Jessie Lendennie runs regular weekend creative writing workshops -- Group & Individual Sessions -- at the Salmon Publishing premises, half a mile north of the Cliffs of Moher, in County Clare, on Ireland's west coast. The Writing Weekends cover all aspects of creative writing, with participants exploring different disciplines as well as concentrating on their own. There is no need to send in samples of work, but you must be prepared to engage in writing exercises and group discussion. These weekends are very successful for stimulating creative thought and ideas in a supportive, informal environment. It is not necessary to be an experienced writer to take part; the workshops are particularly good for beginning writers.

The workshops run from 10.30am to 4.30pm Saturday and 10.30am to 4pm Sunday, usually once a month throughout the year. They are held at the Salmon premises half a mile north of the Cliffs of Moher, Co.Clare. Accommodation is in a local B&B. We will supply the phone numbers of several B&Bs and you can make the arrangements yourself. If you are coming from abroad, we will make the arrangements for you. Doolin renowned for traditional music, is three miles away and most of the participants stay there. The workshop fee is 150 Euro including lunches (and all the tea or coffee you need!). B&B around 25-40 Euro. For conversion from Euro to other currencies click here

Individual tuition is also available. These are intense, one or two day sessions. Focusing solely on the writer's work. This suits people who want to fine tune their work and learn about presenting it for publication. The fee is the same as a weekend session.

For prices & other information about the creative writing workshops, please email jessie@salmonpoetry.com or telephone Ireland (+) 353 65 7081941

"While many people think that creative writing is something that journalists get up to every day, we're actually a breed that is rather fond of facts. Nicely verifiable and capable of covering huge amounts of column inches, your fact is an entirely different man to your fiction, and the difference between turning out a trim 1,000 words for Tuesday week and turning out a trim 14-line sonnet is actually rather great.

So I was fairly alarmed when Jessie Lendennie, the facilitator of Salmon Publilshing's creative writing weekends in Clare, placed an intricate candle-holder in the middle of the table, and suggested that we would-be James Joyces on a weekend course should write anything that came into our heads inspired by the object....

....There is a limited amount one can do in a weekend, and there is also some truth to the argument that there is a a limited amount once can teach about something as ephemeral as creative writing. However, there are certain concepts such as finding a true voice, be it narrative or poetic, learning the discipline to write each day, and learning to evaluate your own writing, that can be explored well on a
writing course.

Over the weekend, spent sitting around Jessie's table overlooking the Cliffs of Moher, it was surprising how much everybody, including myself, developed. No more unholy terror at the thought of actually committing nouns and verbs to paper. By Sunday evening we were knocking off pieces of prose about our own likenesses to bottles and the like, as though we were writing shopping lists.

On the bus back to Dublin I realised that everyone had suddenly started to look like
characters in a putative novel - I didn't know a single fact about them, but then I know how to get creative now.

Other comments from various weekends:

"It was magic - again: Thank you so much... Your generous and felicitous sharing of thoughts in charming words reminds me of what Cardinal Timothy Manning said: 'The full measure of a man is to be found, not in his good words or his great achievements, but rather in the new colours and textures that come alive in other people because of him'. "
Bernie Kenny

"'Writing, threading words across the pages - weaving great imaginings!' Thank you Jessie for your guidance and gentle encouragement"
Catherine Kelly

"Just to say thank you for a most fulfilling workshop. I never worked so hard and never felt so steeped in words. You gave very generously of yourself and I must say I never got so much from a workshop"
Geraldine Mills

Thank You so much for your workshop. It was the most interesting and stimulating workshop I ever attended. I very much appreciate the tremendous hard work you put into the two days. As for me, I seem to have merged into the landscape for that time!"
Criona Garvey