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with
best-selling author
JOANNE FEDLER
and Anna Kwiecinska
26 June - 2 July 2025
7 days / 6 nights
Your choice of Accommodation with own room is included + most meals + taxi transfer
Day 1 - 26 June - program starts 4pm
Day 7 - 2 July - no program
AIRPORT : Denpasar Bali
INVESTMENT : from AUD$ 4549
Joanne Fedler's Creative Writing Retreat BALI 2025
If you love the idea of an entire indulgent week of exploring your writing with a dedicated mentor, delicious healthy cuisine, safe sea swimming and restorative Balinese massages in a tropical island paradise, then this special week might be just for you.
Joanne is an award-winning author who passionately encourages people to write and to live more fully.
She says " If you are 'waiting' to know where your story is taking you before you commit words to the page, please stop waiting.
The act of writing engenders the story. The more we write, the more we can write."
"I’ve developed my own creative process for mentoring writers and aspiring authors which I teach in my workshops, retreats and online writing courses. We can only ever take a reader as far as we have gone. So how we think matters. Who we are – our values and beliefs – informs the vision of life our writing is in service to. If we get clear on that, the craft gets easier. "
All you need do is bring your intention and a curious mind - Anna and her team at Villa Nilaya do the rest so that you can give your full attention to your writing journey with Joanne.
A much-awarded author based in Sydney, Australia, is a widely-experienced creative writing teacher, whose 15th book, The Whale’s Last Song was published in 2024 by HarperCollins.
About a girl whose sister is sick with the pox, who goes in a search for a cure, Joanne says "I wish we could save the people we love. I lost my mother to ovarian cancer during Covid. Grief is how we learn to love more fiercely and to appreciate what really matters."
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The retreat hub is Villa Nilaya, and you choose your very own room in our lovely beachfront accommodations all a short walk from Niaya. We are all are tucked away in a quiet cul-de-sac, surrounded by coconut palms, on the edge of sparkling sea.
We have sea turtles swimming just at the front of the villa, and we'd love to take you snorkeling to discover the beauty of the reefs at the bottom of our garden if you like ... 'getting weightless' can be a wonderful inspiration for your imagination to float and find what you thought you had forgotten
Our program includes daily meditation and a beautiful sound-healing event with Eva Kroes, plus other delicious surprises ...
See you there!
about The Whale's Last Song ...
Written with the timelessness and universality of a folk tale, imbued with heartfeltness and wit, warmth, deep knowing, it is both stern and playful, sweet and true, light and profound. It is truly, truly special.
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Catherine Milne
Publisher of the Year, 2024, HarperCollins
This really special 7-day/6-night retreat offers you the opportunity gift yourself gentle days by the sea to focus on you.
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Tutoring with Joanne Fedler
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Airport collection
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Your choice of accommodation and breakfast for 6 nights - have a look at the options
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A 60-minute deliciously restorative Balinese massage or reflexology treat with our expert masseuses using Sensatia's pure sweet almond oil infused with restorative essential oils where you choose your favourite scent - Meditation or Relaxation.
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A gentle 'de-planing' yoga session
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A heavenly, live sound-bathing experience (some call it 'sound therapy' or 'healing' - we just call it divine) that will have your senses and imagination floating
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6 lunches and 4 dinners (including Welcome Dinner and Farewell Dinners)
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Plus Cooking'n'Cocktails with our executive chef - cook your own 7-dish megibung with tips and recipes to be able to make it at home - plus our Signature Nilaya cocktails and snacks as you stir the sauce!
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Plus A stylish night out on the town with fine dining and cocktails
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retreat bag with writing gifts
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A wide variety of good restaurants within easy walking distance of your hotel for other meals, a coffee or time out
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and time to yourself by the sea in beautiful East Bali
A luxurious week where all you need do is turn up each day at 10 am, after breakfast (and perhaps an early-morning dip? ... the snorkeling is fabulous), having taken the short walk in our pretty village to Villa Nilaya. ... did you know that Joanne is a dedicated, daily sea swimmer?
The retreat tales place at Villa Nilaya and you can walk through our village of Mendira near Candi Dasa or take a cab ride for a couple of minutes.
The retreat program is available on request.
Choose your preferred accommodation from these two seaside options, both just ten minutes walk from Villa Nilaya
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the 3-star seaside AMARTA BEACH BUNGALOWS
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OR
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The 4.5-star CANDI BEACH RESORT HOTEL
Whichever you choose from the options at the end of this page, your accommodation is INCLUDED - so just scroll to the end of this page to see the options. See the Accommodation
Joanne and I warmly invite you to join our group in 2025 for this exceptional writing and musical experience By The Sea in beautiful East Bali.
WHO WILL THIS RETREAT SUIT?
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Coming to this course with an open mind and a yearning to write will see you flourish.
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or perhaps you yearn to write and don't know where to start?
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maybe you think you can't write ? ... or have nothing to say, but still feel a niggling need to find out
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or perhaps you're working through something? (aren't we all ?)
The relaxed environment, our caring staff at Nilaya, the sheer beauty of an endless horizon to greet you each day as you awaken - yes, all of your accommodations are by the sea - the soft winter warmth, and the wisdom of your retreat teachers is all here for you ..... with only 10 places available please reserve your place soon, and don't hesitate to contact Anna if you have any queries.
MEET JOANNE FEDLER
I’ve been writing stories since I was six years old...
As a child, silkworms and books were my first friends.
Language helped me build a bridge for my hard-of-hearing sister to my parents since I was the only one who could understand what she was trying to say until speech and hearing therapy gave her a voice. Each of us has privileges that can ease the path of others. It is not hard to be useful.
I wrote and illustrated my first story when I was six. It was thin on plot – Emily plans a picnic with Rufus, her neighbour – that’s it – but with coconut-lime lollipops.When I was 14, my dad gave me Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood, a play for voices. It centred me like clay on a wheel. I knew all I wanted was to do that with words.
During my ‘going-to-save-the-world’ years, I got a Master’s degree in law from Yale, set up and ran a not-for-profit advocacy centre to end violence against women and sat on the South African Law Commission to help draft new domestic violence legislation. In 1994, Hustler magazine made me ‘Asshole of the Month,’ for my advocacy against violent pornography – it’s still my most prized award.
My 15th book, The Whale’s Last Song came from the grief of losing my mother in 2021, like a cry from somewhere deep inside me. Each year, I run writing retreats and mentor a handful of writers. In 2017, I created Joanne Fedler Media, my own publishing company to publish books by the authors I mentor.
I am a devoted ocean swimmer and support many organisations working to protect marine life and ecosystems.
I have lived on the unceded Gadigal land of the indigenous Eora nation in Australia since 2001, as an immigrant from South Africa. Leaving the place you come from is not something you get over. You are always spliced, always torn. But it offers new horizons.
About The Whale's Last Song
Fresh, exquisite ... a creative tour de force, weaving a sense of belonging, and the fallibility of being human and the mysteries of being alive.
Suzie Miller
Prima Facie
Creative Living Retreats by Anna Kwiecinska
With a background as an art historian and art gallery owner, my collaboration with artists continues to be a fascinating career which evolved into specialist art retreats designed to combine seriously good art tuition with authentic cultural experiences.
The practice of meditation has under-pinned Creative Living Retreats, as a source of focus for creative inspiration.
In 202o Anna was part of a pilot study group led by two reseachers in the bay Area of San Francisco, into the practice of 'microdosing mindfulness' .Dr David Amster a pain management specialist and Jake Eagle, life coach and counsellor, - both meditators - have since published their findings as "The Power of A.W.E', and it is this wisdom that we've drawn on in recent retreats.
Since their beginning in 2011 and active every year other than during the pandemic, many retreatants have returned for our thoughtfully curated weeks of supported creativity, and I genuinely look forward to welcoming you to experience the depth of wellbeing that Creative Living Retreats have become known for, More info
Loved the whole thing. Food was amazing and plenty of variety. Staff amazing ... I just thought you did the retreat so well. I felt totally satisfied with the way you made it all happen and made us all feel very special. You really were the glue. Very professional.
The exhibition was just so beautifully put together.
Lyn Mowday, Busselton, Australia, 2019
What does your Retreat include? Practically everything except your airfare !
see all the inclusions >
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A/C Airport Taxi collection with name board on arrival at the International Airport
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Accommodation with Breakfast for 6 nights in your choice of beachside hotels and bungalows
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Tuition with Joanne Fedler over 5 days.
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Breakfasts 6
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Lunches 6 - buffet, provided at Villa Nilaya during the retreat. We serve really fresh food, with an emphasis on vegetarian, tofu and seafood protein, and not too starchy (quinoa and red rice often replaces white rice).
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Morning and afternoon teas each day
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Bottled Water available throughout the retreat
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Dinners 4 including:
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‘Welcome Dinner BBQ' at Villa Nilaya (dietary restrictions catered for - please advise)
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Farewell Night Dinner and concert performance
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Cooking and Cocktails with our executive chef Pak Dewa Ardika
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A fine dining experience in town
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Balinese Massage or reflexology treatment in house at Villa Nilaya
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a sound-bathing event (some call it 'sound healing or sound therapy ... we just call it divine!)
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and surprises along the way,,,,,
What's not included?
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flights
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taxi transfer from retreat
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all personal expenses incurred at hotel (laundry etc)
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3 dinners
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any trips, tours or transports not included in the descripton of 'inclusions'
Thank you Anna for convening this fabulous experience.
Your style, grace and attention to detail made everyone feel important. Sharing your home for those days of art and food and armchair yoga will be a special memory for me to hold. You have gathered an amazing staff around you ... thank you again.
Gloria C. Queensland, Australia.
Bali Retreat 2022
