From March 28th to April 2nd, the famous Jnane Tamsna hotel in Marrakech, Morocco, will host its second writing retreat, the PhiloXenia Creative Writing Retreat: Writing as a Catalyst for Community.
Jnane Tamsna is the only Black woman-owned luxury hotel resort in Marrakech. Its founder, Meryanne Loum-Martin was born in Côte d’Ivoire, Africa to a Senegalese father and Caribbean mother hailing from Guadeloupe.
The event promises writers from the diaspora a chance to participate in generative creative writing workshops led by esteemed authors, while they learn about the editorial and publishing worlds, and delve into the true life of a writer.
The retreat will be led by three renowned writing professionals: Glory Edim, founder of Well-Read Black Girl; Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tyehimba Jess; and Senior Editor Yahdon Israel. Together, they will guide participants through a series of workshops that explore how we can use writing to create strong community bonds.
Glory Edim
Author and activist Glory Edim founded Well-Read Black Girl, a nationwide book club-turned-literacy non-profit that celebrates literature’s life-changing power. Well-Read Black Girl advocates and empowers through storytelling. Edim received the 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Innovator’s Award and the Hurston/Wright Foundation Madam C.J. Walker Award for her literary advocacy.
Yahdon Israel
Yahdon Israel is a senior editor at Simon Schuster and founded Literaryswag to make books accessible through fashion and literature. He writes for The New Inquiry, LitHub, Poets and Writers, Vanity Fair, and The Atlantic. His personal project, Literaryswag Book Club, is a Brooklyn subscription service and book club that meets every last Wednesday of the month, and teaches creative Writing at City College’s MFA Program.
Tyehimba Jess
Tyehimba Jess is the author of two books of poetry, Leadbelly and Olio. Olio won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, The Midland Society Author’s Award in Poetry, and received an Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It was also nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN Jean Stein Book Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Leadbelly was a winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series. The Library Journal and Black Issues Book Review both named it one of the “Best Poetry Books of 2005.”
Jnane Tamsna
According to Loum-Martin, the retreat is an opportunity to discover Marrakech and its surrounding areas with private tours of the city’s majestic medina and sojourns to secret gardens and the Atlas Mountains.
“Throughout the retreat, participants will have the chance to engage in cultural activities and develop relationships with people from different backgrounds, cultures, and countries. This is a space to connect, create, and reflect on the craft of writing in a supportive and inspiring environment,” Loum-Martin noted.
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced writer, this is an incredible opportunity to hone your craft, connect with fellow writers, and experience the vibrant culture of Marrakech, she concluded.
