Schools Kill Creativity

Can't believe we hadn't watched this beautiful Tedtalk on creativity in education by Ken Robinson until now!:  

And here's the wonderful follow up talk he gave four years later on the revolution needed in education:

Ophelia Redpath - The Lemur's Tale

One of our artists, the lovely Ophelia Redpath, has just had her book The Lemur's Tale published.

Here's the book description:

A ring-tailed lemur is stowed away on a boat from Madagascar, and eventually ends up in the home of an eccentric but dysfunctional family. His night-time antics cause confusion, as he nibbles on the family's plants and raids their larder. But he brings great joy once they discover him curled up in a teapot, filling a little girl's life with hope and happiness.

You can buy it on Amazon here.

New Books at La Muse

This morning, we opened the mail to find not one, but two recently published books written by former residents. Both books were worked on at La Muse.

The first is Poems: Francois Villon, translated by American poet and translator David Georgi. As David writes:

François Villon (born c. 1430) is widely recognized as one of France’s greatest lyric poets. A graduate of the Sorbonne and a chronic jailbird, he was pardoned for knifing a priest, thrown in prison for burgling a chapel, and eventually sentenced to hang. He successfully appealed the sentence and was instead banished from Paris in 1463. He was never heard from again.

Here's what Nancy Freeman Regalado, Professor of French at NYU had to say about David's translation:

Georgi’s lively, nuanced translation, accompanied by a newly-revised French text and the most comprehensive (and enjoyable!) notes of any English translation of Villon, is set to become the definitive Villon text for classroom use….Georgi makes Villon’s poems delightfully accessible to English speakers, whether students of French, teachers, scholars, or lovers of poetry.

You can buy David's wonderful translation of Villon here on Amazon.

The second is All Souls', by Canadian poet and novelist Rhea Tregebov.

All Souls is a beautiful book of poetry.

Here's one of the poems Rhea wrote at La Muse (Labastide Esparbairenque is our village):

Labastide-Esparbairenque, France

Here it is exactly: beauty and decay.
Though nothing is exact about
this town: walls as much mountain as wall,
crevices sparsely in flower. Drystone
fences marking the fields, wattle fences,
their branches laced into the grid of wire.
This place makes me think
crooked, different from the machined
thoughts of the city. Euclid was a dope.
Try to calculate the area of that irregular
field beyond the rusted railing, the garden
rough below the terrace, its order,
disorder. A pebble budges. Or
the azalea bush, spottily in bloom,
one of its bright petals shifting in a bit
of wind. The infinite perimeter of this
tuft of grass, moss on the rock below.
The distance between there and here.

Here's one of the shorter poems from the collection:

Perspective/Parallax: Son

I picked you up. I picked you
up and put you under my arm.
I tossed you in the air.
You were that small.
Nothing had hurt you.
You didn’t know hunger,
you didn’t know cold.
For a little while I kept you
from harm.

You can read a recent interview with Rhea about the book here or you can buy her collection here.

Also, Melanie Simms, an associate professor in Coventry, England and past resident, just wrote to us about her newly published book, Union Voices, published by Cornell University Press.

Melanie wrote the first part of her book at La Muse.

You can read more about her book and what she had to say about her experience at La Muse here.

Thanks to the lovely photographer and artist Al Wildey for shooting this video of the September Art Show. And thanks to everyone who was on retreat here last month for helping out!

You can check out links to all the artists in the show under the video on Youtube.

The Muses...

One of our neighbor's daughter's, Hope Whitmore, just wrote a piece for Mslexia magazine about the Muses, inspired by names of our rooms at La Muse.

Here's a jpeg of the article below:

Two lovely artists, Mary Scurlock from Virginia in the States and Åse Pleym Bakken from Norway had an expo of the work they created at La Muse.

First there were aperitifs:

Then the Expo:

Shakespeare & Company Bookshop, a bastion of past literary fame, is accepting applications for its 10,000 Euros "Paris Literary Prize."


The prize is funded by the De Groot Foundation and is awarded for a novella. 

Examples they give of classics are The Old Man and the Sea, Animal Farm, L'Étranger and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Another great thing besides the money is the fact that it is

"open to writers from around the world who have not yet published a book."

The 2 runner-up awards are for 2,00 Euros and all 3 winners are invited to a weekend stay in Paris to attend the Prize ceremony and read from their work at a special event at Shakespeare and Company.

Here are the submission requirements and here's how to enter.

Good Luck!

We just found out that one of our writer's, Shanti Elke Bannwart,  just had her memoir published.

It's called Dancing On One Foot: Growing up in Nazi Germany.

The last chapter “Song and Silence”, is about Shanti's stay here at La Muse.

You can read Shanti's profile on the Musers section of our site here.

Well done, Shanti!

Artist Video

Our friend Tom, who lives down the road in the Herault, just uploaded a lovely video of his wonderful art.

Please take a moment to check it out and pass it on:

A Country Where You Once Lived

We're delighted to hear that the essay Sheryl St. Germain wrote at La Muse last year has received an unprecedented number of positive letters to the editor at The Sun.

The title of the essay is A Country Where You Once Lived and you can read it here.

Sheryl's most recent book is Let It Be a Dark Roux: New and Selected Poems, and her collection of lyric essays Navigating Disaster will be published by Louisiana Literature Press soon.

Sheryl comes from New Orleans but lives in Pittsburgh where she directs the mfa program in creative writing at Chatham University.

Eco Photos

Just found out that our friend Henry gave this great Ted Talk about his beautifully sad eco photos.

Please watch it, tweet it and like it to spread the word!

Happy New Year!

Wonderful Video of French "Time for Outrage" Author

We're ordering his book today as we just stumbled upon it on the Twelve website. Here's a snippet of what they say about him:

Rejecting the dictatorship of world financial markets and defending the social values of modern democracy, 93-old Stéphane Hessel -- Resistance leader, concentration camp survivor, and former UN speechwriter -- reminds us that life and liberty must still be fought for, and urges us to reclaim those essential rights we have permitted our governments to erode since the end of World War II.

Wow, now this is climbing...

Ueli Steck speed solo Eiger record par lemarswayer

Awesome Videos on LGBT rights

First Hilary Clinton at the United Nations:




and here's the son of a gay couple in Iowa:

Tanya Byrne

Tanya Byrne

Well done to the lovely Londoner Tania Byrne!

Her debut novel Heart-Shaped Bruise is going to be published next May by Headline.

Tanya started the novel at La Muse and is now really excited about writing the next one. (Headline also bought up the rights to that one too.) 

The story is about Emily Koll, the most notorious inmate of Archway Young Offenders Institution. Through her journals, she relates the story of how far she went to get revenge on the girl whose testimony sent her father to prison.

This is what the commisioning editor had to say about Tanya's novel:

Her writing is stunning and we’re convinced she’s got a fabulous career ahead of her.

We're so excited for Tanya. Again, well done!

Jill Satterfield - Winter Yoga Retreats

New Year’s Yoga Retreat:

December 27-January 3

Winter Yoga Retreat:

February 2-9

200 hr. Yoga Teacher Training Retreat:

February 27-March 15

About Jill:

Jill Satterfield was named one of the "four leading Buddhist and Yoga teachers in the country" by the Shambhala Sun Magazine and is a pioneer in the field of mind body awareness. She has been teaching and consulting for over 20 years.

Jill is the founder of Vajra Yoga & Meditation, a synthesis of yoga and Buddhism that combines meditation, yoga postures, visualization and contemplation practices.

She is also the founder and Director of the School for Compassionate Action: Meditation, Yoga and Education for Communities in Need and Those Who Serve Them, a not for profit that trains teachers and offers classes to at-risk youth, people suffering with chronic pain and illnesses, PTSD, and addictions.

Jill turned to meditation and yoga 30 years ago to successfully heal from a debilitating physical condition coupled with acute chronic pain while in art school. In 1992, she extended her exploration of the integral relationship of the mind and body through the study of Buddhism. Jill is on the founding faculty of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Mindfulness for Yoga Training and the Kripalu Institute’s Integral Leadership Program for young adults. Jill was scholar and teacher in residence at the Kripalu Center in 2004. She has been featured in the New York Times, Crains, NY Post, MORE, Self, Marie Claire, Tricycle and Yoga Journal amongst others.

In Her Words:

Sometimes we leave home, forget about our body, and neglect our hearts. Our mind gets scattered to the winds as we become consumed by life’s details, looking outwardly, not inwardly.

During this 7-day yoga and meditation retreat our yoga practice will bring us back to the earth through the vehicle of the body, re-discovering alignment, remembering space, sweeping the body physically and energetically clean.

We will practice meditation on its own as well as through each yoga asana and in general mindfulness for awareness, re-centering, renewed intention, and re-kindling focus.

Most importantly, we’ll see our way back home through the eyes of our heart, opening windows of kindness so that we might take care, accept and embrace ourselves and others.

Please bring journals and a camera to record your thoughts and the practices that we will cover. You will leave with wonderful memories, a refreshed and invigorated practice, and many prescriptions for a home practice of meditation, mindful asana and pranayama.

Fees:

Yoga Workshop:

500.00 Euros.

Accommodation:

Calliope: 870 Euros (queen-size double, private salon, ensuite toilet, spa-style bath, shower)

Erato: 625 Euros (double with ensuite toilet, bath and shower)

Clio: 670 Euros (double with ensuite toilet, bath and shower)

Euterpe: 625 Euros (double with ensuite shower)

Thalia: 625 Euros (double with ensuite shower)

Melpomene: 570 Euros (double with shared toilet and shower)

Terpsichore: 570 Euros (double with shared toilet, bath and shower)

Polyhymnia: 570 Euros (double with shared toilet, bath and shower)

Urania: 570 Euros (double with shared toilet, bath and shower)

Chapelle Cottage: 1070 Euros (two double bedrooms that share a shower and toilet)

Check out the rooms here.

Accommodation fee includes:

• evening meals
• local transportation (airport pickup, a trip to the grocery store on the way up to La Muse, and departure drop off).
• Couples Welcome. There is a 25% double occupancy fee for couples.
• Participants shop for and prepare their own breakfasts and lunches.

We look forward to meeting you.

Email us now for availability!

Irish TV Show

So, the lovely Julianne Mooney talked us up on her slot on Ireland's TV3 show Ireland AM.

You can watch the interview here.

Photos of La Muse by Lowell Brower

Just uploaded a load more photos like this onto Facebook, all taken by the lovely writer Lowell Brower here.

Video and Photos of "Scenes from a Village" Expo

Hey,

So here's the video of Deborah's Expo that we promised:

You can find out more about Deborah here.

Deborah, just before people came to see her paintings...

Deborah talking to Kerry and the American playwright Nora Seilheimer

John having fun talking to the locals about the paintings of their dogs an houses...

Filou waiting patiently for some food from the annual village Aperitif

It was a lot of fun...