Between Alps and Leman Lake, we swap emails for a notebook and the anxiety of the blank page for a view of the water. At the Royal Hotel of Évian-les-Bains, Douglas Kennedy invites a handful of aspiring writers to write by the shores of Lake Geneva and to tame the mechanics of storytelling, in a bubble where we breathe, observe, and take notes. This meeting crystallizes a true thrill of the moment: the rise of writers’ retreats and writing trips, where one departs “pen in hand” to disconnect, draw inspiration from places, and transform travel into a creative momentum.
By the Leman Lake, a handful of writers sharpen their pens with Douglas Kennedy as part of an unprecedented writing retreat at the Royal Hotel of Évian-les-Bains. This tight two-day meeting, between workshops, one-on-ones, and starry dinners, embodies a broader phenomenon: the rise of writers’ retreats and writing trips, where one sets off as much to change the air as to change the paragraph. From the bucolic lands of the Périgord to the Breton abbeys, from traveling book clubs to cruises with authors, literature becomes a destination in itself – notebook open, phone off, imagination in full swing.
Writing by Lake Geneva with Douglas Kennedy
A Proustian setting between Alps and Lake Geneva
When a French-speaking American novelist places his notebooks in a palace that Proust himself appreciated, the temptation is great to write straighter than ever. Nestled between the Alps and Leman Lake, the Royal Hotel of Évian-les-Bains unfolds a five-star backdrop to host, on October 4 and 5, a small group of participants determined to turn the view into narrative material. Douglas Kennedy, who has just finished a new manuscript and taken a “disconnected” hiatus, opens this creative interval where the landscape acts as a springboard for the imagination.
Morning workshops, one-on-ones in the afternoon, and “words and dishes” in the evening
The weekend is structured with collective sessions in the morning – dynamic, focused, almost metronomic – followed by individual interviews in the afternoon, where each text finds its rhythm. In the evening, it’s time for discussions “around words and dishes” during a starry dinner. The cherry on the notebook: the author reads and supports the pages started after the stay, to prolong the momentum once home. An intimate formula, human-sized, designed to write without losing the thread – nor the view.
Demystifying the novel, seeing the world as a writer
No magic wand in two days – and that’s for the best. Kennedy advocates for a toolbox: structure of the narrative, character creation, daily discipline, managing blocks, and that famous exposition scene that establishes a universe in a few pages (Flaubert provides a memorable model at the threshold of Madame Bovary). The core message: learning to “look like a writer,” with curiosity and precision. And he smiles while reminding that there are, it is said, “three rules for writing a novel”… that no one really knows. In other words: room for rigor and audacity, under the gaze of an author with millions of readers.
A renewed enthusiasm for writers’ retreats and writing trips
Leaving routine, opening creative space
Writing has always been an inner journey. But moving it in space offers it new fuel: new horizons, new sensations, a new perspective on everyday life. In Bordeaux, the founder of Narrations, Anne Caumes, has imagined at the Domaine de Merle-Haut residences where one “breathes” between a pool, centennial oaks, and countryside as far as the eye can see. Participants – these self-proclaimed “writers” – find there a bubble without management, conducive to freeing ideas.
When the school of writing hits the road
For decades a reference, Aleph-Writing offers complete stays: transfers, accommodation, full board, and a creative cruising pace – three hours in the morning, three hours in the afternoon – led by professionals trained in-house. In 2024, no less than 39 residencies gathered around 190 participants, from the abbey of Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer to the Royal Manufacture of Lectoure, passing through Berlin, Warsaw, or Lisbon. Next stops in sight: a travel notebook in Hyères and nomadic poetry in Arles.
A beneficial transition
For some travelers, the simple act of tearing oneself away from their markers acts as a transition. Upon returning from a residency in the former home of Roger Martin du Gard in the Orne, a participant recounts a “beneficial confinement” and a well-filled box of creative tools – without mandatory exoticism, just the right distance between oneself and their pages.
Nomadic book clubs: reading in the right place
Across the Channel, the wave of book clubs has revived the idea of reading retreats. The British agency Ladies Who Lit, born in 2023, gathers readers in charming hotels – from Mykonos to the Sicilian countryside, to the Caribbean – and often sells out a few hours after publication. The ambition? To offer meaningful experiences, a “reset” where literature adds depth to the journey.
Books in Place: when the place illuminates the text
In Bristol, Books in Place links a destination to a book: Jane Austen in Bath, Ian Fleming in Jamaica, Eli Shafak in Istanbul, Daphne du Maurier in Cornwall. One visits the places of the story, absorbs the atmospheres, debates – whether popular or classic, the works are chosen for their quality and their ability to narrate a territory. From two initial trips in 2023 to 24 proposals in 2025, the curve follows a very clear desire: to educate while entertaining.
Pens at sea, feet in the vines
The personality of the guests also matters. On the Atlantic, Cunard highlights a crossing Le Havre – New York aboard the Queen Mary 2 (May 1 to 8, 2026) with authors from the League of the Imagination such as Bernard Werber, Maxime Chattam, or Niko Tackian. On land, the agency La Vie Bonne combines wine tasting and writing workshop in the Bordeaux vineyards, under the guidance of guests like the novelist Lilia Hassaine or the philosopher Margaux Cassan.
Upon return: the travel notebook schools
To extend the momentum, workshops dedicated to the travel notebook are blooming in Paris and beyond – at Les Mots, at the Atelier de la Salamandre… With a useful reminder from Douglas Kennedy: doubt is the paradoxical ally of any creation. Too little, one becomes complacent; too much, one remains frozen. It is necessary to keep just enough to move forward.
Travel Diary
Royal Hotel, Évian-les-Bains
First writing retreat organized by Douglas Kennedy on October 4 and 5. On the menu: collective workshops each morning (in blocks of 45 minutes), individual interviews in the afternoon, introspective time, intimate dinner at the chef’s table, and follow-up of the texts after the stay. Starting from €1,290 in a single room, €2,190 in a double room, with breakfast included. Tel: 04 50 26 50 50.
Narrations – Domaine de Merle-Haut (Périgord)
Writing residencies all year round in an old agricultural estate, workshops in a chicken coop transformed into a bright room overlooking the pool and the countryside. Weekends starting from €210, stays starting from €460 (excluding accommodation). Night on site starting from €30. Tel: 06 51 61 99 31.
La Vie Bonne (Bordeaux vineyard)
Stays and days at the crossroads of fine wines and literary creation: retreats at the Lafaurie-Peyraguey castle, workshops around noir novels at the Chasse-Spleen castle, philosophical getaway facing the Arcachon basin. Starting from €210 per day, around €1,900 for the all-inclusive stay. Tel: 06 86 36 47 31.
Marais Hôme (Paris 11th)
In the autumn, first “writing while traveling” workshops in partnership with Aleph-Writing: four sessions of 3 hours with timely themes – “Room with a View”, “Postcards from Paris”… On October 7 and 14, then November 3 and 11. €50 per session. Tel: 01 80 05 21 30.
