Category Archive

Arvon recently hosted the lovely Chroma Journal. Our pre-Domesday thatched manor house, Totleigh Barton, was completely enchanted and entranced by magical minds, words and thinking. Thank you to Chroma - who are running their exciting new competition this year. Get your poetry and short stories in by 1 September 2008 - there are Transfabulous and Flash Velvet Fiction Prizes to boot!

Pauline Smith has been relief centre-directing at our pre-Domesday house, Totleigh Barton. She was eager to promote a friend of hers - Joanna Guthrie - who has recently had published a new collection of poetry. More than happy to do so, we present below Pauline, Joanna and Billack’s Bones.

I had some great news today. My very good friend, Joanna Guthrie, e-mailed me to say her first collection of poetry has been published by The Rialto. Jo and I met as postgrad students at Exeter University. We both graduated on the same day with an MA in English Studies (Creative Writing) but were sad that our paths would no longer cross on a regular basis. As writers, we had become used to sharing our work (her poems, my short stories) and giving loving but honest criticism to each other. Fortunately, this didn’t stop when Jo moved up to Norwich and we continued to give each other encouragement via e-mail. To hear that Billack’s Bones had finally been published was brilliant - even more so when Jo generously told me I had been part of that process. Jo has close connections to Arvon and has attended a couple of poetry courses - the latest just last year with Catherine Smith and Neil Rollinson here at Totleigh. Catherine offers a fine review of Billack’s Bones along with another to be proud of from George Szirtzes. Have a read yourself! Jo’s voice stood way out as early as our first MA poetry seminar with Andy Brown, now a lifetime ago in 2004. I know it won’t go away now. You can purchase Billack’s Bones through Inpress Books.

This very excellent photo of a book held against sunlight was taken by Netherlands photographer Marc van Agteren. See more of his photos at www.shotsbyme.com. The photo sums up summer reading, so we asked Arvon staff what books they were reading this summer. Here’s what some of them said:

Cynthia Rogerson (Moniack Mhor) is reading Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

Ariane Koek (Arvon London) is reading Young Hearts Crying by Richard Yates 

Emma Johnson (Arvon London) is reading Alis by Naomi Rich

Rachel Humphries (Moniack Mhor) is reading Under the Skin by Michel Faber

Kerry Watson (the Hurst) is reading London Orbital by Iain Sinclair 

Philip Cowell (Arvon London) is reading Land’s End by Michael Cunningham 

Pauline Smith (Totleigh Barton) is reading The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst

Julia Wheadon (Totleigh Barton) is reading Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna

Stephen May (Lumb Bank) is reading Marilyn and Me by Shanta Everington

Nick Murza (Arvon London) is reading Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome

Is it possible to be a vegetarian and a food writer? I felt I should raise the question before signing up for the course. I live in the real world and I know that there are people ‘big in food’ who would think I was wasting my time. How can you write about food when you refuse to eat so many things?

But I was never interested in food at all until I turned vegetarian. It was then that I started to cook, to explore fresh new tastes, and to realise that vegetarianism is not just an ethical standpoint. True, there are some who seem to adopt a restricted diet as some kind of  masochistic gesture. But I’m a foodie, and proud of it. And whilst I know a vegetarian diet can be chosen for health reasons, in my book, if it tastes better with lashings of cream, then let’s lash.

I did need to defend myself a bit on our first inebriated evening in the communal barn at Totleigh. But once everyone had realised that I wasn’t there to pass judgement on them, we all relaxed into a week dedicated to writing and cooking. Surely Totleigh’s ancient kitchen had never seen anything like this. Eschewing the standard veggie lasagne recipes and jars of pasta sauce we were offered, twelve enthusiastic female cooks took over the kitchen, chopping, marinating, roasting and toasting. Never a harsh word, and I’m proud to say I did it all in heels. Fellow participant Jenny did a lot of it in original fifties cocktail dresses, a wooden spoon in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. Fabulous.

Alastair and Sophie were immediately friendly and genuinely interested in each of their students. We all brought very different experiences to the table: a top-level nutritionist, a textile artist in love with Borough Market, a local delicatessen owner, an advertising copy writer, a Cordon Bleu trained chef… all of us with our own ideas and enthusiasms. Listening to other people’s writing was fascinating and I was very surprised when my rather downbeat account of a visit to a local market was received with laughter and applause.

I went to Totleigh looking for a peaceful space where I could think about nothing but writing for a precious week. It was far from peaceful – it was raucous. It was great fun. I put on pounds. I also wrote, and came away with new dreams and aspirations. Special thanks to John, Huib, and to Sophie’s little dog, Bobby, who settled himself on my lap during supper on that first evening and made me feel safe and at home. 

Thanks to Jane for writing this (so well). If you’ve been inspired by Jane’s writing, join us on an Arvon food writing course in the future. Sign up for a brochure on our website at www.arvonfoundation.org

Ever noticed how nature’s colour coordinated? Neither had we…until now that is.

In early spring flowers tended to be yellow which showed an amazing fit with the colour scheme around Easter. Coincidence? I think not… And then suddenly, as if the wizard of Oz has decreed a colour change, purple is all the fashion. We can’t wait to see what colour will be the next flavour of the month.

But it’s not all flowers we are keeping a close watch on, this is the time of year our own produce demands attention so we are looking for the best spot for our tomato and chilli plants, we are tidying our herb patch and we are even trying to grow some artichokes which will hopefully bear fruit next year. We are especially keen on our edibles this year because we are expecting a group of foodies this summer on our food writing course (2 – 7 July) who will be making the most of our vegetables to try and impress Sophie Grigson and Alistair Hendy. For a week Totleigh will be turned into a foodies paradise with a strong emphasis on fresh, organic and local food. We have already put in the application for a Michelin star.

Huib Boekelman
Centre Director, Totleigh Barton

Hugo Williams, poet, travel writer and Freelance column writer in the TLS, wrote about the Arvon writing course he led with Greta Stoddart last week at Totleigh Barton in Devon. One of the course students was Jerry Hall, who wrote a piece in the Independent just before coming on the course.

Read Hugo Williams’s Freelance column in the TLS

Read Jerry Hall’s article in the Independent

Totleigh Barton prepares for a long hot summer.

After the last three weeks of August weather we are strangely relieved to find ourselves in the traditional April showers this week. It is not that we don’t appreciate the slice of mid summer we’ve been given. It’s just that we want to make sure this part of the world is at it’s greenest this year as we will be piloting the food writing course with Sophie Grigson and Alastair Hendy this summer and some rain now will make sure we have the best and finest Devon produce come 2 July. So bring on the rain, but not too much please…

Last week we had a group of mad writers who had come to do the screenwriting course tutored by Paul Fraser and Lucy Scher. The Friday night was used to show some short films as they were shot that afternoon. It was amazing to see how they had managed to capture Totleigh Barton, putting the spotlight on the remoteness in a hilarious short about a woman trying to find a mobile phone signal which, and this should surprise nobody who’s ever been here, she hopelessly failed to find. Truly a great week with a fantastic party afterwards, can’t wait for the next one.

And we have just welcomed the next group who have come to do the fiction course with Jane Harris and Richard Beard. We’ve just served our Monday night dinner and The Arvon magic has already turned all the individuals into a group that is excited about their stay at Totleigh Barton, eager to talk to Richard and Jane (and us) and looking forward to the rest of the week. They seem terrified about the cooking though but I’m sure we will still end up with a good meal every night this week. I’m sure. Well, fingers crossed anyway…

In short, it is good to be at Totleigh. Very good.

Huib Boekelman, Centre Director
Totleigh Barton, Devon

This week saw the start of the new season at Totleigh Barton. Spring is a violent time of the year here in the South West, nature being reborn with all the force and clumsiness of the lambs slamming their snouts in their mothers bellies to extract the gallons of milk they need to grow into the healthy, juicy Devonshire specimens of which even New Zealanders should be jealous. The weather is erratic, sleet interspersed with patches of sunshine all doused in heavy downpours that flood the roads next to the river Torridge, a hose pipe ban seems highly unlikely this year! After a long winter the first novelists and poets have started battling their way down here. The programme for this year has been out for a couple of weeks and aspiring writers are banging the door down in search of that perfect course, some booking up in a matter of days.

All in all it is a very exciting time. This week we have a partnership week with writers from the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. A very diverse group, from all regions of the world with very different and sometimes troubled backgrounds, tied together by their shared experiences and desire to write. Neil Rollinson and Catherine Fox are doing a fantastic job in stimulating their imaginations and handling with delicacy the possibilities of what they feel their writing is capable - with astonishing results.

Huib Boekelman, Esther O’Toole and Julia Wheadon
at Totleigh Barton, Arvon’s writing house in Devon

Once upon a time, way back in September 2005, we ran a Writers Retreat at Totleigh Barton.  The participants got so much from the experience and also made such good friends that they asked whether they could hire Totleigh Barton for a week to get together again and carry on writing.    So they came back the next January, then again in June and recently in January this year.  The group is ever-changing: when some writers can’t make the dates, other writers – people met on other Arvon courses and contacts made through writing networks – are invited to make up a full house. 

The DIY Group has gone from strength to strength and Totleigh Barton is a place where they all love to meet up and work, play and cook up fantastic food in the Totleigh kitchen!  This is so much what Arvon is about: likeminded people getting together and having an audience for their work and benefiting from peer feedback during the week. 

Time to write, talk, read and walk. 

DIY folk are an eclectic bunch and their writing encompasses Poetry, Prose, Writing for Children, Theatre, Radio and Screen.  One of the members of the group, Anne Greer, was pleased to announce that a short story she had written had been accepted and was to be broadcast on Woman’s Hour the very week that DIY were with us, and so we were all privileged to tune in to Radio 4 with our friend, the author!  Can’t get much better than that!

With best wishes from Arvon’s pre-Domesday thatched cottage in Devon, Totleigh Barton
Huib and Esther (Centre Directors) and Julia (senior administrator)

We’re looking for Arvon Friends to share their experiences of the Arvon courses they have been on. Have you ever been on an Arvon writing course? Which writing house did you visit? How was your journey there and back? How did you feel on the Monday night as you met your fellow writers for the week? What was unexpected? Did you experience any writing epiphanies? What did you cook and did people like your meal? Who were your tutors and your mid-week guest reader? What kind of weather did you have, what colour were the skies? What inspired you most when you were there (and what didn’t?) With Arvon’s fortieth birthday coming up next year (our first course, with Ted Hughes as guest reader, was in 196 we’re going to collect as many stories about Arvon experiences as possible. Add your experience by clicking on Comments…