Thursday, June 10th - Monday, June 14th
Join us for our first international retreat in Inishbofin, Ireland!
For four days and nights we’ll be writing, drawing, and exercising all those creative muscles we rarely have the time and space to activate in our everyday lives.
Unlike other retreats, you don’t have to be a writer or an artist to join. You don’t need a portfolio or a writing sample. You don’t even need to have any experience writing or drawing. All you need is to want to spend a few days focused on your creative practice, and an interest in doing that work in a small community of 12-15 others.
Each day there will be a facilitated group workshop and a guided cultural activity. In between there will be private time to work and invest in your own artistic practice, as well as communal meals and space to explore one of Ireland’s most beautiful isles. Continue reading for a more detailed overview, and if you still have any questions, send us a message at info@littlenights.com
The Destination
When it came to planning our first international retreat, we knew it had to be in Inishbofin, the Island of the White Cow herself.
Off the west coast of Connemara, Inishbofin is a small, remote island with less than 200 year-round residents. The land holds thousands of years of Irish history and is known for its looping trails, coastal cliffs, and romantic ruins, not to mention its corncrakes and seal colony.
Inishbofin moves at a slower pace, and it’s that pace combined with the island’s natural splendor that makes it the perfect location for our retreat. Together, we’ll be stepping away from the responsibilities that fill our daily life, and slowing down to better explore our creative practice, our projects, and the land.
Everyone goes to Dublin (and they should!), but most travelers don’t see Inishbofin for more than an afternoon. Join us for four days and nights of writing, drawing, and discovery on one of Ireland’s most beautiful isles.
What’s Included?
Workshops
Each day there’ll be a facilitated group workshop featuring different narrative and visual art activities with Josh and Hannah. These activities include writing and drawing lessons, ways to practice your observation, and strategies to sustain that practice after the retreat is over.
We’ll also be joined by Brenna Casey, who has spent over ten years designing travel programs in Ireland and has been leading expeditions in Inishbofin since 2013.
Cultural Activities
Each day we’ll have a new cultural activity planned as a way for you to further explore and experience the island.
Activities may include guided hikes along the cliffs, saunas and cold-plunges, conversations with local writers and interpretive historians, birding, yoga, and, of course, pints at the pub.
Solo Time
In addition to our activities together, there is also intentionally unstructured time each day for you to write, draw, read, journal, meditate, or explore the island however you wish.
Housing
All participants will stay in a neighboring hotel and hostel on the island, both of which we’ll use for communal meals and workshop activities.
There are both private and shared rooms available. Please see below for a more detailed breakdown on housing options
Meals
We’ll provide three meals a day, including breakfast staples, a sandwich and salad bar for lunch, and dinners out at the island’s restaurants, all of which include vegan and vegetarian options.
If you have any dietary considerations or food allergies, please let us know. You’re also welcome to bring any additional snacks you might want for the trip!
Community
After four days of making, sharing, and discussing your creative process, our hope is you’ll have grown your community and made connections that’ll continue to support your practice long after the retreat is over.
In addition to meeting the folks on your retreat, you’ll also become a part of our larger alumni community and invited to join all our alumni events, retreats, and gatherings.
What You’ll Need
INSURANCE
We strongly recommend purchasing travel insurance for your retreat to safeguard against any unexpected disruptions, including personal emergencies, health issues, or weather-related delays or cancellations.
While we don’t endorse specific policies, we suggest exploring coverage options through InsureMyTrip.
If you choose not to purchase travel insurance, you will be fully responsible for any costs associated with cancellation or interruption of your retreat.
TRAVEL
We’ll pick up participants from the Shannon Airport at noon on Thursday, June 10th.
For those coming directly from NYC, we recommend the Wednesday, June 9th Delta flight that departs JFK at 11:55pm and arrives in Shannon on at 11:10am on Thursday, June 10th.
On Monday, June 14th, we’ll have you back at Shannon airport by 12pm.
For those returning directly to NYC, we recommend the Monday, June 14th flight (via various airlines) that departs Shannon at 2:30pm and arrives at JFK at 5pm the same day.
TOILETRIES
Each room includes a full set of bedding. Please bring any other toiletries or personal travel needs.
We’ll provide a more detailed packing list to participants once they are selected.
Housing Options
Single and double rooms are available.
Single rooms have one full bed and are meant for either one person or two people sharing a bed.
Those interested in double or triple rooms can apply with a friend or be paired with another applicant.
All rooms share the facility’s bathrooms and showers.
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4 days and nights in a private bedroom
10 hours of interdisciplinary group workshops
4 guided cultural activities
3 meals a day, including our opening welcome dinner
All necessary supplies, including notebooks and all writing and drawing implements
Transportation to and from the Shannon Airport
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4 days and nights in a bedroom shared with one other
10 hours of interdisciplinary group workshops
4 guided cultural activities
3 meals a day, including our opening welcome dinner
All necessary supplies, including notebooks and all writing and drawing implements
Transportation to and from the Shannon Airport
Application
We ask everyone to submit a quick and simple application, not to judge the merit of your work but to better understand your experience, intentions, and current relationship to your own writing and art-making practice.
All of this will inform our ability to build a dynamic and cohesive group and make the best possible retreat for everyone.
November 1st: Applications open
December 15th: Applications close
January 5th: Selection announced
There are limited spots but if we are not able to include you this time please apply again!
Your Trip Leaders
Josh Krigman is a writer, teacher, and facilitator in New York City.
He has taught creative writing at Hunter College, the United Nations International School, 826NYC, Center for Fiction, and for National Geographic Expeditions. Currently, he is a private writing coach and instructor for writers of all ages and levels of experience. Through Little Nights, he’s led hundreds of creative writing events for thousands of participants across New York and New Jersey.
As a writer, Josh has been awarded residencies from Vermont Studio Center, and received his MFA in fiction from Hunter College. His plays have been developed and staged by The Abingdon Theatre and Psychopomp Productions, and his short fiction has appeared in Barrelhouse, The Summerset Review, Akashic Books, Necessary Fiction, and elsewhere.
Prior to Little Nights, he co-founded Club Motte, an international storytelling series that held events in London, New York, and San Francisco, and continues to run in Berlin.
Hannah Perrine Mode is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and educator based in Alaska and New England. She makes art from the meeting place of geologic and human time — working across mediums to create tangible proxies for deep time and environmental systems.
Her recent projects include cyanotype textile collages, melting ice core sculptures, ceramic knot constellations, and risograph-printed books. These objects and installations are forms of record-keeping and translation that convey resilience, urgency, and vulnerability in a rapidly changing climate.
Currently pursuing an Interdisciplinary PhD with the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, she studies arts-based research as a method for collaborative, reciprocal knowledge-making in Arctic science. She is a founding member of the art–science research collective Glacial Hauntologies.
Brenna M. Casey is a writer and educator based in Western Massachusetts.
She is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she specializes in the transnational transits of nineteenth and early twentieth century American literature and visual culture. She has previously taught literature and Creative Writing at Duke University, Wake Forest University, and Kenyon College. She holds an M.F.A. from the University of Notre Dame and Ph.D. in English with a certificate in Feminist Studies from Duke University.
Brenna's scholarly writing has appeared in ESQ: A Journal of Nineteenth Century American Studies, Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies, and African American Review. Her public-facing work has been featured in Los Angeles Review of Books, Public Books, and The New York Times, among others.
For over a decade, Brenna has designed and led Creative Writing workshops in Ireland and is pleased to join Little Nights for our first international foray.
Refund Policy
All payments made to Little Nights are non-refundable and non-transferable.
If you choose not to purchase travel insurance, you will be fully responsible for any costs associated with cancellation or interruption of your retreat.