention to the sorts of details that create a successful experience: an enlightening program and plentiful inspiration, uplifting beauty and light-filled spaces, glorious food, sigh-worthy beds and views (yes!), opportunities for connection with other writers, time for contemplative solitude, and my finest offerings as a writer, facilitator, and writing coach.
More than simply a wonderful experience in the short term, this retreat will be—ideally—a life-changing touchstone that you may return to, and be nourished by, for months and years to come.
“If you have a chance to go to a retreat with Alison Wearing, do so! I have now experienced two retreats and both times my commitment to my writing has grown, expanded, and I have been nourished and inspired in countless ways. ”
Prices & Details
YOUR RETREAT PACKAGE INCLUDES:
Daily talks, teachings and Q&As with Alison Wearing
Small, focussed group sessions with Rayya Liebich, winner of the 2022 International Amy MacRae Award for Memoir
A private reading/Q&A with literary legend (and all-around spectacular woman) Lorna Crozier
Exquisite, gourmet meals prepared by on-site chefs with regional farm-sourced ingredients (Sunday evening to Thursday morning, with one dinner out)
Vegetarian and buffet options
Stunning classroom studio with a breathtaking view of Victoria’s Inner Harbour
Unlimited private access to the hotel’s top-floor wrap-around balcony for reading, writing, contemplation, conversation…
Harbourside walking trails directly outside the hotel’s front door (12-minute walk to downtown Victoria)
Virtual small group coaching sessions after the retreat — to ensure that you maintain clarity and focus, and to give you some post-retreat momentum!
There are only 22 spaces available. Retreat fees do not include accommodations; see below for details.
PLEASE NOTE: Participants are not required to submit writing in advance, as Alison will not be reading individual submissions, but rather teaching and offering direction and suggestions on people’s ideas and projects in a small group setting.
Retreat Fees (before accommodation):
Early Bird Bookings made before September 30, 2024: USD$2,000 +tax | CAD$2,650 +tax
Alumni of the Memoir Writing Ink program receive a discount of $100 off retreat fees.
Bookings made after September 30, 2024: USD$2,250 +tax | CAD$2,950 +tax
Accommodations & Rates:
Accommodations are booked separately, directly with the hotel. Retreat guests have access to deeply-discounted rates at our retreat venue, the gorgeous Inn at Laurel Point, famous for its breathtaking setting, beautiful rooms, and its commitment to sustainability (the hotel has been carbon-neutral since 2009).
The hotel has two wings: the Laurel Wing is the original hotel with lovely rooms overlooking the inner harbour, and the newer Erickson Wing (designed by Arthur Erickson) offers expansive and luxurious rooms, plus some 5-star suites.
NOTE FROM ALISON: The Erickson Wing rooms are very spacious and exceptionally beautiful, with bathtubs you can practically do laps in and balconies offering stunning views of the sunset over Victoria’s outer harbour. I cannot remember ever enjoying a hotel room more, so much so that I had trouble prying my fingers from the door jamb when it was time to leave. If you can afford the extra, these rooms are definitely worth it! They could also be comfortably shared with a friend.
Our discounted retreat rates are:
Laurel Wing Guest Room: CAD$219/night + tax (approx. USD$159/night)
Erickson Wing Studio Room: CAD$299/night + tax (approx. USD$219/night)
Once you have registered and paid your deposit for the retreat, you will be sent our special booking link (to access these prices)
PLEASE NOTE: There are a very limited number of ‘events & meals only’ spots available for people with alternative accommodations in Victoria. Because this is a hotel-based retreat and our arrangement with that hotel is an all-inclusive one, there is no ‘only events/no meals’ option. Given sufficient interest, however, Alison may offer a workshop for local people at a future date. To add your name to the ‘Victoria - Local Workshop’ list, CLICK HERE.
“This retreat gave me clarity around what I am writing about in my memoir. It has also helped me step into my identity as a writer by being around like-minded people. Alison attracts the most fun and interesting people! The food was amazing, the setting was beautiful, and I felt refreshed and energized walking away from this retreat!”
TRAVEL DETAILS: The retreat will begin on Sunday, April 13, with a welcome event at 5pm and participants are welcome to arrive anytime after hotel check-in at 3pm. We will wrap up the retreat on the morning of Thursday, April 17, and hotel check-out is at 11am. The closest airport is in Victoria (YYJ), but there are also ferries to Victoria from Vancouver (BC Ferries) and Seattle (FRS Clipper). Participants should plan to make their own way to and from the retreat venue, The Inn at Laurel Point.
A portion of all proceeds will be put toward tree-planting efforts with TreeCanada, which has planted more than 83 million native trees in urban, rural and wilderness areas and sequestered millions of tons of carbon pollution in the process. This ‘carbon calculator’ calculates carbon use (per flight) and estimates the number of trees that need to be planted to offset that use [somewhat]. Obviously, this is an imperfect solution, but it does, at the very least, add more trees to this world.
Interested in future retreats?
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