Amy Liptrot grew up on a sheep farm in Orkney, Scotland who has written two bestselling memoirs: The Outrun (Canongate Books, 2016) and The Instant (Canongate Books, 2022). The Outrun won the Wainwright Prize for nature writing and the PEN Ackerely Prize for memoir, has been translated into 14 languages and adapted into a film starring Saoirse Ronan. She lives in Yorkshire and is working on a book about seaweed.
Memoir Writing and Wild Swimming: Diving into the deep
Mon 9 June 2025 - Fri 13 June 2025
Tutors
/ Amy Liptrot & Noreen Masud
Guest Reader
/ M. John Harrison (Digital)
Course Fee
/
From
£650 - £750 per person
Genres
/ Non-FictionSwimming
Language
/ English
Join us for a unique course combining memoir and wild swimming where you’ll be invited to dive deep into your writing and some of the stunning open waters of Llŷn and Eifionydd. Under the careful and supportive tutelage of award-winning memoirists, Amy Liptrot and Noreen Masud you’ll have the opportunity to attend group workshops and one-to-one feedback sessions delving into the intricacies of the genre. Mid-week, you’ll also attend a special digital Q&A session with award-winning author and memoirist, M. J Harrison. Learn to transform life into narrative, convincingly convey a sense of place and atmosphere, address key ethical considerations within the genre, and write through difficult memories. You’ll also be invited to experience the inspiring, healing and rejuvenating waters found on Tŷ Newydd’s doorstep during two optional group swimming outings scheduled during the week.
You’ll leave the course feeling restored and motivated, and with a deeper understanding of memoir writing and a renewed appreciation of your natural and blue surroundings.
This retreat will focus on memoir writing, however those writing fiction, poetry and other genres – and who are looking to incorporate true stories or the natural world into their work – are all very welcome.
Please note: A qualified open water swimming guide will be present during the swimming sessions to ensure the safety of the group. If you would like to discuss this element of the programme ahead of booking, please contact a member of the Tŷ Newydd team on tynewydd@literaturewales.org. See below for FAQ’s.
FAQs
Do I need previous swimming experience to attend the group swimming sessions?
The swimming element of the course is optional, and everyone will be free to take it at their own pace. We do however ask that participants are confident swimmers who have some previous experience of swimming in open waters. This is to ensure that participants are able to take part in a comfortable and safe manner.
What health and safety regulations will be in place during the swimming sessions?
A qualified swimming instructor will be present during both swimming sessions to ensure the safety of the group.
How much swimming is involved in the course?
There will be two organised group swimming sessions during the course. These will take place alongside group workshops and weather allowing, readings and workshops in the great outdoors.
Tutors
Amy Liptrot
Noreen Masud
Noreen Masud is a Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Bristol, and an AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker. Her memoir-travelogue, A Flat Place (Hamish Hamilton [Penguin] and Melville House Press, 2023), was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Trust Young Writer of the Year Award, the Jhalak Prize, and the RSL Ondaatje Prize.
Guest Reader
M. John Harrison (Digital)
M. John Harrison was born in Warwickshire in 1945 and has written fiction since 1966. He has also written about fiction in the TLS, The Guardian, The Telegraph, New York Times & elsewhere for the last thirty-five years, and was a judge for the 2022 Booker Prize. His previous books include Climbers (W&N, 1989), a semi-autobiographical novel which won the 1989 Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Writing; Nova Swing (Random House Worlds, 2006), awarded the Arthur C Clarke for best sci fi novel of 2007; and The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again (Orion Publishing Co, 2020), winner of the Goldsmiths Prize for innovative fiction in 2020. His other books include a co-authored series of fantasies about talking cats; five collections of short stories, including You Should Come With Me Now (Comma Press, 2017) longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2018; and an "anti-memoir", Wish I Was Here, (Profile Books Ltd, 2023). He lives in Shropshire and is working on his thirteenth novel under his own name.