SATURDAY 3rd OCTOBER 2026

 

10.00 WORKSHOP: SECRETS IN WRITING FICTION

(WITH JENNY BARDEN)

 

10.00 HERBAL WORKSHOP: MAKE YOUR OWN MEDITERRANEAN TEA

(WITH BRENDA GRATE)

 

​13.00  WORKSHOP: HOW TO WIN AT SCRABBLE

(WITH MELANIE WICKS)

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13.00  WORKSHOP: WRITING POEMS ON ART

(WITH JON THOMPSON)

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16.00  WORKSHOP: LINEAR B: WRITING IN ANCIENT SCRIPT

(WITH VASILIKI HAIDOU)

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17.00 PANDORA BETHEA: READING 

 

17.45 ANDREA ROACH:  SHORT STORY READING 

Andrea will read from  'Poseidon Road', her recent short story collection inspired by the stark beauty of the Mani landscape. 

 

18.30 BRENDA GRATE: STORIES, REMEDIES AND TWENTY YEARS OF WRITING 

Brenda Grate has spent more than twenty years in publishing, writing four novels of her own and ghostwriting many more books for other people.  Now she's turning to the plants.  Her first herbal book, The Mediterranean Herbalist:  Stories and Herbal Remedies from Italy and Greece, is coming from Book Shelter in September 2026.  It weaves together the folk remedies of the Mediterranean with the stories of the people and places that keep them alive, including her own experiences in Italy and Greece.  In this talk, Brenda shares how the book came to be, what herbalism and fiction have taught her about each other, and the best writing, like the best medicine, comes from paying close attention. 

 

​19.15 VASILIKI HAIDOU and CAROL SMALL: HELEN OF SPARTA

At one point, years ago, I heard in Trachila that the village took its name from Helen's neck (trachilos) when Paris grabbed her by the neck and forced her onto his wooden ship. The myth also says that on the rocky islet of Pefnos, Zeus mated with Leda, transformed into a swan. Fairy tales I thought. What was Helen doing in Mani? Yet these fairy tales fell like seeds into my mind... Later, I came across the book of the traveller Pausanias, which mentions details about Tyndareus settling in Thalames, where he raised his family.  At this festival in addition to my book ‘Ή Ωραία Ελένη της Σπάρτης ήταν και Μανιάτισσα’ (The beautiful Helen of Sparta was a woman from Mani), I will bring forward evidence that Helen was born and spent her childhood years in Thalames, right here in Mani. 

 

20.00 DEBORAH SWIFT: EMPIRE OF THE SUN – LIFE IN WARTIME SHANGAI 

 

21.00 OPEN MIC

Now it's your turn!  Step up to the mic and share your work. 

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21.30 MUSIC AND SPOKEN WORD.  LIVE POETS SOCIETY: UNDER TAINARON 

Under Tainaron recasts elements of the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice and is rooted in the locations where that mythology originated.  It also explores the relevance of such myths to our present world and the fate of those cast into the underworld and whether their rescue is considered.  Under Tainaron is also about the Orphic power of music and poetry to move us and see things anew. 

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