An exciting evening of live jazz music with champagne, cocktails and canapés at an historic luxury literary hotel in Paris and a magical time-travel experience in a most intriguing place are among memorable activities awaiting participants at our writing retreat in Paris next month.
We’ll also host diverse writing workshops and discuss literature in cafes frequented by famous authors, as well as enjoy a walking tour along the cobblestone streets of the City of Light.
The special jazz evening that will open our week-long retreat takes place inside Hotel Pont Royal in the charming eclectic district closely associated with artists of all kinds, Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Framed photographs of celebrated writers, from Albert Camus to Oscar Wilde, arranged around the hotel’s lobby indicate how this hotel has created strong literary links down through the generations.
Founded in 1923, this five-star hotel on the Left Bank is awash in history, the sense of a bygone era re-awakened in one’s imagination if one takes a few solitary minutes to absorb its lingering Old World ambience.
Between the two World Wars, the hotel’s bar was host to some of the city’s best cocktails with ‘The Great Gatsby’ author F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, introducing many acquaintances to this new concept in drinking. Well-known artists such as Joan Miró and Marc Chagall also frequented the hotel as did the 1920s ‘Americans in Paris’ literary group that included Ernest Hemingway and Henry Miller.
Participants to our retreat will delight in a selection of foods, champagne and the expert skills of friendly mixologist Frederic Maitre whose cocktail creations include the gin-based ‘Grant Green’ and Remy Martin style ‘The Duke,’ as well as the ‘Bartender’s Mind’ – ‘whatever the bartender feels is good for you.’
This special event will take place in an atmospheric room, known as ‘The Signature Bar,’ with a classic decor of dim lighting, leather armchairs and mahogany-clad walls. After a sip or two, perhaps participants might even experience the distinct feeling of invisible energies around them from legendary writers of the past urging them to put pen to paper. A form of ghost writing.
As for the innovative time-travel experience we’ve organised, that will take place at a different location in a setting that is best described as ‘captivating and thought-provoking.’ The exact location remains a secret until such time as participants meet together with us for an evening that promises an abundance of fantasy and imagination.