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With great sadness we note the death of our beloved friend and neighbour Brian Turner ONZM, former Poet Laureate, generous encourager of other writers and tireless advocate for the environment. RIP Brian, 4/3/1944 - 5/2/2025

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UNDER ROUGH RIDGE WRITERS’ RETREAT  

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Ōtūrēhua in Central Otago has become a magnet for writers. Here in the Māniatoto, where the sky is big enough to contain all dreams, writers have come from all over the country to attend our retreats, to linger and soak in the magic of this place, in the hope of weaving words into something wonderful.

 

In 2019, with half a dozen writers already living here, author Mike Riddell came up with the idea of running a writers’ retreat. He suggested that our resident writers, among them poets, novelists, a screenwriter and an editor, as well as well-known former Poet Laureate Brian Turner, could teach workshops.  There would also be guest speakers and panel discussions, but mostly the retreat would be an opportunity for other writers to take time out from their normal lives, and write.  

 

That first retreat, held over a weekend, drew 50 people from all over the country.  It was highly successful and the consensus at the end of it was that the retreat should cater for fewer people for a longer time.  So each year from 2020 onwards we’ve invited writers to come for a full week and experience the ‘world of difference’ that is Central Otago. Although we hold the retreat in early spring, we've had at least a flurry of snow most years, providing enough chill for those from more temperate parts of the country to get a sense of what it’s like to live in a place of extreme temperatures. 

 

Our main focus during the retreat is on providing you with time and space to work on a long-form project with the help of wonderful surroundings and a team of published authors who all live in the Ida Valley. We have some communal meals, plenty of opportunity for discussion, great visiting speakers, and a marvellous final party to round things off. 

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Participants come from all over the country, and sometimes overseas. Typically they're writing across all genres, and with all levels of experience - some have many books under their belts, and some are complete beginners. Some people have  been coming year after year, so it pays to register early to secure a place and arrange accommodation for yourself to avoid missing out. 

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2025 Retreat

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The 2025 retreat is done and dusted, and by all accounts was another great success. Once again we took over the Community Hall and, thanks to Pete and Joyce Majendie, transformed it into a space with a cafe vibe, for people to write, socialise, generally hang out, as well as becoming an excellent venue for our evening events. We had two speakers, a book launch (Ann Jacobson's second poetry collection, Silent Twisted Light) and an open mic session, as well as our usual grand finale when anyone can perform a skit, musical or otherwise. No snow this year, for the first time.

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Speakers

 

Over the years we have had a variety of guest speakers, all excellent writers. They have included Kate de Goldi,  Philip Temple, Diane Brown, Neville Peat, and Fiona Farrell, Emma Neale, and last year we also had special guest, Scottish poet and essayist Kathleen Jamie. This year's speakers were Peta Carey, whose new book The Hollows Boys has just been published by Potton and Burton, and who spoke about writing creative non-fiction. Our second speaker was the newly appointed NZ Poet Laureate, Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi, Kāi Tahu), talking about becoming aware of unconscious colonialism in our writing, and whose story it is to tell.​

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