UNITED KINGDOM

Authors teaching workshops: Pulitzer Prize winner: ROBERT OLEN BUTLER Pulitzer Prize winner; EDWARD HUMES Contributing Editor from VANITY FAIR: ALEX SHOUMATOFF Authors giving Lectures: ALISON WEIR

There have been three main periods in the construction of this historic castle. The oldest part of the castle dates to 1270 and consisted of the gatehouse and a walled bailey. In the early 1500s the Bullen family bought the castle and added a Tudor dwelling within the walls and so it became the childhood home of its most famous inhabitant, Anne Boleyn. It later passed into the ownership of Henry’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. From 1557 onwards the Castle was owned by a number of families including the Waldegraves, the Humfreys and the Meade Waldos. Finally, in 1903, William Waldorf Astor invested time, money and imagination in restoring the Castle, building the ’Tudor Village’ and creating the gardens and lake. Since 1983, the castle has been owned by Broadland Properties Limited and open to the public. The castle has a homely atmosphere and houses historic 16th century Tudor portraits, furniture and tapestries. Other artefacts include two magnificent Books of Hours (prayer books), both signed and inscribed by Anne Boleyn. Costumed figures of Henry VIII and his six wives in the Long Gallery adds to the atmosphere and is popular with the children. The Council Chamber in the thirteenth century gatehouse contains collections of historic swords, armour, instruments of execution, torture and discipline.

Elegant three-course FORMAL DINNERS in HEVER CASTLE. Dinner is the castle is only available for private events. We will be seated in the magnificent wood paneled Tudor Suite Dining Room. Meals will be prepared by the award winning chef Les Woolven, using local produce.

All activities will take place at Hever Castle, we will have exclusive use of the Astor Wing at Hever Castle for our event. Authors teaching workshops: (1) Robert Olen Butler--Ficition (2) Edward Humes--Non-Fiction (3( Alex Shumatoff--Memoir--two groups, 3 days each.

Arrival: November 21 @ 12:30 pm (Wednesday)

2:30 - 5:00 Workshop w/Robert Olen Butler or Edward Humes

6:00 Lecture/dinner: Best selling author and British Historian, ALISON WEIR, in the form of biographies about British royalty. Her works on the Tudor period have made her a best-selling author. She is the highest-selling female historian in the United Kingdom. 1989's Britain's Royal Families, Weir's first published work, was a genealogical overview of the British Royal Family. She subsequently wrote biographies of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of England, Katherine Swynford, and the Princes in the Tower. Other focuses have included Henry VIII of England and his wives and children, Mary Boleyn, Elizabeth I, and Mary, Queen of Scots. She has published historical overviews of the Wars of the Roses and royal weddings, as well as historical fiction novels on Lady Jane Grey, Elizabeth I, and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Thursday (Thanksgiving) 8:30 - 11:00 Workshop w/Robert Olen Butler or Edward Humes 11:30 - 2:30 Workshop w/Alex Shoumatoff

6:00 Lecture/Dinner: ROBERT OLEN BUTLER, followed by a Special Thanksgiving dinner.

Friday: 8:30 -11:00 Workshop w/Robert Olen Butler or Edward Humes 11:30 - 2:30 Alex Shoumatoff

6:00 Lecture/dinner. ERIC IVES, British historian and an expert on the Tudor period. In 2001, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his services to history. Ives is particularly noted for his work on the life of Anne Boleyn.

Saturday: 8:30 - 11:00 Workshops w/Robert Olen Butler or Edward Humes 11:30 - 2:30 Workshop w/Alex Shoumatoff

6:00 Lecture/Dinner: EDWARD HUMES, received a Pulitzer Prize for his newspaper coverage of the military, a PEN Center USA award for No Matter How Loud I Shout, a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism for “The Forgotten,” his LA Magazine account of life inside Los Angeles’s nightmarish home for neglected children, and a Silver Gavel honor for Monkey Girl. The Washington Post named School of Dreams a best book of 2003; the Los Angeles Times named Mean Justice a best book of 1999.

Sunday: 8:30 - 11:00 Workshop w/Robert Olen Butler or Edward Humes 11:30 - 2:30 Workshop w/ Alex Shoumatoff

6:00 Lecture/Dinner: ALEX SHOUMATOFF, Contributing editor Alex Shoumatoff first broke into the pages of Vanity Fair in 1986, with a piece on the murder of Dian Fossey, an American zoologist who was fighting for the survival of the mountain gorillas in Rwanda. Since then he has written dozens of pieces for the magazine, many of them from the world’s most remote and inaccessible places, including the Amazon and Tibet. The author of 10 books, he founded Dispatches from the Vanishing World in 2001. The site, which is read each month by people from more than 90 countries, is dedicated to raising consciousness about the world’s fast-disappearing natural and cultural diversity, and to promoting the societal transformation that needs to happen if the planet’s life-support systems are to remain viable much longer. A guitar player and songwriter since the 1960s, Shoumatoff is finally releasing his first CD, Suitcase on the Loose, a bag of tunes written over the last 38 years.

Monday is a FREE day.

Tuesday: Workshop: 8:30 - 11:30 Edward Humes

6:00 Lecture/Dinner ALISON WEIR and SARAH GRISTWOOOD

Departure: 10:30

Price depends upon accommodation and it includes: Six elegant 3 course dinners in the castle. Dinners; (1) Five Day writing workshops with choice of two award winning authors: ROBERT OLEN BUTER or EDWARD HUMES; (2) 3 day workshop with Contributing Edition, ALEX SHOUMATOFF; (2) personal consultations. 6 nights of Lectures/Readings.

Rooms have been recently refurbished to an outstanding level of style and sophistication. All bedrooms are en suite, with antique furnishings. Whilst staying at this superb location, participants have the opportunity to visit the historic castle that was once the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I.

Single Room: $4,600

Shared twin room: $3,300

If you want to bring a guest, there will be an additional fee of $1,475.