Dates
- September 8-13, 2026
- Applications Close: August 1, 2026
Apply Now SAMPLE Program Schedule
Cost*
- €1850 / $2050 for one person
Includes:
- 5 nights accommodation in a single ensuite at Notre Dame Kylemore - rooms and common spaces renovated to a high standard
- All meals by renowned chef Mikel Redondo with locally sourced ingredients - plentiful dishes with tea and coffee available throughout the day
- Tuition & Cultural Programing
*PLEASE NOTE: Cost does NOT include travel to Ireland
Workshop Supplies
Participants are asked to bring:
- journals
- writing tools
- comfortable clothing
The questions, as we contemplate writing a memoir, tend to go like this:
How do I start? How do I organize my material? How do I overcome the voices in my head? How do I shape the events of my life into a story? Was I walking with God in those dark places? How do I make time for writing when I have so many other responsibilities?
The format for this weeklong workshop will include talks, discussions, prompts, and plenty of quiet writing time. We’ll learn tips and techniques to structure our stories, envision our narrative arcs, and turn our life events into a chronological memoir.
We’ll focus on the craft of writing, and on enlarging our hearts, horizons, and souls. We’ll read from our works-in-progress, give and receive notes, and share our questions, challenges, and triumphs.
We’ll form a tightly-knit, supportive community that invites stretching, exploring, and growing. We’ll meet one-on-one during the week.
The only requirement for the Workshop is a desire to establish a more dedicated and structured way to write. The participants will bring a wide range of sensibilities and levels of expertise. Some of us may never have seriously written before, nor shown our work to another human being. Others may have been published.
Every human being has an authentic voice and a unique story. Let’s get together—human-to-human—and start telling them.
“We come into this world with sealed orders.” -- Søren Kierkegaard
AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR, COLUMNIST, AND SPEAKER HEATHER KING
Heather King is a writer with a dozen books, a former commentator for NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and an award-winning arts and culture columnist. She also speaks, edits, and gives workshops and retreats. King has written memoirs about alcoholism (PARCHED), food (FAMISHED), gardening (HARROWED), money and earning (LOADED), converting to Catholicism (REDEEMED), and St. Thérèse of Lisieux (SHIRT OF FLAME). She writes weekly on literature, painting, dance, and film for Angelus News, the archdiocesan newspaper of LA. And she is thrilled to share her experience, strength, and hope with other aspiring memoir-writers.
For more, visit heather-king.com.