the faraway nearby
oh, to sleep on an island
what’s your story? it’s all in the telling… . ..
rebecca solnitt
my love of Monhegan is no secret.
since 2005, the island has been an inspiring place for me to return—year after year.
Monhegan is my sanctuary and where I have learned
to know myself
to listen with curiosity
to find the courage
to write
to speak
to trust
and share my voice… . ..
For the fourth year, I invite you to join me for an intimate retreat on Monhegan and experience the possibilities for yourself. As always, our program is an embodied book group—to write our own stories shaped by the muse of another. This year, we will journey and journal through the words of Rebecca Solnit’s poetic memoir The Faraway Nearby, a beautiful and profound book of essayistic reflection on memory, family, grief, travel, and storytelling.1 As much as the book is a memoir, it is a book about place and the places that hold our stories, the ones that soothe and stir, and always the ways one story is the entrance to another. I can’t imagine a more beautiful book to become lost and found off the coast of Maine.
The Faraway Nearby:
stillness, story, sea
September 18-22, 2024
Monhegan, Maine
With Solnit’s storytelling as our guide, we will write through the island's topography and the geography of our senses to embody our storied experiences. There will be ample time to search for sea glass and hike the trails through Cathedral Woods to the rocky shores of Pebble Beach. Special guests will share their own creativity as another opening to our own. Through writing, ritual, and restorative yoga, we will meditate, celebrate, and honor the variations of our authentic voices, as can only happen when you find yourself on this artist's island 10 miles out to sea.
The Faraway Nearby is limited to eight participants ~ I hope you can join me this year because once you’ve slept on an island, you’ll never be the same.2
Register before March 15, and receive $100. off as my special thank you!
2023 retreat highlights • all the details
Monhegan taught me that all I need is me
Val G, Rochester, NY
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The Millions
If Once You Have Slept on an Island, Rachel Field