A weekend workshop with Paul Perry
As unsuitable as this may sound to most, I’ve found living in Andalucia to be a cultural void. Yes, there are great Spanish festivals and processions, but after three and a half years I’ve had my fill (particularly in the area of creative writing). So, imagine my joy when I discovered that Paul Perry (recipient of the Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year Award for his short story The Judge) was gracing the Spanish shores for a weekend poetry workshop in a rather unusual finca setting in Tarifa.
Although there’s plenty I could say about the residential side, I’d rather concentrate on the amiable, approachable and certainly professional nature of Paul as a tutor – that was the reason for going, after all! As expected, Paul came armed with a variety of poems that would challenge and stretch, as well as exercises to inspire and encourage trying different routes. Then, of course, there were the readings, no nonsense one to one tutorials and general debates.
What was unexpected was the level of attention received. With a small group of four people, there was plenty of chance for in-depth feedback, and there was some truly wonderful work coming from another writer there, Deborah Garber who is writing about her immersion into the Gitano gypsy culture. I would suggest you look out for her as I believe something truly special is going to happen with the pieces she was writing.
The advantage of a residential, especially if you are lucky enough to have a tutor like Paul, is that you get to make full use of the resource and pick his brains at every possible moment. And the info and advice given certainly offered a rounded learning opportunity and I came away with a whole stockpile of poems in various stages of completion. With my impending move to Dublin, I’ll certainly be looking for more courses and events where Paul is involved, and would recommend his courses to anyone truly interested in writing.
Check out more info on Paul Perry.
