Kathleen Rooney

Kathleen is a founding editor of Rose Metal Press, a non-profit publisher of literary work in hybrid genres, as well as a founding member of Poems While You Wait, a team of poets and their typewriters who compose commissioned poetry on demand. She teaches in the English Department at DePaul University, and her recent books include the national best-seller, Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk (St. Martin’s Press 2017) and the novel Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey (Penguin 2020). Where Are the Snows, her latest poetry collection, was chosen by Kazim Ali for the X.J. Kennedy Prize and published by Texas Review Press in Fall 2022. Her newest novel From Dust to Stardust, based on the life and work of the silent movie star Colleen Moore, is out with Lake Union as of September 2023, and her picture book Leaf Town Forever, co-written with her sister Beth Rooney, is forthcoming from University of Minnesota Press.

Her reviews and criticism have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Poetry Foundation website, The New York Times Book Review, Allure, The Chicago Review of Books, The Chicago Tribune, The Paris Review, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Nation and elsewhere. She lives in Chicago with her spouse, the writer Martin Seay. 

Chetan Mahajan

Chetan Mahajan is the co-founder of the Himalayan Writing Retreat. A Penguin-published author, he quit the corporate world and moved to a village in the Himalayas to be a full-time author, blogger, and teacher almost a decade ago. He is also a writing coach with the London based “the writing coach”.

Chetan blogs about life in a Himalayan village at www.uncity.blog. This blog won the Indiblogger award for Humor in 2017.

He is currently working on his first novel “Tara and Vishnu” and also co-authoring a non-fiction book. Chetan often writes columns for Readers Digest, Mint, Outlook Magazine, Hindu Business Line, and the Hindustan Times (Brunch).

International Writers retreat in the Himalayas

Spring 2026 – Retreat Schedule. 

You start in the cities of Delhi and Agra. Then you travel to the Himalayas. All stays and transfers are pre-arranged. The serenity of the rural Himalayas is a stark contrast to the touristy India of the first two days. In the mountains, you continue to discover a sliver of India everyday, but at a relaxed, unhurried pace. Up here, you write in the halo of Himalayan peaks which dwarf Mt. McKinley.

Program

The day-wise program is given below. We plan on having craft classes/topics each day for 2 hours, in addition, we’ll have two one-hour one-on-ones with the instructors (2 workshops a day).

Day 1, March 15, Sunday

Welcome! Arrive at Delhi Airport anytime after 12 noon on the 15^th of March. A car and a friend will meet you at the airport and bring you straight to your hotel. Your stay is arranged at the Tree of Life, one of Delhi’s best B&Bs. In addition to being highly rated, the Tree of life is close to three of Delhi’s largest malls – a great place to shop and spend time getting to know India’s crazy diversity in a safe environment.

No class on this day. 

Today, we’ll get settled and then do an ice breaker to get to know one another better.

Note: Most flights land in Delhi at unearthly hours. If your flight gets in before noon on the 15^th of March, we will still meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel. We’ve also negotiated a great room rate at which you can stay for an extra night. Please confirm your travel itinerary to us at the earliest so that we can book accordingly.

Day 2, March 16, Monday

This love story inspired a wonder of the world.

We start the day early and drive to Agra in a private coach to see the Taj Mahal. The four hour drive from our hotel will allow you to rest or sleep off some of your jet-lag. We will try and get back in time for a short session on travel and writing soon after. The round trip will take a full day. Lunch will be at one of the best hotels in Agra. We will have dinner and stay the night at our Delhi hotel.

Topic of the Day: Observation and Specific Detail (no workshop)

The liminal state of travel (and even jet-lag!) is perfect for observation—you’re extra-sensitive, raw, and open to experiencing your new surroundings in a more passive and receptive way. Today, we’ll take advantage of any discombobulation to practice openness to specific sensory detail via close observation of the world around us.

Over breakfast, you’ll receive brief instruction on our observational tasks for the day, designed to enrich and expand upon your experience at the Taj Mahal. After we return, we will reconvene over dinner to discuss our observations and tools for using those specific details in our writing during the days to come.

Henry James said: “Try to be one of those on whom nothing is lost.” This is good advice for human beings in general, but especially for writers. As we visit the Taj Mahal, consider: what can you notice in these surroundings that everyone might notice? What can you notice that very few people—or even no one but you—might notice? As you do so, remember that most people rely on their sense of sight above all the others. Can you use not only sight but also hearing, touch, smell, and taste as you try to let nothing be lost? What do the details that you take note of say about the place and the people in it? What do they say about you, the observer?  

Day 3, March 17, Tuesday

Off to the Mountains!

On the train ride to continue honing our skills of observation and connection to place, try to write a story or poem in the voice of a personified map. It can be a street map, a treasure map, a campus map, a shopping mall kiosk, etc., but use the voice to speak directly to the reader in order to get them to do or understand something. An obvious choice of map might be one you have encountered so far in your journey to get here—the airport you flew out of at your point of origin, the one at the New Delhi Airport, the hotel, the Taj Mahal, the train station. But you could also go further afield. As we did yesterday, can you have this map also appeal to all five senses? Not merely sight, but hearing, touch, smell, and taste? 

We head out early and board the train from New Delhi Railway Station to head towards the Himalayas. We board the Kathgodam Shatabdi Express train and travel First Class to the town of Kathgodam (5 hours and 40 minutes). This is where the mountains start. We transfer to taxis for the last three hours of our travel. Halfway home, we stop for lunch at the iHeart café owned and run by a couple from Bozeman, Montana (really!) who specialize in awesome coffee. We arrive at The Himalayan Writing Retreat (THWR) in Satkhol Village – our home for the next seven days.

The Himalayan Writing Retreat is custom-built for Writers to provide It is built for inspiration and serenity.  This niche property has four suites and two rooms and a full staff to cater to your needs with love and the highest standards of hygiene. The food is tasty, fresh and includes a lot of local cuisine. While we have pasta on the menu, it may have an Indian tinge.

We reach the Himalayan Writing Retreat around 4 PM and have a short session in the evening where we discuss our plan for the next few days.

Topic of the Day: Constructing Your Frame, or The Occasion of the Telling

My organizing idea for our time together is “You (or at least your writing) Can Have It All: Ensuring that Your Work in Any Genre Has All It Needs to Be the Best It Can Be.” Over the next several days, we’ll touch on the major craft elements that your work—be it fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or hybrid—must possess to help you find your most beautiful and fitting form of expression. 

We’ll begin with the idea of the frame—where you intend to start and end and why. One way to think of this crucial component of a work’s organization is as “the occasion of the telling,” something that can be broken down into three questions: 1) why are you telling this story? 2) why are you telling it in this way (from the chosen genre to the point of view)? And 3) why are you telling it now (as in the now of the work, or span of time covered, not now as in 2024 in India)? 

We will look at examples from graphic literature author Maggie McKnight and nonfiction writer Rajpreet Heir to see how crafting a clear “occasion of the telling” or frame leads not only to a more compelling beginning, but also to a more powerful takeaway or “so what?” at the end. 

Day 4, March 18, Wednesday

Early Morning: Yoga session (evening session, also on option based on demand)

Morning: workshop sessions and craft class at the Himalayan Writing Retreat.

Afternoon: an optional trip to the local school and a social enterprise. For those interested we can walk back – it is a 2 mile walk through the forest.

Evening: Open Mic Bonfire after sundown.

Topics of the Day: Sharper Imagery

Writing and reading are a form of magic; they are processes that conjure a mental picture first within the mind of the author and then in the minds of the audience. Getting yourself or someone else to imagine something in a piece of creative writing is best done through imagery, that is, the inclusion of language that evokes one or more of the five senses. Imagery relies on the use of concrete, significant detail, where concrete means the inclusion of something sensory, where significant means that a given image calls up a concept, abstraction, or even a judgment, and where detail means specificity and focus. 

We’ll analyze work by Mark Leidner, Eve Ewing, and Charles Baudelaire that use metaphors, figures of speech, and imagery to understand how best to avoid generalization and cliché and to make our own writing as enchanting as possible. 

Day 5, March 19, Thursday

Early Morning: Yoga session (evening session, also on option based on demand)

Morning: optional hike & write. After breakfast we head out for a short hike to a nearby temple on the hilltop. Along the way we stop and write sitting on a ridge in the pine forest.

Late morning/lunch: Workshop and craft class at the Himalayan Writing Retreat.

Afternoon – open time at the Himalayan Writing Retreat, or explore the forest reserve.

Evening: Bollywood movie night. It’s kitschy, yes. But it is part of the India experience. So we watch a Bollywood movie with English subtitles. And Popcorn.

Topics of the Day: Did You Hear Something? Finding Your (or your Character’s) Voice

Diction, syntax, and vocabulary, idiom, tone, and register—the components that make up what we call a writer’s voice are many and varied and when they are deftly balanced, they convey an author or a character’s emotions and attitudes. No matter what genre you are writing in, you can manipulate voice and point of view to effectively decide who you need to have standing where to watch the scene, whether this person is part of the action or outside it, and whether they are you, or close to you, or a more distant persona. 

By examining work by Sue William Silverman, Jenny Boully, and Toni Morrison, we’ll explore methods of balancing intimacy and information, psychic closeness and psychic distance, innocence and experience, thereby cultivating the best possible voice for whatever a piece is hoping to express. 

Day 6, March 20, Friday

Early Morning: Yoga session (evening session, also on option based on demand)

Morning: optional walk through a local village.

Late afternoon: generative class on writing and reflection.

Topic of the Day: Do I Know You? Creating Believable Characters

One of the most satisfying feelings when reading a creative piece is that flash of recognition mixed with realness—I know this person! Be it a persona poem, a memoir, or a work of fiction, feeling as though a writer has fully, three-dimensionally, and even under the surface concocted a believable character is a thrill. On the page, we often get to know people far better than we get to know those in our actual lives. The way this is done is through five categories of characterization. The first four are direct: 1) image or appearance, 2) voice or speech, 3) action, and 4) thought. The fifth is indirect: 5) telling or authorial interpretation. 

Reading work by Sommer Browning, Les Murray, Myfanwy Collins, and Nicole Rivas, we will explore how the use of all five of these methods can paint vivid verbal portraits of characters. Additionally, we’ll see how incorporating characters’ desires and conflicts, their fitting in and their being at odds with their surroundings, can give you the ingredients to create tension and make your story go somewhere.   

Day 7, March 21, Saturday

Early Morning: Yoga session (evening session, also on option based on demand)

Morning: workshop session and craft class at the Himalayan Writing Retreat.

Midday and afternoon: we head over to the hill-town of Mukteshwar, a one hour drive. We visit the ancient temple of Mukteshwar.

Topics of the Day: What’s Happening? Making Sure You’ve Got the Plot

E.M. Forster said: “The king died and then the queen died is a story. The king died, and then queen died of grief is a plot.” In other words, story is everything our audience needs to know to make sense of the plot, and the plot has to do with causality—not just what events are happening, but how they relate and why. 

Stories are built of both scene, or showing, and summary, or telling; striking the right balance between the two is crucial to making your reader feel propelled from one sentence to the next. There are numerous creative ways to develop and structure the conflict, crisis, and resolution, not to mention dynamic character change, that the most satisfying narratives tend to provide. Looking at work by Jennifer L. Knox, Bruce Holland Rogers, and Jasmine Sawers, we’ll discuss how the most mundane and the most outlandish or fantastical plots can be made to work effectively for the stories you want to tell. 

Day 8, March 22, Sunday

Early Morning: Yoga session (evening session, also on option based on demand)

Morning: free writing time at the Himalayan Writing Retreat, or explore on your own. 

Afternoon: Workshop session and craft class at the Himalayan Writing Retreat.

Topic of the Day: On the Surface & Under it: Dialogue and Interiority

In response to the question of why we read, David Foster Wallace said: “I don’t know what it’s like inside you and you don’t know what it’s like inside me. A great book allows me to leap over that wall.” Literature is arguably the most intimate and interior of all the arts. It grants us the superpower of being able to see what it might be like to be another person. Without literature and without reading, we would really only have access to the inside of one single mind. Our own. But with literature, we can transport ourselves deep inside the brains and see through the eyes of infinite other people, from those who behave very much as we do to those whose behavior could scarcely be more divergent from our own.

By looking at dialogue—a technique that lets our reader essentially eavesdrop on characters who have no idea an outside party is listening—and interiority—a quality that lets our reader into the head and heart of a character in a way almost nothing else does, we’ll figure out how to blend the external and the internal. By practicing free indirect discourse, authorial intrusion, dialogue tags and more, we’ll discuss how to write in a way that allows our stories, no matter how fanciful, to achieve the ring of truth.

Day 9, March 23, Monday

Early Morning: Yoga session (evening session, also on option based on demand)

Morning: workshop session and craft class at the Himalayan Writing Retreat.

Afternoon: Optional hike to visit the ancient Kapileshwar temple (said to be over 1000 years old).

Topics of the Day: Development & Revision

Most of what we call writing is actually rewriting. Rough drafts are wonderful to complete because then, you get to go back through and unwrap all the presents you wittingly or unwittingly hid for yourself. Or, to borrow loosely from the world of painting, first you sketch, then you fill in, then you embellish. 

Once you’ve generated a draft—or several—you must decide how to close in on the final one. With examples from Elisa Gabbert, Elizabeth Bishop, and Jorge Luis Borges, we’ll explore how best to improve our work. We’ll particularly discuss how if you merely tweak a few commas or correct some typos, you are tiptoeing toward improvement, but if you take bigger risks and re-imagine more boldly, you might be able to leap toward greatness. 

Day 10, March 24, Tuesday

Early Morning: Yoga session

Morning: We pack up and head back to Delhi by taxi and train. Our stay in Delhi the night of April 9^th is again at the Tree of Life.

Day 11, March 25, Wednesday 

Morning: After breakfast we check out from the hotel and head out for a guided tour of Delhi. We are reviewing the tour we plan to take, and may visit some of the better museums or tourist attractions in this tour. We’ll have a farewell lunch at Cafe Lota, one of Delhi’s nicer restaurants.

In the second half we will have some free time and the option to do our last minute shopping from places we will hand pick for you. Airport drops are arranged for everyone based on your flight schedule. Those wishing to keep the room for an extra night can stay on at a pre-negotiated rate. 

You’re probably traveling to India for the first time and have many questions you want answers to. We’ve tried to answer some of those here. We’ll also answer specific questions during online info-sessions we have with all participants before your travel.

Q.  Do I need a Visa?

A . Citizens from some countries need visas in advance. Travelers from Maldives and Japan can get a visa on arrival. To get more details, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_India#Visa-free_entry . Citizens of most countries (including UK, USA and Singapore) can obtain an e-visa for their travel. The latest updated information is at https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/tvoa.html .

Q. Okay, so I need a visa. How do I get it?

A. It’s actually pretty simple, as now you can get an e-visa. That means you don’t have to go anywhere in person or stand in Iine. You can apply online, and the visa will come to you in the email. Simply carry a printout of it with you. You can apply for the e-visa here. https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/tvoa.html

Q. When is the best time to buy my ticket?

A. The sooner you buy your ticket, the better the price you get. If you decide to buy a non-refundable ticket, do so once you have your visa in hand. Sometimes visa processing can take longer than anticipated. And you would not want potential visa related delays messing up your travel budget. So to get the best fare, apply for the visa at the earliest.

Q. Are there any non-stop flights? Should I fly non-stop or take a stopover?

A. A non-stop flight can mean 15 hours on a plane. It’s a very personal call. We’ve always enjoyed a layover at a city like Frankfurt or Istanbul. Amsterdam is a personal favourite for the amazing cheese they sell. But that’s us. 

United, Air India and American offer non-stop flights from big cities like Chicago/New York. They’re usually more expensive.

Q. Do I need travel insurance?

A. Yes, you need travel insurance. It is simplest to buy online. You can also use a trusted agent.

Q. What about food and water? Will I get sick?

A. You should only drink bottled water. Never drink tap water, or even brush your teeth with it. We provide for safe bottled water for all your travels. The food you eat should be freshly cooked and from the safest sources. Avoid anything raw or from the street. Avoid uncooked foods like cut fruit or salads. Travelers diarrhea can happen to tourists anywhere and the best way to avoid it is to eat and drink from safe places. In addition, maintain the highest standards of hygiene by frequently washing your hands and so on.

All the places where you will stay or eat with us are very sensitive to the needs of international tourists, and maintain the highest levels of hygiene.

Q. Do I need shots?

A. Yes. Visit your local doctor before your trip and get a round of shots. More detailed information is available here . 

Q. What sort of weather should I expect?

A.  India is a warm country. Your stay in the plains will be in Delhi. During spring and fall days Delhi is warm and sunny, sometimes hot. Evenings may be comfortable. You can see the climate chart for Delhi here.

The bulk of your time will be spent in the Himalayas in Satkhol village. Satkhol is not on the weather map but you can see weather forecasts for Mukteshwar which is six miles away (and 1000 feet higher). The climate chart for Mukteshwar is here.

The temperature in the Himalayas varies during these seasons. It can go from warm, sunny days to cool evenings and cold nights – colder if it rains. Although fall and spring are not the rainy season, showers can happen so it is best to pack layers. Buildings here do not have heating so you’ll wear warm layers indoors as well. 

Q. How should I plan to dress for India?

A.  Except for big cities like Delhi, Indians tends to dress conservatively. While men can wear whatever is comfortable for them, women face some challenges.

– Shorts, tank tops and tops that show cleavage – though comfortable for Delhi – are not appropriate for public places or religious monuments

– Short sleeve tops are fine everywhere (bare shoulders/sleeveless tops are okay for Delhi)

– Any lower that is mid calf or longer – tights worn with long tops, capris, trousers, skinny jeans, skirts, dresses – are fine for everywhere

– Most people find keeping a scarf or thin cotton shirt to wear over a top (if it is sheer or figure hugging) and trousers or long dresses handy when travelling around.

It is also best to bring a wide brimmed hat, shades and lots of sunscreen. These will come in handy when dealing with the Delhi sun/heat as well as the bright sunshine of the mountains.

Q. How much money should I carry?

A. Your stay and transfers are all taken care of by us. Credit cards work in urban areas but not in Dilli Haat (where you may go shopping). In the rural Himalayas – where the retreat is – there won’t be too much to buy.  Avoid carrying too much cash on you.

Q. What about electrical devices? Will my laptop / phone charger work?

A. The power supply in India is the same as UK and the Middle-east, although the plug points are different. India’s power supply differs from the US.  Indian power is 220 volts while the US is 110 volts. Avoid bringing high wattage things like hair dryers, etc. We’ve actually seen stuff like that go “poof” in a cloud of smoke.  

Electronic devices such as laptop and phone chargers mostly work with 220 volts. Please read the voltage range given on the devices you plan to carry. If the “input” reads 110-240 volts you’re good. But if the input says “110 volts” only then you may need to buy an adapter or charger for India.

Q. Will there be Wi-fi?

A. The Delhi hotel “Tree of life” has internet connectivity in all rooms. The Himalayan Writing Retreat also has fairly decent broadband, but not in all rooms. We have  broadband in most common areas. Our Wi-fi is a 100 Mbps fiber-optic line with an uptime of 95%+.

However, because of our remote location, the occasional outage can happen. A local Jio SIM/ Dongle is a good backup. That can also come in handy in case of the rare event of the power failure for more than 3-4 hours (our two inverters last that long).

Q. Can I get a local mobile phone connection? Will I need one?

A. Your phone company probably offers an international roaming package. They can be expensive but maybe the simplest choice. There are also some other services such as https://www.trabug.com/ but we don’t have any first-hand reports on these yet.

Will you really need one? Since you will mostly be in a group with people you know it is not essential, but it does help if you have one. It can be helpful for coordinating things, and certainly if you like to go exploring on your own.

Q. What should I do when I land in Delhi?

Most flights reach Delhi at a rather unearthly hour. When you exit the airport, someone will be waiting there holding a prominent placard with your name on it. After you link up with the person picking you up, we will request you to give a confirmatory call from the phone of the person receiving you. We will share India contact phone numbers, names and other details with you during the info session. If by any chance you cannot spot your name on the placards, call the contact number we give you.

Q. Do I need to carry any medicines?

If you take specific medicines on an occasional or regular basis, please carry enough to last your entire trip. Medicines are available in Delhi but the brands, salts and dosage might be different from what you are used to. The Himalayan Writing Retreat is located in a rural area. We have doctors at hand but we are 2 1/2 hours away from the nearest emergency room and well stocked medical store. So, it may be wise to carry a basic medical kit (the kind you would carry on a hike). You could include medicines for an upset tummy, travel/motion sickness (if you suffer from it), jet lag (optional), fever, common cold, allergies, aches and pains. 

* Please also let us know if you suffer from any food related allergies, or have specific dietary requirements.

Have more questions? Feel free to write to us at info@himalayanwritingretreat.com .