The Novel as a Garden - A writing retreat with Celina Baljeet Basra
Details
An intense weekend to workshop your novel and build a toolbox for your future writing. Bring your draft and let it soar!
Over the weekend at Flämingo, we will cover different aspects of how to build a novel. We will work on the anatomy of your novel, discuss forms and techniques, and write together.
We will read Zadie Smith, Olga Ravn, Carmen Maria Machado, Italo Calvino, Sandra Cisneros, Olivia Laing, Jamaica Kincaid, George Perec, Ibtisam Azem, and others, and look beyond literature for inspiration too—most importantly towards the generative force of nature. The permaculture farm of Flämingo Farm will not just be a setting and safe space for our writing to flourish, but its garden will serve as a model to understand what it means to write a novel.
Open to any writer working on a novel, whichever stage. Non-native English speakers are very welcome.
##### Sessions
Session 1: Introduction: The Novel as a Garden
- Structure, timeline & protagonists: drawing up a map for our novel
Session 2: Seeds
- First page: discussing reading material
- How to build a character: writing exercise & exploring techniques
Session 3: Trails & Roots
- Plot, process & possible endings
Session 4: Harvest
- Editing & submitting your manuscript
- Feedback and questions
##### Schedule
SATURDAY
12:00 – Farm tour
13:00 – Lunch
14:00 – 16.00 – Session One
Introduction: The Novel as a Garden
Structure, timeline & protagonists: drawing up a map for our novel
16:30 – 18.30 – Session Two: Seeds
First page: discussing reading material
How to build a character: writing exercise & exploring techniques
19:00 – Dinner
SUNDAY
09:00 – Breakfast
10:00 – 12.00 – Session Three: Trails & Roots
Plot, process & possible endings
12.30 Lunch
13.30 – 14.30 Session Four: Harvest
Editing & submitting your manuscript
Feedback and questions
##### Price
220 euros, which includes 6 hours of workshops, overnight stay at our farm in a cosy, shared room of 3-5 people, and organic vegan/vegetarian meals.
200 euros, if you register and pay by September 15, or have attended a previous event at our farm.
Limited double private rooms are available for an additional cost.
Due to the nature of this event, cancellations are not possible, however you can transfer your spot to another person.
##### Register
Email flaemingo@posteo.net to sign up. Places are limited.
##### Location
Flämingo Farm, Fröhden
The farm is easily accessible by public transport.
Participants coming from Berlin can take a train Jüterbog and from that point take a bookable shuttle bus, or bike a 10km on a dedicated bike path to the farm.
##### About Celina
Celina Baljeet Basra is a writer, curator, and art historian, based in Berlin. She published her debut novel HAPPY with Astra House, New York, in 2023 (New York Times Editor’s Pick). Celina has graduated in Art History in a Global Context, and has since worked as the curator of the art space Galerie im Turm, at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, and with Berlin Biennale. She is a founder of the curatorial collective The Department of Love, who recently commissioned the text-based Love Letter series inviting Sheena Patel, Priya Jay and Quinn Latimer, amongst others. Celina has been awarded residencies with the Shanghai Biennale and Kochi Biennale, and she has received both curatorial and literary research stipends of the Berlin senate. She is part of several juries for public art funding, and appointed member of the Berlin Atelierbeirat. She is currently working on her second novel.
TESTIMONIALS:
Celina has an uncanny ability to create a welcoming space for each of us to feel heard. Her insightful feedback, and the warm community she creates, moved my work forward in important ways.
— Ruth Sergel
Celina’s course offers a brilliant opportunity to explore the essential elements of writing a novel and take a dive deep into your own writing. While analysing the mechanics of successful first novels, writers investigate their own work in progress and elements of their book’s structure, characters, plot and tone. Celina is a thoughtful teacher, her feedback is insightful and encouraging, and the workshopping portion helps build a precious community of peers that can stay with you as you develop on your writing journey.
— Angela Sangma Francis