Breathe Life into your Writing: A Writer's Retreat
A wellness retreat including writing workshops with Kerry Sunderland and yoga classes by Cristina Holopainen. This is the 4rd run of this popular retreat!
'For me, writing is not an intellectual exercise. It's rooted in the body and the senses.' - Hilary Mantel
This 3-night retreat is an opportunity to nurture your creativity and explore how you can connect with yourself and others using the written word.
We'll use the stunning natural world around us at Maruia River Retreat as a springboard into our writing sessions, contemplating how patterns in our own lives are reflections of those in flora, fauna and landscapes. This will provide guidance for the shape and structure of your storytelling. You’ll practise how to write using all of your senses and how to bring yourself and others alive as bodies moving through environments, which will help you create vivid characters who drive your stories.
Daily writing workshops with daily Yoga, breathwork and meditation classes led by Cristina Holopainen, Maruia River Retreat’s resident yoga teacher.
Inclusions :
· 3-night Private villa accommodation in twin share or solo occupancy with river, mountain and forest views
· All meals including a Welcome Snack, daily breakfast, lunch and 3-course dinners
· 2 daily yoga and meditation classes
· 2 x 2-hour writing workshops
· One-on-one support during private writing sessions
· Guided nature walks in 500-acres of native beech forest
· Forest bathing in the outdoor Stoked Hot Tub, Infrared Chroma-therapy and Finnish Sauna
RETREAT PACKAGE PRICE: ONLY 8 SPACES. Book early as we only have 4 villas left.
Early Bird Price below is $300 off the published rate if you book before 31 October 2024.
Studio Luxe Villa: USD1,575 or NZD2650 per person for twin share
1-bedroom Master Villa: USD1,815 or NZD3050 per person for twin share
By Request: Solo occupancy at USD2,110 or NZD3550.
To book, email reservations@maruia.co.nz
Most recent review from the most recent Writer’s Retreat - Matariki Weekend 2022
"Thank you Kerry and Cristina for facilitating such an incredible weekend of writing, connection, nature and introspection. I have already reflected upon many of the moments and discussions shared during our retreat. Know that I will continue to hold them dear within me.
Congratulations on the Condé Nast write up - that's a wonderful achievement, but I must say I'm not surprised...what has been created at Maruia is special, unique and breathtaking." - Becs/Wellington, New Zealand.
About Kerry Sunderland
Kerry is a freelance journalist, author and podcast host/producer. Her personal essays have appeared in several anthologies, including Otherhood (Massey University Press 2024), A Liminal Gathering (Elixir & Star Press 2023), Headlands: New Stories of Anxiety (Victoria University Press 2018) and the literary journal, Turbine | Kapohau (2016). Her feature articles and profiles have been published in New Zealand Geographic, NZ Listener, North & South, The Spinoff, Stuff/Nelson Mail and the Byron Echo.
Kerry has curated the Nelson Arts Festival's literary programme since 2018. She also facilitates residential writing retreats and short courses in creative nonfiction. From 2017 to early 2021, she was a part-time creative writing tutor at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.
Born in Australia, Kerry has been based in New Zealand since 2012. She has a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Victoria University of Wellington and was joint winner of the 2018 Hachette Mentorship in Australia for her memoir manuscript, Beyond the Blue Door, which she has decided not to publish (and there's a story in that). She is currently writing her second memoir, which is the story of how she learnt how to talk about the hard stuff and why she trained as a 'death walker'.
Elizabeth Knox CNZM says: “She is a writer with a brave and honest eye, and a strong feeling for landscape and how landscape acts on the people who live in it.”