Next Chapter: Creative Writing Retreat
in Southern France for women 40+
REDISCOVER YOUR VOICE. RECLAIM YOUR TIME. WRITE YOUR NEXT CHAPTER.
Next Chapter is a week-long creative writing retreat designed for women forty+ who want to reignite imagination, replenish energy, and reawaken creative confidence. Whether you already have a daily writing practice, are working on a fiction or creative memoir project, or are simply longing to make space for creativity and your voice, this retreat offers an encouraging and nourishing environment in which to explore, play, and write.
Through a series of generative exercises and creative provocations, you’ll work with memory, imagination, and the senses — using smell, touch, movement, and place as catalysts for writing. You’ll write from autobiography and beyond, developing vivid descriptive language that connects body, story, and environment. Together, we’ll explore how nature, atmosphere, and lived experience can shape creative process and deepen your writing practice.
Alongside daily workshops, you’ll receive personalized mentorship and one-to-one feedback from Dr. Helen Paris, author of Lost Property and Invisible Women’s Club. Helen is an internationally recognized artist and writer with over thirty years of experience facilitating creative development. Helen’s approach is attentive, rigorous, and deeply supportive — designed to help you take creative risks, refine your craft, and discover new layers of your voice.
The Next Chapter is about nourishing both the writer and the creative body. The group is intentionally small, fostering a true writing community of women while allowing for individualized attention and tailored feedback.
By the end of the retreat, you will leave with:
A diverse body of new writing and creative material to build from
A renewed sense of creative vitality and authorial confidence
Tools and techniques to strengthen craft — from point of view to dialogue, from sensory writing to structure
A deeper awareness of your creative process and future goals
A clearer understanding of your voice — and the courage to use it
All levels of experience are warmly welcome. You will be met exactly where you are in your writing journey.
The ethos of the Next Chapter is simple: this is your time. A time to pause, to listen inward, to write with abandon, to take creative risks in a caring and nurturing space — and to discover what your next chapter truly holds.
Program Fee: Includes 6 nights accomodation, all meals & Next Chapter workshops
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EARLY BIRD (UNTIL 31 DECEMBER 2025)
Individual Room, all meals & workshops:
$3800 / €3300 / £2900
Shared Room, all meals & workshops:
$3350 / €2950 / £2650
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REGULAR FROM 1 JANUARY 2026
Individual Room, all meals & workshops:
$4285 / €3750 / £3300
Shared Room, all meals & workshops:
$3785 / €3350 / £2950
What’s included?
Registration is currently open.
Enrollment is confirmed on a ROLLING basis and places are limited - early registration is encouraged.
Location
Next Chapter takes place at a peaceful 20-acre woodland retreat in the southwest of France, nestled just outside the medieval village of Saint Antonin-Noble-Val. Surrounded by oak forests, birdsong, and butterflies, it’s a sanctuary designed for slowing down and focusing on your creative voice while being deeply nourished.
What’s Included
6 nights Accommodation in private or shared room
All meals: Vegetarian cuisine lovingly prepared with organic, seasonal ingredients. Food during your retreat is part of the creative nourishment.
Breakfast: A generous buffet—think bouillie d'avoine (oat porridge), fresh baked bread, local cheese, homemade jams, fruit, and eggs.
Lunch & Dinner: A colourful spread of hot and cold dishes served buffet-style and family style on alternating days. Local wine is offered with dinner.
All-day snacks: Teas, coffee, fruit, and biscuits are always available.
Local wine is available and offered through our “honor bar” & you can also pick up anything you desire in the local village and at the tantalizing farmer’s market.
Structured feedback sessions on your writing
1-1 mentoring with Helen Paris
Cozy writing library with tea and music
Outdoor Pool (weather permitting)
Sauna
All writing and creative wokshops; held in a beautifully restored barn with high ceilings and exposed beams or outdoors in our surrounding fields and nature.
You have access to 20 acres of woodland, and all common areas including an indoor studio space and open-air yoga studio surrounded by trees.
All guided yoga sessions
Development of your Next Chapter (individual and group)
Several hikes and the village of Saint Antonin-Noble-Val are reachable by foot. Bicycles are also available to borrow.
General Schedule
Wednesday April 22
4pm-6pm, Arrival and check-in
7pm, Welcome Dinner
Thursday April 23 - Monday April 27
7- 8.30am, Yoga leading into Morning Pages Writing and Creative Exercises.
8.30am, Breakfast
10am – 1pm, Creative Writing Workshop
1pm-2pm, Lunch (buffet style)
2.30pm-4.30pm, Creative exercises using senses, site and objects as catalysts for writing. Both indoors and out (weather permitting).
4.30 pm-6.30 pm, Individual time to write, rest, revitalize, walk, swim, meditate, sauna etc.
During this slot participants can also sign up for individual mentoring sessions with Helen
6.30pm, Guided breathwork, meditation, reflection
7pm, Dinner
8.30pm–9pm, Evening pages
Sunday April 26
Transport to and from the Village Market in St Antonin-Noble-Val.
Tuesday April 28
Departure after breakfast (group transport to Cassaude train station and Toulouse Airport)
Getting to the Retreat
The nearest airport is Toulouse airport
The nearest train station is Caussade Train Station
We arrange a time for group pick ups and drop offs to/from the airport or train station on the day of arrival and departure.
Helen Paris is a novelist, performance maker, and internationally experienced creative facilitator whose work centers on women’s voices, relationships, and the art of self-discovery.
Her acclaimed novels Lost Property (Penguin, 2021) and The Invisible Women’s Club (Penguin, 2023) explore themes of visibility, belonging, and reinvention in women’s lives, celebrating courage, humour, and the power of connection at every age. With over thirty years of teaching and mentoring experience—including posts at Stanford University, Oxford, and Université Grenoble Alpes—Helen brings deep expertise in nurturing creativity through attentive guidance and imaginative process. As Artistic Director of Curious performance company since 1997, she has presented work worldwide, with an archive housed in The British Library.
Helen’s workshops invite participants to take creative risks in a supportive, inspiring environment—helping each writer discover her voice and write the next chapter of her story.
Meet Dr. Helen Paris
What participants say about Helen’s Retreats & Mentoring
“An incredibly enriching week. So much information was shared, there was a lot of generosity around and a great group feeling cultivated. I felt like I went through a real journey. I’m also really pleased we did yoga every day.”
“Helen’s Incredibly supportive approach pushed participants to create our best work and take some creative risks without being overwhelming. The workshops are incredibly organized with a range of stimulating exercises, important feedback, and a good balance between solo and group mentoring. In addition to helping me develop my writing, the week felt deep, beautiful and rewarding.”
“Not only I could dig into my own creativity and stimulate the dialogue between my bodily experience and my thoughts but it also gave me the chance to explore new tools that I can further use to enhance my writing and overall creative process.”