The Writers' Lab offers a wonderful opportunity to learn directly from distinguished writers, to share the joys and struggles of the creative process, and to discover strengths and polish skills. Courses are open to novices with a secret passion for writing as much as to writers who already have a book under their belt. Arrive with work in progress or just an empty page - all are welcome.
The Writers' Lab will be taking place in both Atsitsa and the Skyros Centre on Skyros island in Greece this year. See this summer's programme here or see our holidays in date order below.
Drop us a line at office@skyros.com or call us on 01983 86 55 66 to request your FREE brochure. Don't forget your Friends of Skyros discount applies if you've been on any of the holidays before.
With our very best wishes,
The Skyros Team
The Grange, Isle of Wight
Helena Drysdale - Writing from Life
One of the best routes into writing – both fiction and non-fiction – is through our personal experiences and memories, and some of our most interesting material comes from our own lives. This course will explore the techniques of using that material to tell our stories as well as we can.
Helena Drysdale writes a mix of travel, memoir and biography. 'Mother Tongues, Travels through Tribal Europe' was Book of the Year in the Independent, Times, Irish Times and Sunday Times.
Location: Atsitsa Bay
Dates: Sun 7 - Sat 13 June 2015 (1 week)
Price: £545 includes 6 nights full board, twin shared accommodation and Atsitsa courses/ activities.
Steve Attridge - Life and Fiction
This course includes imaginative ways of tapping into events and experiences, memories and people in your life. Discover new ways of writing about life and strategies, tips and techniques for turning these into powerful fiction. By the end of the course you will be a more accomplished writer and teller of your own stories.
Steve has published 17 books including adult fiction, psychological thrillers, children's, history and comedy. His latest, a crime thriller called The Natural Law went straight to number one in the Amazon Kindle Bestsellers.
Location: Atsitsa Bay
Dates: Sun 14 - Sat 27 June 2015 (2 weeks)
Price: £1,045 includes 13 nights full board, twin shared accommodation and Atsitsa courses/ activities.
Steve Attridge - Starting Your Novel
Want to get going on that novel? This course looks at getting ideas, developing them and making them work. It covers the main points of creating character, plot, setting, genre and point of view. Workshops, talks and exercises will give you lots of ideas and enthusiasm for your writing.
Twice a BAFTA nominee, Steve has also won RTS Awards and Writer's Guild Awards. He has worked as a writer and lecturer running Masterclasses, short courses and University courses including Oxford, Warwick and Sheffield.
Location: Atsitsa Bay
Dates: Sun 28 June - Sat 4 July 2015 (1 week)
Price: £545 includes 6 nights full board, twin shared accommodation and Atsitsa courses/ activities.
Stephen Clarke - A Sense of Place
When writing about a place you have to make it your own. The result might be a novel, a memoir, a screenplay, travel article or sonnet. But whatever you write, it needs to be you. This course will help you to decide what you really want to say about a place and how you want to say it. Then you can really start writing.
Stephen's book 'A Year in the Merde' has sold over 1.5 million copies in 20 languages. Since 2004 he has produced a book every year including four more Merde novels and the bestselling '1,000 Years of Annoying the French'.
Location: Atsitsa Bay
Dates: Sun 5 - Sat 18 July 2015 (2 weeks)
Price: £1,145 includes 13 nights full board, twin shared accommodation and Atsitsa courses/ activities.
Deborah Levy - Life Writing
Join author Deborah Levy and explore what is at stake when we tell a story, the importance of what we leave out of the story and how to bring it to life. The course will include an exploration of point of view, time, everyday objects and voice with reference to one of Freud's most provocative and entertaining case histories.
Deborah writes fiction, plays and poetry. Her work has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company and her novel 'Swimming Home' was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize.
Location: Skyros Centre
Dates: Sun 19 - Sat 25 July 2015 (1 week)
Price: £545 includes 6 nights half board, twin shared accommodation, the Writers' Lab course and early morning yoga.
Mez Packer - Aspects of Novel Writing
Whether you are just beginning to organise your ideas or working on your next 'opus', this course will give you a clear understanding of the technical and creative aspects of novel-writing. Focusing on structure, character, plot and voice this course will look at elements that keep the reader wanting more.
Mez Packer is Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication and visiting Lecturer in Creative Writing at Coventry University. Mez has varied writing interests from scripts for apps and transmedia projects to short stories.
Location: Skyros Centre
Dates: Sun 26 July - Sat 8 August 2015 (2 weeks)
Price: £1,245 includes 13 nights half board, twin shared accommodation, the Writers' Lab course and early morning yoga.
Leigh Russell - Successful Fiction
This course presents techniques to engage readers’ interest and keep them turning the pages. Offering plenty of scope for students to develop their own writing skills, the course will consider areas including character, plot, structure, pace and language.
Leigh Russell is the bestselling author of the Geraldine Steel and Ian Peterson crime series. Her debut was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association Dagger Award for Best First Novel in 2010.
Location: Skyros Centre
Dates: Sun 9 - Sat 22 August 2015 (2 weeks)
Price: £1,245 includes 13 nights half board, twin shared accommodation, the Writers' Lab course and early morning yoga.
Monique Roffey - Life Writing
This is a course in writing from life that might take the form of poetry, prose or creative non fiction. The course will cover a diverse range of subjects including the form and options available to tell your story, how to craft stories on the page, the ethics of writing about living people and how to write about childhood.
Monique Roffey's latest novel is called 'House of Ashes' and her last novel, 'Archipelago' won the OCM BOCAS Award for Caribbean Literature in 2013. In 2010, her novel The White Woman on the Green Bicycle was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Encore Award.
Location: Skyros Centre
Dates: Sun 23 August - Sat 5 September 2015 (2 weeks)
Price: £1,195 includes 13 nights half board, twin shared accommodation, the Writers' Lab course and early morning yoga.
Amanda Smyth - A Life Full of Stories
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While learning to unlock your creative writing life, and immersing yourself in the tantalizing world of words, this course will help you develop a reliable and practical tool kit to produce meaningful works of fiction. What makes a great story and how do we find our own unique way of writing it down.
Amanda Smyth's first novel 'Black Rock' won the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger 2010 and was selected for Waterstone's New Voices in 2009. It was also selected for Oprah's Summer Reads 2009. Amanda's second novel 'A Kind of Eden' was published in July 2013.
Location: Atsitsa Bay
Dates: Sun 6 - Sat 12 September 2015 (1 week)
Price: £545 includes 6 nights full board, twin shared accommodation and Atsitsa courses/ activities.
Tony Hawks - Humorous Writing
Drawing on his own experience of having written several bestselling humorous books and having appeared on top comedy programmes, Tony will use a variety of techniques to bring out the fun side in you. The focus will mainly be non fiction, but who know where things may go...?
Tony is the author of the bestseller 'Round Ireland with a Fridge', the story of his quest to hitch round the circumference of Ireland within a month... with a fridge. The book became a top 10 Sunday Times bestseller and has now sold over 800,000 copies and has been translated into several languages.
Location: Atsitsa Bay
Dates: Sun 13 - Sat 26 September 2015 (2 weeks)
Price: £1,045 includes 13 nights full board, twin shared accommodation and Atsitsa courses/ activities.
Contact us
If you would like more information about any of our holidays we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
phone: +44 (0)1983 86 55 66
It's time to start planning ahead for a summer break! And whether you have little experience of yoga or plenty, head for Atsitsa Bay on the beautiful, unspoilt island of Skyros. 
David is the creator of Yoga Ballet Fusion and Contemporary Yoga, both styles of which he will be teaching in Atsitsa as part of his course. He will also teach a gentle and slower themed class blending Somatics and Yin Yoga designed to release deep held tension in the body through pandiculation, breath work and slow passive stretching techniques. The sessions will have a meditative quality and are suitable for all those who want to relax and let go. 
Ken is trained in The Feldenkrais Method, Awareness Through Movement. As well as regular yoga workshops, Ken offers his Yoga with Awareness holidays internationally and returns to Skyros for his 25th season! Ken seeks to work with you, by developing core movement, and helping you tune into the constant flow of life energy essential to maintaining health and clarity of mind.
