The Art of Storytelling
The Art of Storytelling is a 5-day residential writing retreat for female founders, entrepreneurs, and self-employed creatives who have a book, memoir, or writing practice living in them — and keep running out of time, space, and confidence to do anything about it.
Five days in Marrakesh. A riad with a terrace and a swimming pool. One night in the desert. Guided writing sessions, hypnotherapy, a ceramicist workshop, sumptuous Moroccan food — and Priya reading your pages with a journalist's eye and a memoirist's heart.
(Yes, even if you've been trying to write this thing for two years and still only have fragments.)
Waitlist early bird closes
Waitlist early bird price: £1,950. Balance due January. Flights not included.
You want to write. Really write.
Not "squeeze out 20 minutes before the school run and delete it all the next morning" write. Actually write.
You want to be the person who…
- ✓Knows the shape of their story — the through-line, the structure, what stays in and what goes — without lying awake at 2am wondering if any of it hangs together
- ✓Can see themselves on the page. Not the careful, edited version they present out loud. Their actual voice — the one that makes people lean forward
- ✓Opens a document and knows what they're writing, instead of staring at a blinking cursor surrounded by half-finished fragments
- ✓Comes home from a week away and picks up the writing again — and keeps picking it up, because a practice is now a real thing in their life, not a wish
- ✓Has a body of work with direction — not a Word document that gets opened, sighed at, and closed again
You want to feel…
Reconnected to your writing voice — not performing someone else's.
Like you gave yourself the time and space to actually think, reflect, and create without juggling a million other things.
Clear on what you actually want to say. And confident enough to say it.
The writing keeps getting pushed to the bottom of the list
And not because you don't care. Because life is just genuinely, relentlessly full — and "I'll write when it quietens down" is what you've been telling yourself for longer than you want to admit.
There's a Word document you keep going back to
It's got something in it — you know it has. But every time you open it you don't know what to do with it. It's fragments. It's feelings. It's not a story yet.
You don't know how to find the through-line
The material is there. What's missing is the shape. How do you know what to keep? What to cut? What the whole thing is actually about? No one taught you this.
Your writing voice sounds like someone else
On the page you go careful. Formal. Safe. You can hear yourself editing out the interesting bits before they even make it to the sentence. The writing you want to read doesn't sound like you yet.
"It'll quieten down after this"
The project, the kids, the client, the launch, the thing after the thing. You know how we're always saying it'll quieten down 'after this'? It never does. The book doesn't write itself during the gaps.
You feel super disconnected from your creativity
You work in a world of ideas. But when did you last make something just for yourself, without pressure, without a deadline, without wondering if it was good enough?
You've probably tried writing courses, bought the books, maybe done a few morning pages. And still — the story you want to tell isn't on paper in any shape you'd call real. The problem isn't that you can't write. The problem is that you've never had the time, the space, and someone who actually knows how to help you find the shape of it.
Five days where the only job is writing
Not another online course to fit around your actual life. Not a workbook you'll get halfway through. Not accountability from someone who's never published anything.
You need to physically remove yourself from the thing that keeps interrupting you — and go somewhere that is explicitly not home, not the office, not the to-do list.
You need someone reading your pages who has been where you are. Who has written the book that felt too big, too personal, too risky — and seen it go to auction with six major publishers bidding on it.
You need the writing sessions to be guided, not just "here's a free afternoon." You need help finding the through-line. Finding your voice on the page, not the careful one you use out loud.
You need to come home with a body of writing that has direction — not just fragments — and a practice that actually continues after you land.
That's what The Art of Storytelling is built for.
Five days in a riad just outside the Medina in Marrakesh. One night in the desert. Fourteen writers maximum. Guided writing sessions on the terrace. Hypnotherapy to get past the shitty committee and reach what you actually want to say. A ceramicist workshop. The souks. And all of it wrapped in sumptuous Moroccan food and the particular magic of being somewhere completely other.
This is not a holiday. There are real writing sessions. Real pages. Real feedback. The Marrakesh part is what makes the writing possible — not a distraction from it.
Including one night you will not stop talking about
The second half of the retreat moves to the desert — a white-tented camp with Moroccan rugs and lamps. Because sometimes the most powerful writing comes from being somewhere that still genuinely surprises you.
Where you'll be writing
The riad, the terrace, the pool, the souks and a night under the desert stars. This is the week waiting for you.
Here's what I bring to those writing sessions on the terrace
I've been a journalist for 25 years — BBC, the Guardian, New Scientist. So when I'm reading your pages, I'm reading with a journalist's eye for what's honest, what's sharp, and what actually earns a reader's attention.
And I'm reading with a memoirist's eye too. My memoir M(other)land went to auction — six major publishers bidding on it — before Penguin published it. I've been through the whole thing. How to write when the material feels too big and too personal to shape. How to structure without flattening. How to write honestly without writing recklessly.
Writing M(other)land taught me what it actually takes — not the romantic version. The real one. And The Art of Storytelling is built entirely on that process. Everything I teach is something I've used to write the book that changed my life.
I also know — from the inside — what it's like to be running a business, raising a kid, living a very full life, and trying to find the time to write. I'm 50, perimenopausal, and went all in on this work because I am genuinely obsessed by helping women own their voices. Not in a good-vibes-esque way. In a "let me read your pages and help you find the beating heart of it" way.
[Heading, e.g. Two guest workshops to get the writing moving]
[1–2 sentences introducing the guest workshops and why they're part of the retreat.]
[Workshop title]
Led by [Guest name] — [one-line bio: who they are and what they do]
[2–3 sentences: what happens in the workshop, what you'll do with your hands or your mind, and how it feeds back into the writing.]
[Day and time, e.g. Day 3 · afternoon]
[Workshop title]
Led by [Guest name] — [one-line bio: who they are and what they do]
[2–3 sentences: what happens in the workshop, what you'll do with your hands or your mind, and how it feeds back into the writing.]
[Day and time, e.g. Day 3 · afternoon]
The strongest proof I can give you
The 2027 retreat hasn't run yet — so here's what writers who've worked with me in other retreats and courses have said.
She finished her memoir. And she knew exactly what it needed to be about.
"Priya helped me understand that my memoir needed focus. After working with her, I knew exactly what I needed to write about. If there is a story within you, she will help you tell it."— Sue
"For the first time in a long time, I had room to think and create without interruption."
"What stood out most from the creative retreat was the spaciousness. For the first time in a long time, I had room to think and create without interruption. Priya was a warm and encouraging retreat host, and I left buzzing with ideas."— Kat, creative retreat attendee
Her writing had stagnated for months. Then she found structure, narrative arc, character — and her full expression.
"My writing had stagnated for months. Priya's memoir course rooted me in the narrative arc, how to bring in characters, how to structure the story — things I had no clue about. She helped me understand how to express myself fully."— Tanya
"A genuine joy... and a genuinely great investment in yourself."
"A lot of coaching can feel vague and 'good vibes-esque' — but Priya is focused, supportive and (crucially for me) structured. She's helped me find faith in my abilities as a writer and speaker, and I cannot recommend her highly enough to anyone who wants clarity, confidence and support from a brilliant human being. Time with Priya is a genuinely great investment in yourself."— Annie Scott, writer
"I came home not just relaxed... but with a real sense of creative direction again."
"Priya creates spaces that feel both inspiring yet restful. At the Barcelona retreat, I finally had the time to reflect on what I wanted creatively — and I came home not just relaxed because I had so much fun, but with a real sense of creative direction again."— Anonymous, Barcelona retreat attendee
[FLAG: The Marrakesh 2027 retreat hasn't run yet. After the 2026 retreat runs, replace or add testimonials from attendees — especially anyone who almost didn't come due to guilt, cost, or "what if it doesn't change anything."]
What you'll actually learn and do
Every element of this retreat is built around the part most writers get stuck on. Not the writing itself — the shaping. The voice. The through-line. The bit no one teaches you.
Finding your through-line
Guided writing sessions with Priya on the terrace — working on the central question your story is asking. What it's really about beneath the surface events. How to find the thread that holds everything together, so your fragments stop being fragments and start being a manuscript.
Writing in your own voice
The careful, edited voice we use out loud is not the voice that makes writing worth reading. These sessions are built around getting past that — understanding what your actual voice sounds like on the page, and learning to trust it instead of immediately revising it into something safer.
Structure without flattening
How to shape your story — narrative arc, character, pacing — without ironing out everything that makes it alive. For memoir and for broader book writing. This is the technical foundation: understanding how structure works so you can use it, not be used by it.
Getting past the shitty committee
A hypnotherapy session with a specialist working at the subconscious level — because for most writers, the barrier isn't craft, it's the internal noise. This session is about reaching what you actually want to say, beneath the self-censorship and the mind gremlins that have been editing you before you even hit the page.
Creativity as a route to voice
A workshop with a local female Moroccan ceramicist — creative play as a way back to instinct, to making without pressure, to understanding how storytelling shows up in different mediums. Followed by time in the souks, where storytelling is everywhere, if you know how to look for it.
This retreat has real writing sessions in it.
It's not a holiday with a journal prompt. You will write. Priya will read your pages. You will have guided time on the craft — alongside time to breathe, eat exceptionally well, and be somewhere that completely changes your register.
You will not be left to figure it out alone
The retreat is structured so that expert guidance and genuine connection are both present — not bolted on at the end.
Priya reading and responding to your pages
Why it matters: Most writing retreats give you time, but not real feedback. The difference between writing in silence and having someone who's been published by Penguin read your actual sentences is the difference between fragments and a manuscript with direction.
How it works: Priya reads your pages throughout the retreat and gives feedback in sessions and directly. Her journalist's eye catches what's not earning its place; her memoirist's eye finds what's alive in it.
Hypnotherapy session
Why it matters: The biggest barrier for most writers isn't craft — it's the shitty committee in their heads. Getting past the self-censorship to what you actually want to say requires something more than just sitting down at the keyboard. This session is specifically designed to help you reach it.
How it works: A specialist hypnotherapist works with the group — combining hypnotherapy, tarot, and subconscious work — to break through what's been keeping you in the edit-before-you-write cycle.
Small group — 14 writers maximum
Why it matters: Writing is solitary work. But it doesn't have to be lonely work. Something specific happens when a small group of women who are all trying to make something real spend five days together — the depth of conversation, the mutual recognition, the "me too, I thought I was the only one."
How it works: 14 spots maximum means Priya knows your work. Dinners are together. There is genuine time to connect — over food, in the souks, under the stars in the desert.
Full logistics handled — all transfers, all meals
Why it matters: Decision fatigue is real. The more mental bandwidth you spend on logistics, the less there is for the writing. This retreat is designed to remove as many thinking-about-something-else moments as possible.
How it works: All transfers included. All meals — breakfast, lunch, dinner — included. All you need to do is get on the plane.
What you leave with — and what you go home to
In your hands
- ✓A body of writing with direction — not a pile of fragments. Pages you've worked on with guidance, that have a through-line and a shape.
- ✓Clarity on what your story is actually about — the real one, not the surface version. What it's asking. What it's for.
- ✓A writing practice that is no longer theoretical. You've done it for five days in a row. You know what it feels like. You know you can.
- ✓The structural foundations — narrative arc, voice, pacing — to keep developing your manuscript once you're home.
In your body
- ✓What Kat called "spaciousness" — having had room to think and create without interruption, for the first time in a long time.
- ✓The particular feeling of having written something you're not embarrassed by. The quiet confidence that comes from having done the thing.
- ✓Reconnection to your creative self — not the founder self, not the business self, not the mum self. The one who has something to say and knows how to say it.
- ✓A lighter mind. A clearer sense of what you want to make next. The joy of creating just for yourself.
And the doors it opens
If you want to write a book, you leave with the foundation a publisher or agent actually needs to see — not just enthusiasm, but structure, voice, and a through-line they can evaluate.
If you want to reconnect to a writing practice, you leave having proven to yourself that it's possible — that you can be the person who writes, not the person who keeps meaning to.
Five days that take the writing from something you mean to do to something you've actually done
Waitlist early bird closes — Saturday 5 December, 12pm UK time
Waitlist early bird
£1,950
You're on the waitlist — this is your price
General early bird
£2,300
After waitlist window closes
Full price
£2,600
General release
Everything that's included
- ✓4 nights in a riad just outside the Medina — swimming pool, plant-filled terrace, gardens, quiet and light-filled
- ✓1 night in a white-tented desert camp with Moroccan rugs and lamps
- ✓All meals — warm homemade breakfasts, relaxed lunches, dinners together, sumptuous Moroccan food throughout
- ✓All transfers
- ✓Guided writing sessions with Priya on the terrace
- ✓Hypnotherapy session — subconscious work to get past the shitty committee
- ✓Workshop with a local female Moroccan ceramicist
- ✓Explorations of Marrakesh — the souks, storytelling in a different register
- ✓Time with 13 other writers in a small, intentional group
- ✓Optional hammam experiences
Not included: flights — you arrange your own. To secure your spot: £500 non-refundable deposit. Balance due January [FLAG: confirm year before launch]. Exact dates: 2027 — to be confirmed. [FLAG: confirm and add exact dates before launch.]
Book within 48 hours of the webinar and receive: a 30-minute one-to-one story foundations call with Priya before the retreat
This call is about arriving prepared — not just excited. In 30 minutes Priya will read whatever you've already written (even if it's fragments), identify the seed of your through-line, and give you one specific focus to bring into the week. It means the retreat starts before you even land in Marrakesh.
Available to the first writers who book within 48 hours of the webinar on Wednesday 11 November 2026. [SUGGESTED BONUS - CONFIRM OR SWAP]
14 spots. You're on the waitlist — your early bird price is £1,950. Flights not included.
What it's like to be in the room
"I left with a lighter mind, a clearer sense of what I want to make next."
"I work in a creative industry, but during the retreat I realised that I had felt super disconnected from my own creativity. The retreat gave me the space and permission to explore coming up with ideas and new projects again without pressure. I left with a lighter mind, a clearer sense of what I want to make next, and the joy of creating just for myself."— Anonymous, creative retreat attendee
Immensely helpful. Finally knew where to focus.
"Priya's memoir course was immensely helpful in learning the foundations of memoir writing and where to best focus my energies as I began writing about my own past."— Clara
"Deep conversation with women I'd never met before, laughter, and genuine connection."
"The creative women's supper club that Priya ran was so good for the soul! The food was so delicious but what made it special was the deep conversation (with women I'd never met before), laughter, and genuine connection. We talked a lot about when and how we feel creative, and it reminded me that creativity doesn't just live in our work, but in how we gather and share ourselves."— Anonymous, creative women's supper club attendee
Five commissions landed overnight after working with Priya.
"I came in knowing I had things to say but no real sense of how to say them or who I was saying them to. What I got was clarity. Priya helped me name what I actually stand for and what that sounds like out loud, in my own voice. I've stopped waiting to feel qualified. I'm publishing more, I'm saying sharper things, and people are responding. One morning after our session, I woke up to five, count 'em FIVE! commissions overnight."— Faith McLellan, former UN editor and writer
[FLAG: add more relevant client proof — especially retreat-specific testimonials addressing the "leaving family," "cost," and "what if nothing changes" objections. Priority to collect after the 2026 retreat runs.]
What women actually ask before booking
How much time do I need to free up — and is a week realistic?
It's five days. Which sounds like a lot until you do the maths on how many five-day windows in the next two years you'll have told yourself you'll write — and didn't. The retreat is designed to make this the one time you actually do. Everything non-essential is removed: logistics, cooking, decisions. You show up and write. The five days are the thing, not the obstacle.
I feel guilty about leaving my family for a week. Is that a good enough reason to stay home?
Guilt about taking time for your own creative work is real and extremely common, particularly among women who run businesses and also carry the domestic mental load. The retreat doesn't make that guilt disappear — but it does ask you to weigh it honestly. The book you've been meaning to write for two years isn't progressing at home. The week away is a finite investment in something that matters to you — and the version of you that comes home having actually done it is, in the experience of most women who've been on creative retreats, not the absent mum or checked-out partner. She's someone with something to show for her time.
[FLAG: After the 2026 retreat runs, collect a testimonial from someone who nearly didn't come because of family guilt — and specifically what the experience of leaving and returning was actually like.]
£1,950 is a significant amount of money, especially right now. How do I know it's worth it?
You're right that it's a significant investment. Here's what you're getting for it: five days of guided writing with someone who has been published by Penguin, had her memoir go to auction with six major publishers bidding, and has 25 years of reading copy as a working journalist. All accommodation, all meals, all transfers, specialist hypnotherapy, a ceramicist workshop, one night in the desert — and a small group of 14 women maximum. The question isn't whether £1,950 is a lot. It's whether the book, the practice, and the clarity are worth it to you — and only you can answer that honestly. What Annie Scott said is worth sitting with: "Time with Priya is a genuinely great investment in yourself."
[FLAG: After the 2026 retreat runs, collect proof from someone who hesitated on cost and was glad they invested.]
What if I come home and nothing has actually changed — I'm back to square one within a week?
This is the most important objection to answer honestly, so let's be direct: no retreat, no course, no coach can guarantee that you sustain a writing practice once you're home. What the retreat can do — and what it's specifically designed to do — is give you a body of work with a through-line, clarity on what your story is actually about, and five consecutive days of proof to yourself that you can write. Kat left buzzing with ideas. Sue finished her memoir after working with Priya. Tanya's writing had stagnated for months before she found structure and her full voice. The retreat is the starting condition for everything that happens after. Whether you keep going depends on you — but you leave with real pages, real direction, and a real practice already in motion.
I'm not very experienced as a writer. Will I be out of my depth?
The retreat is specifically designed for writers who are not experienced. You don't need publications, credentials, or a polished draft to come. You need a story that wants telling and the willingness to work on it. The writing sessions are guided — Priya isn't going to hand you a blank afternoon and wish you luck. She's going to read your pages, work with you on the structure, and help you find what's alive in what you've already got. Clara came to Priya's memoir course not knowing where to start or what to focus on — and left knowing exactly where to put her energy.
I'm already in a writing group / working with another coach. Is there still value in coming?
Possibly — it depends entirely on what that group or coach is giving you. If you have consistent craft feedback, structural guidance specific to your manuscript, and a sustained practice already in place, you might not need this retreat. If you're showing up to sessions but your manuscript isn't moving — if you still don't know your through-line, still don't trust your voice on the page — then a writing group or general coaching isn't giving you what this week is built to give. The retreat is specifically focused on the shaping: the through-line, the voice, the structure. That's distinct from accountability, community, or general encouragement.
What are the exact dates? And when do I need to pay the balance?
The retreat is in 2027 — exact dates are to be confirmed. [FLAG: Confirm and publish exact dates before launch.] The £500 deposit secures your spot. The balance is due in January — the specific year and date will be confirmed before launch. [FLAG: Confirm balance due date before launch copy goes live.]
What if I can't make it once I've booked?
The £500 deposit is non-refundable. A full cancellation and transfer policy will be confirmed before launch — [FLAG: cancellation policy needs to be defined and communicated clearly to prospective attendees before booking.] If you have specific concerns about cancellation risk, reach out to Priya directly before booking.
Don't let another year go by wondering when you'll actually write this thing
You know how we're always saying it'll quieten down after this? It never does. The Word document doesn't get less daunting with time. The through-line doesn't find itself.
If you're ready to stop waiting for the right conditions and start writing in the only conditions that exist — your actual life, given a clear five-day runway — secure your spot on The Art of Storytelling now.
Here's exactly what to do:
- Click the button below
- Pay your £500 non-refundable deposit to lock in your waitlist early bird price of £1,950
- Priya will be in touch directly with next steps, the confirmed retreat dates, and balance payment details
14 spots. Waitlist early bird: £1,950. Balance due January. Flights not included.
Waitlist early bird closes — 5 December 2026, 12pm UK time
Questions? Reply to any email from Priya or reach out on Instagram @priya.joi