We will be accepting applications for Summer 2026 beginning September 1, 2025.
La Poterie Retreat & Workshop
A rigorous group discussion of your manuscript, sessions on writing craft & publishing, ample daily solitude, one-on-one conferences, local excursions, and gourmet meals — all in an inspired setting.
Featured events
Please join Amy Wallen, author of How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies: Sweet & Savory Secrets for Surviving the Writing Life; the Los Angeles Times bestselling novel Moon Pies and Movie Stars, and the memoir When We Were Ghouls: A Memoir of Ghost Stories, for a creative writing workshop she'll be offering in Summer 2026. These retreats are custom-made for pie lovers! Pies will be baked, served and contemplated from literary and culinary angles.
Please join Nicola Keegan, author of the best-selling novel, SWIMMING, published by Penguin Random House, and an experienced writing coach and workshop leader, for a week-long writing intensive in Summer 2026. Nicola is focused primarily on literary fiction and memoir.
About La Poterie
La Poterie was the home of Felix de Bourqueney, mayor of the local village, and his wife Elise Colonna Waleswka, granddaughter of Napoleon Bonaparte. Upon the death of her husband and their four children, Elise adopted her nephew François, Aimery deMoucheron’s grandfather. Aimery and his wife Cynthia purchased the home from family members in 2012 and have restored it to a family retreat set on 22 hectares of woodland.
Despite its proximity to the better-known Loire Valley, le Pays Vallée du Loir—two hours southwest of Paris by train in France's Sarthe region—is a well-kept secret.
The region, which enjoys a mild climate, is characterized by the orchards and vines that shape the hilly landscape, and is dotted with castles, mansions and churches in the area’s native limestone, which gives the Loir architecture its distinctive color and rich ornamentation.
The workshop is $4800 per week, including all meals, wine and beverages, seven nights' lodging in a beautiful and comfortable room in the chateau, and local excursions.
Please note: The fee does not include transportation, meals eaten out, or travel insurance, which we recommend purchasing.
AMY WALLEN is the author of How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies: Sweet and Savory Secrets of the Writing Life; the Los Angeles Times bestselling novel Moon Pies and Movie Stars, and the memoir When We Were Ghouls: A Memoir of Ghost Stories. As associate director at the New York State Summer Writers Institute she serves as student advocate. She facilitates and co-teaches (with past Los Angeles Times book critic David Ulin) a manuscript workshop in San Diego (at which she serves pie). She has taught creative writing at UCSD and UCLA Extension and other venues.
She is also the creator of Savory Salons, literary salons with pie—a day of discourse with successful authors on the writing life. She’s also the founder of DimeStories—Three-minute stories told by the author, and featured on NPR. Currently, she is working on two novels, and she started NaNoPieMo after NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which encourages writers to get started on their novels.
NICOLA KEEGAN is the author of Swimming, published by Knopf in 2009 and translated into 12 languages. It was a New York Time’s Editor’s Pick, selected for NPR’s Book’s We Love, was one of Washington Post’s Best Books of 2009, and Number 3 in Time magazine’s Top Ten Fiction of 2009. She has been teaching while working on her second novel--a multigenerational family epic--for the past 10 years. She was born in Galway, Ireland, grew up in the United States, where she studied at the University of Iowa. Currently, she lives in Paris with her three children.
APRIL EBERHARDT is a self-described "literary change agent" and author advocate passionate about helping authors be published in the most satisfying way. After 25 years as a corporate strategist and management consultant, April joined the literary world, where she saw strategic opportunity to play a role in the changing world of publishing. She advises and assists authors as they choose the best pathway to publication, and serves as a consultant to publishing startups serving indie authors. She represents a diverse group of clients in the U.S. and abroad, and speaks at conferences worldwide. April serves on the Advisory Council for The American Library in Paris, and is a reader for The Best American Short Stories series published annually by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. April divides her time between San Francisco, New York and Paris.
AIMERY DEMOUCHERON the descendant of a prominent French family, met and married Cynthia Cooke, originally from Hawaii, while both were students in Paris. Aimery currently heads his own advertising agency, Mister Brown, and Cynthia is a painter whose work is regularly exhibited in Paris and abroad. They are the parents of four adult children, and three (soon to be four) grandchildren.
What is a typical day at La Poterie?
The day will start with breakfast—takeaway or with your co-participants in the dining room, your choice—then quiet/free time to write, read, or prepare for class. In the mornings we'll hold one class—writing craft or publishing—then you'll either be free until lunch, or scheduled to conference one-on-one with faculty.
We'll lunch together, then again have free time to write, wander, or prepare for workshop. In the afternoon we'll meet together in workshop format, to discuss each other's manuscripts in-depth, offering guided and constructive feedback. In the evenings we'll enjoy a relaxing cocktail hour (wine, of course!), then a gourmet dinner. All meals will be prepared lovingly by the talented Cynthia Cooke, owner/host of La Poterie.
One afternoon we will venture into the nearby village, perhaps visit a cave à vin for a tasting; one evening we'll dine out. A visit to the Sunday morning outdoor market nearby is also a possibility. In the evenings we'll have post-dinner drinks and quiet conversation, but you also might want to retire early and read or write, as you wish.
How much material can I submit for feedback and discussion?
Each participant will submit 15-20 double-spaced pages to April Eberhardt one month prior to the retreat. This is the material you will receive feedback on from both the faculty in one-on-one conferences, and from your fellow participants in workshop. You may also submit an accompanying synopsis if the material is part of a larger work.
What will the accommodations be like?
Each participant will have a private room, furnished beautifully and comfortably, and each room will have a desk. Most have private bathrooms. We will hold our group sessions around the large table in the dining room, on comfortable couches in the living room, or outdoors, weather permitting.
