New Dates Set for Haiku and Meditation Workshop

Due to popular demand for an alternative, shortened format this year, the “Writing from Within” workshop 2010, led by Kim Richardson and Maeve O’Sullivan, will now run from Thursday, 22nd to Sunday 25th July 2010 as a "long weekend" workshop. While tuition in some of the forms related to haiku have, of necessity, been cut back from the weeklong version, along with a number of meditations, we are confident that the integrity and essential values of the week-long workshop will be held, as they were last July.

Combining the haiku work with meditation, breath, and light practices, the outstanding natural beauty of Ireland's Béara Peninsula and the peace and quiet of Anam Cara, our aim is to heighten our levels of awareness, finding a path to the "principle within," which is the true source of our inspiration.

The new workshop Fee is €450 ($400 if booked by 17 June with a 50% deposit), and it includes:

· Workshop tuition and meditation/exercise sessions
· Room and full board with your own room and en suite (either at Anam Cara or a nearby B&B; transport to and from B&Bs to Anam Cara provided if needed)
· Access to all the amenities at Anam Cara including the common working areas, the movie and music loft, the conservatory, the hot tub overlooking Coulagh Bay (bring your swimming costume), the sauna, and the five acres of garden and riverbank grove with 34 quiet nooks and crannies

For further information and bookings, e-mail Sue at anamcararetreat@gmail.com. Please note that "Writing from Within" is limited to a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 12 participants on a first-deposit-in basis.

Naomi Barlow Larson, 1923-2010, R.I.P.

"I have an idea that some [wo]men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid strangers in their birthplace, and the leafy lanes they have known from childhood or the populous streets in which they have played, remain but a place of passage. . . .Sometimes a woman hits upon a place to which she mysteriously feels that she belongs. Here is the home she sought, and she will settle amid scenes that she has never seen before, among men and women she has never known, as though they were familiar to her from her birth. Here at last she finds rest." W. Somerset Maugham
From Moon and Sixpence

In the early spring of 1996, I began to make much-needed changes in my life and to fulfill a long-held dream. Now, fourteen years later, I am constantly grateful to be living that dream in the home that I found on Beara and to all those who through their moral, spiritual, and financial support helped make that possible.

My mother, Naomi Barlow Larson, has been my most valiant supporter. On Wednesday, 14 April, she successfully finished "winding up her own ball of yarn," and as we say in Eyeries, I am lonely after her. Not only did she have faith in me, she put her resources behind that faith. At a time when it was assumed by many that I would be returning to my childhood home, she encouraged and supported me to follow my heart, to find the home I sought.

Because her touches are everywhere, she is very much a part of the "dailiness" of life at Anam Cara. Her presence is probably most felt in the kitchen -- in the meals prepared from recipes remembered from my childhood and in the conversations around the table. (The photo is of pecan pies made from her recipe* as gifts for Anam Cara neighbours at Christmas time.)

I chose to name the retreat Anam Cara (Irish for soul friend) in the hope that it would house many, including myself, who would become such to themselves and each other and because my first anam cara, my mother, helped to make my dream a reality. For all she was and did, I will be eternally grateful.

*Pecan Pie from Naomi Barlow Larson
3 eggs
½ t. vanilla (Mom uses Mexican vanilla.)
2/3 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter, melted
1 cup dark corn syrup (or ¾ cup light corn syrup plus ¼ cup molasses)
1 cup pecan halves

Beat together with rotary beater, slightly. Pour into pastry-lined pie pan. Bake at 350˚ F. for 15 min. and then at 325˚ for 30 more min.

Never-fail Pie Crust Pastry from Lois Barlow Hill
2 ½ cups flour
1 cup shortening
1 egg, 1 tablespoon white vinegar, and enough water to make ½ cup of liquid
1 teaspoon salt

Blend flour and shortening until it forms smallish crumbs. Add liquid and mix together to form pastry dough. Roll out on floured surface to make sheet to line pie pan.

Fish Publishing Announces Second Place Winner

For her story "The Birthday Book," Eve Vamvas from Brighton, England, was recently named the Second Place winner in Fish Publishing prestigious Short Short Contest. She will claim her prize, a week at Anam Cara, following the launch of this year's Fish Short Story anthology, at which she will join the other winners in reading their stories. The launch is scheduled for Wednesday, 7 July in Bantry, Co. Cork and is the centrepiece of the annual West Cork Literary Festival. For the complete list of winners, see www.fishpublishing.com.

A Belated Happy St. Brigid's Day!

Beannachtaí lá le Bríde dhuit!
[The blessings of St. Brigid to you!]

February 1st is St. Brigid's Day* in Ireland. As she is the patroness of cattle, dairy work, and ale, her day is also New Year's Day for Farmers and the first day of Spring or Imbolc, a pagan celebration associated with fertility and weather divination.

The word, Imbolc [the season of light] is Gaelic, the language of the Celts. There is a strong association between Imbolc and Brigid, a Celtic fertility goddess also associated with fire, healing, and holy wells. When the pagan holidays were transformed into Christian equivalents, February 1st became St. Brigid's Day in honor of the Irish saint (named after the Celtic goddess) who was a contemporary of Saint Patrick's.

Paula Meehan,** the fine Irish poet, just wrote to say that Brigid "is also the patron saint of poets and 1 February is known as The Poet's Spring. As Brigde, she was the pan-northern European triple goddess - protector of poets, healing and smithy work; wells etc. came under her protection as she was in charge of fertility of the land and of the people. There are similarities in folkloric practices amongst the Sami of the Arctic Circle and local Irish practices -- crosses and Biddy's and other made things."

Here are some of the ways to celebrate the first of February -- Her Day!

1. Look for weather signs -- a hedgehog is a good weather sign if he stays out of his burrow. [In the U.S., this day is celebrated as Groundhog Day on February 2nd.]
2. Do only essential work on the day and go to the local shrine to pray.
3. Take stock of the household supplies -- will it last till harvest?
4. Clean the house!
5. Make a special dish for dinner for St. Brigid's Eve, such as Boxty Cakes or Colcannon (see recipes below).
6. Make a large oat bread cake, a Strone Strohn, or Brigid's bread in the shape of a wheat sheaf or cross and invite the neighbours in (see recipe below).
7. Because St. Brigid traveled the countryside, blessing households, with her white red-eared cow, show her welcome by placing bread and fresh butter on the window sill outside; also put out a sheaf of corn for the cow, put out rushes for her to kneel on to bless the household, set the table in the kitchen on the eve.
8. Leave a silk ribbon out for St. Brigid to bless; it is used to cure illness.
9. Because Brigid is closely associated with the farm, ale, butter, and cows, be sure to serve a good hand-crafted ale in quantity and never, never, forget to bring a few stories of the saint to the table!
10. Make the cros Bride or bogha Bride (St. Brigid's Cross). Though a Christian symbol, St. Brigid's Cross possibly derives from the pagan sunwheel. It is usually made from rushes or, less often, straw. It comprises a woven square in the centre and four radials tied at the ends. Many rituals are associated with the making of the crosses. It is traditionally believed that a Brigid's Cross protects the house from fire and evil.

Recipes

Boxty Cakes: Boxty cakes are special. They are rich! Do not make them too big. They do not keep well so make them right before you eat them. Put homemade butter on them when hot. Boxty cakes have special ties to women. marriage and fertility. They are even immortalized in music -- the tune, Boxty on the Griddle! This recipe celebrates the product of the farm -- the wonderful potato and, of course, butter as well.
Ingredients: 1/2 pound hot, cooked potatoes, 1/2 pound grated raw potatoes, 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, butter for frying, salt and pepper.
Instructions:
1. Drain, peel and mash the hot potatoes (keep them hot).
2. Stir in the raw potatoes, flour and baking soda (do not over mix).
3. Ad salt and pepper to taste.
4. Mix well with enough buttermilk to make a stiff batter.
5. Shape into 3 inch patties about 1/4 inch thick.
6. Fry on hot greased griddle until crispy and golden on both sides. Makes 12.


Colcannon (for 6):
This recipe is here because it celebrates butter. When you had trouble extracting butter or had none, you could always call Brigid, and she would help. You must use real butter! You could make butter at home -- take heavy whipping cream and beat it quickly till the butter separates then strain the butter from the buttermilk pressing out the milk and refrigerate. A little salt can be added to taste. This is wonderful for the amazement of kids. Have them taste the cream when it is whipped.
Ingredients: 1 1/4 lbs. Kale or green Cabbage, 2 cups water, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 1/4 pounds peeled and quartered potatoes, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, 1 cup cleaned and chopped leeks white part only, 1 cup milk, pinch of ground mace, salt and ground pepper to taste, 1/2 cup melted butter (use real butter)
Instructions:
1. Simmer kale or cabbage in 2 cups water and oil for 10 minutes, drain, and chop fine.
2. Boil potatoes and water, simmer till tender.
3. Simmer the leeks in milk for ten minutes till tender.
4.drain and puree the potatoes.
5. Add leeks and their milk and cooked kale.
6. Mix, add mace, salt and pepper.
7. Mound on a plate and pour on the melted butter. Garnish with parsley.


St. Brigid's Oaten Bread:
You will feel the influence of the saint in this wonderful bread. Rich! Great with homemade butter as well. Make this loaf into a strohn or wheat sheaf. Form the dough into three equal balls and one ball about 1/3 the size of the others. Form each large ball into a rectangular strip -- do not over work. Place all three strips next to one another. Bend the tops and bottoms of the outer strips slightly outward. Using a knife make indentations vertically in each strip. Not too deep -- enough to convey the image of wheat. Take the remaining smaller ball and make a narrow strip which is as long as the middle of the sheaf. Place that horizontally across the center as the binding of the sheaf it should stick to the sheaf. You can wrap the ends slightly over the sides. Using a knife lightly cut a herringbone texture into the binding strip.
as in:
///////
\\\\\\
In this form, you can leave the bread out for the saint on the eve of February 1st.
Ingredients: 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 3/4 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt., 3 tablespoons butter in small pieces, 3/4 cup uncooked oatmeal flakes, 1 egg, 1/2 cup buttermilk
Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Grease baking sheet.
3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in bowl and mix.
4. Add butter bits and cut in with knife until mixture is crumbly.
5. Add oats and toss to combine.
6. In other bowl, beat egg with buttermilk.
7. Make a well in the dry ingredients. Pour in the egg mixture and mix with a fork until crumbs hold together. Make dough into ball and transfer to floured surface. Knead only till it holds together. . Add flour but only if too sticky to work I like to simply coat the loaf with flour so it does not stick to the hands.
8. Pat dough into 8-inch round and transfer to baking sheet.
9. Score a deep cross into the bread but do not cut it through 10.bake 15-20 minutes till brown. (this bread tends to be done when browning is light to medium brown)

*Most of this information has been taken from the following website where you will find much more about St. Brigid and her day: http://mysite.verizon.net/cbladey/brigid/thesaint.html.

**Paula and Juliet Clancy are leading "The Poem and the Dream Workshop" at Anam Cara from 19-26 June 2010.

Anam Cara in the News...

Retreat To Get into the Write Frame of Mind
Good food, good company, and seclusion to create. Who could ask for more? Bridget Whelan checks out Anam Cara writer’s retreat.

“GOT to go, I think I’ve a poem coming on.”

After an hour of chat and laughter that covered life, love, and potato blight, a writer excused herself from the dinner table and went back to her study bedroom overlooking the glorious Coulagh Bay on the Beara Peninsula.

It was a typical mealtime at a residential retreat in West Cork that provides writers and artists with good company, good food and, most important of all, time to slow down and listen to those small ideas that might grow into a poem, a painting or a story if given the right nurturing.

My own stay at Anam Cara was funded by a generous bursary from The Society of Authors, granted to buy me the time to work on my second novel.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived at the five-bedroomed house in an out-of-the-way corner of Cork four miles from Castletownbere during one of the wettest summers in living memory.

Fellow writers had recommended it, and I already knew that it was connected with the prestigious Fish literary organisation: A week at Anam Cara is a prize in one of the international writing competitions that they run every year.

With such excellent credentials, I was hoping for sufficient space and solitude to get down to some serious work. I got that and more.

My fortnight turned out to be both a retreat from routine concerns and an advance into an Irish way of living that reconnected me to my roots.

An added bonus was being able to explore a very damp and beautiful countryside in a borrowed pair of Wellingtons.

Anam Cara has every amenity. There is an upright grand piano in the lounge, and guests can access a DVD collection that most local libraries would envy.

Worries can be steamed away in the sauna, and on one memorable night, I sat in the hot tub on the terrace gazing at the stars as soft West Cork rain washed my face.

In the surrounding five acres, there are ducks and chickens, a magnificent waterfall, hidden walkways and numerous places to rest and drink in the mountain and sea views.

I don’t want to give the impression, however, that it is a superior bed and breakfast.

Guests come either to attend a workshop or to focus on their own project.

There are few rules, but the most important is that this is a place for creative work.

For that reason, the house is quiet between 9.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. every day – and even the postman knows to come on tip-toe.

It is a book-filled sanctuary that offers, in the words of the director Sue Booth-Forbes, the opportunity to “slow down and hear your voice. It is a chance to do your best work.”

The spirit of the retreat is summed up in its name. Anam Cara means “soul friend” in Irish, and it was chosen, in part, as a tribute to the work and writing of the poet and scholar John O’Donohue.

The retreat has an extensive library, and the section devoted to books written by former residents is a testament to the diversity of the work produced since it opened in 1998.

Here hard-hitting action novels sit alongside contemplative verse, and light romantic comedies jostle for shelf space with award-winning short stories.

It had the look and feel of a happy international community, and when I glanced at a visitors’ book on the first night, I was given a flavour of what I could expect: “An idyllic life writing and eating in a little bit of paradise – the mountain, the sea, the sky. Life doesn’t get much better than this.”

If there is a community within the walls of Anam Cara, the community outside also contributes to the success of a creative centre that is firmly embedded in the life of the Beara Peninsula.

During my stay, I went to three dances (and actually danced), visited an art gallery, and attended a birthday party that went on until 4 o’clock in the morning.

How much or how little you socialise is up to each individual artists or writer, but for me – and I think for most other residents – that sense of being included complements what we are trying to do.

The fact that I produced more solid work in 12 days than I had in the previous 12 months is evidence of that.

The view from my bedroom window was also important, even when the wind blew straight off the Atlantic, and the sky was 40 shades of grey.

Looking across Coulagh Bay most days, I could see the shores of Kerry, the part of Ireland that I claim as my own because it was where I went every summer as child, the place that I grew up calling “home.”

It’s still the place that calls me back, but the sad truth is that I now have more graves to visit than relatives.

In coming to Anam Cara and the Beara Peninsula, I found something that I hadn’t anticipated: A new feeling of belonging.

Looking again at the visitors’ book, I know I wasn’t the only resident to experience that connection. “My week here made Ireland real for me,” wrote one guest with an American address.

The Ireland of my childhood no longer exists, but the easy welcome and generosity of spirit I found in a creative community wedded to West Cork reminded me of the Yeats poem:

Whatever it says on my birth certificate, “I am of Ireland,” and I came away with the sense of myself reinforced. And 40,000 words done.

This article, written by Bridget Whelan (Brighton, England), appeared in The Irish Post on 17 October 2009. Bridget's first novel, A Good Confession, is published in the U.S. and the U.K. by Severn House.

Screenwriting Workshop Added to 2010 Schedule

Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot, A Workshop for Screenwriters
Leader: Peter Dunne
One-week Residential Workshop, arriving 21 August and departing 28 August

Much weight has been given to screenplay structure, but understanding structure is not the same as understanding writing. We are all familiar with scripts and films whose plot points fall nicely into place like pieces of a puzzle, yet are still missing an elemental, terribly important something.

The explanation is simple. Though every screenplay plot has a beginning, middle, and end, it's more important and often ignored, complex structural level is that which lies beneath.

Hidden yet hard at work, the Emotional Structure is the script's internal landscape -- its secret architecture that successfully informs the plot with purpose, viscerally connects the internal and external themes, and directly manipulates the tensions and rhythms of the drama's central ideas.

Without understanding Emotional Structure, the beginning, the middle, and the end of your script will have a one hundred percent chance of becoming the beginning, the muddle, and the end. This is because emotion rules the central, most misunderstood and most feared element of a screenplay -- that of the story's underlying meaning. And only by understanding Emotional Structure can we bring solid, creative solutions to the writing process, and meaning to our stories. It is the surest way to turn your script's problems into your script's power.

Fortunately for us, long before God created Hollywood, He created Ireland, home of the real storytellers, and the Beara Peninsula, home of the extraordinary and spiritual setting of Anam Cara. For, surely, He knew that one day every one of us was going to need the perfect place to find the strength and the courage to face the screenwriter's demons.

Writing is hard work. It demands a willingness on our part to expose our innermost selves by creating heroes who become living expressions of our spiritual DNA. That is why, combined with the serene and contemplative ambiance of Anam Cara, this workshop is specifically designed to offer the encouragement, and support, and enlightenment every writer needs, every day.

The workshop welcomes writers of all levels and will be composed of conversations addressing key issues of story, plot, conflict, and dialog; plenty of writing time in comfortable spaces to find your words; plenty of wandering time in beautiful places to find yourself; and private consultations with a special emphasis on helping each writer develop his or her own screenplay's Emotional Structure.

An award-winning producer and writer, Peter Dunne brings three decades of experience in script development, writing, and producing to every project. His experiences as a writer and producer have taken him around the world: from Los Angeles to London, from Portland to Atlanta, from Las Vegas to New Zealand.

Peter served as the Vice President of Development for three Hollywood studios before beginning his career as a screenwriter and producer. Among the projects he has produced and/or written are such classics as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Melrose Place, Savannah, Police Story, Dallas, Knots Landing, JAG, Nowhere Man, Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman, and the extraordinary mini-series Sybil.

He has compiled an impressive list of honors along the way that includes the Emmy Award, the George Foster Peabody Broadcasting Award, the Scott Newman Award, the Chicago Film Festival's Silver Hugo, and the distinguished Kennedy Foundation Honors, among others.

Peter is the author of the book Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot (A Screenwriter's Guide), published by Quill Driver Press, and is a contributing writer to Quality TV: Contemporary American Television and Beyond, published by I.B. Taurus, London. He teaches screenwriting at the UCLA School of the Arts, Writers' Program, and has been a visiting lecturer at Santa Clara University, The University of Southern California, and The University of Central America in El Salvador.

A dual-citizen of the United States and Ireland, Dunne is a member of the Writers Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America, The Irish Writers Union, PEN Ireland, PEN USA, and PEN International. He is currently writing an unauthorized autobiography.

Workshop Added to 2010 Schedule

Workshop Leader: Karen Blomain
One-Week Residential Retreat, arriving Saturday, 12 June and departing Saturday, 19 June

"Come to magnificent Eyeries on the Beara Peninsula, West Cork, Ireland. In the tranquil setting of Anam Cara, A Retreat for Writers, a relaxed format workshop for writers at all levels of accomplishment, from the novice wishing to try her hand at writing, to the seasoned writer who needs to jump start his muse for a new project, to those wishing to challenge themselves in a different art form or genre. Non-writing spouses/partners welcome; they'll find the peaceful, Irish vistas the perfect getaway and may even find themselves drawn into their own creative outlets.

"Participants are encouraged to bring ideas and dreams rather than existing work. This is a generative workshop, and does not focus on revision or editing. Instead, through daily readings and writing exercises we will explore craft issues of character development, dialog, pacing, tone, sequencing, use of description and exploration of narrative strategies. The workshop sessions are tailored to address the needs of writers in all genres. When reservations are in place, suggested reading information will be supplied."

Karen Blomain is a multi-genre writer, having published in poetry, short fiction, novels, non-fiction, essay, translation and plays. An educator with thirty years of experience in the classroom, she has taught writing workshops for participants at all ages and levels of experience in France, Austria, Russia, Mexico, Ireland and across the US. To learn more about Karen's writing, publishing and workshops (including photos and comments by participants), see her website karenblomain.com.