A Travel Writers Workshop is being held China’s Southwest Himalayas from March 3-14, 2011, a forum for writers who want to overcome creative and spiritual challenges in order to push their works to the next level. Combining focused workshops with local excursions and encounters, this 11-day retreat is designed to help writers refine their skills, while challenging them, as the Nobel laureate Gao Xingjian did in Soul Mountain, to reaffirm their existence in a new setting, with a new focus.
The program is being held in one of Asia’s most popular intellectual retreats—The Linden Centre. Located on Tea Horse Road, on the estate of a former merchant, the Centre is nestled at 7,000 feet, between the 14,000-foot Azure Mountains, and the 35-mile-long Lake Er. The complex is owned and managed by Americans Brian and Jeanee Linden, both longtime residents of Asia. The complex offers the perfect blend of comfort and intellectual support, and provides writers with a safe base from which to explore the China of Pearl Buck and W. Somerset Maugham.
Don George, chair of the annual Book Passage Travel, Food, & Photography Conference, will lead the workshop. The former Global Travel Editor for Lonely Planet Publications, Don is currently Contributing Editor and Columnist for National Geographic Traveler and Special Features Editor for Gadling.com.
The cost of the program is not cheap — $4,589 — even though it includes all in-country accommodations, food, tours, and workshop fees. On top of it, international airfare is not included. So, it’s an expensive endeavor but there for the taking for those who make the trek and afford it. (Let’s really call it ‘tuition’ for 11 days).
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
