Writing Retreats

WRITING IN TUSCANY with Ellen Sussman
APRIL 26 – MAY 3, 2025
at the extraordinary Ca di Pesa Villa in Tuscany!

Spend a week with New York Times bestselling author Ellen Sussman and seven fellow writers in a magnificent and luxurious villa in Tuscany.

To "explore" the villa, go to: 

https://cadipesa.com/

Every day the group will meet with Ellen for a three hour workshop. The classes will be a combination of critique workshop and generative exercises, focusing on aspects of the craft that will take your writing to the next level. Each student will also meet with Ellen for a one hour private session. We’ll end the week with a celebration and student readings.

When you’re not in class, you’ll have the opportunity to write, relax and explore the region. There's a gorgeous pool at the villa and hiking trails nearby. We will offer an optional day visit to nearby villages. Delightful Italian meals are included. All rooms are singles!

Cost: $5,800 - $6,800, depending on your room choice. The more expensive rooms are suites. The two less expensive rooms are singles but you'll share a bath.

To register: email ellen@ellensussman.com and say YES! She'll give you the info for sending your deposit.

Testimonials:

"This workshop, my first, has been transformative and changed my attitude about writing. Ellen has supplied important techniques, lessons and feedback and has done so with intelligence and humor. Also, the interaction among the other writers has been incredibly helpful. The comradery has been extraordinary, being exposed to others, different ideas and methods and SUPPORT."

"Ellen: You were 100 percent available, 100 percent energized to give responses to our writing questions, 100 percent insightful, based on your own experience as a writer, teacher, student of life. You were also so fully engaged with our writing samples, having read them so well, with amazing suggestions and also encouragement. The one on one was the best writing session I've had with anyone in my career. Thank you for the close reading and for your willingness to see me turn this start of a novel into something that I would care for until the end. And to help with plot points (my weakness). "

"This villa is a writer's paradise. It is sublime. It is perfect. It is inspiring. It is so rare to find a place with so much room for all of us to spread out and to be writers and then to come together as a group. It is so beautiful here, a very rare jewel, and I'm so grateful to have given this gift to myself for 2024."

"Walking into Ca di Pesa is like a dream. And I would never have guessed how much I could learn in one week. The morning class flies by. I love the critiques and especially the exercises."

Sonoma County Writers Camp

2025 dates to be announced.