Temporarily closed due to the pandemic

Hello and thank you for your interest in retreating to Anam Cara. From where I sit in my cocoon, it seems that the best we can do at the moment is wait each day to see what the latest developments and instructions are. Because of that, I think we will have to postpone booking retreats until we can find a time that will work safely for everybody. Right now, it sounds like none of us should be going too far from home as well as we should still be spending as little time as possible in close proximity to others. Please let me know how best to reach you, and I'll be in touch as soon as it will be safe to open the retreat for residencies and workshops. In the meantime, I send my best wishes for your safety and good health, Sue

Sue Booth-Forbes, Director
Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat

Diving into the Mystery: Studies in the Creative Process

In support of Pieta House Ireland, whose mission is to replace suicide, self-harm, and stigma with hope, self-care, and acceptance, Anam Cara Publishing has produced Diving into the Mystery: Studies in the Creative Process, an anthology of personal essays written by fifty-four creative people.

All proceeds will go to Pieta House. On sale Now for €12.

Diving into the Mystery: Studies in the Creative Process Diving into the Mystery: Studies in the Creative Process

In his foreword, Billy Collins writes, "This collection holds an abundance of insights into the lives of artists [from a variety of disciplines] and their approaches to creativity. Many common threads unite their commentaries. Art often happens not when you are looking straight down the path but when you catch something out of the corner of your eye. Poems come “from the fringes of attention.” Making art is a way of “understanding yourself,” or of trying to make sense of a disheveled world. Art is the result of “repetitive awareness.” Art arises out of landscape. Self-expression combines “humility and boldness” or “alertness and surrender.

"Among the many compelling notions, the most essential agreement for me was among those who saw art as a way of finding out what you think rather than just expressing the thoughts you already have. One wrote: “I don’t know what I think until I speak it.” Another gave this: “If I begin… with something I know… the poem quickly curls up and dies on the page.” In creative hands, the pen, the paint brush, the camera are not recording instruments; they are instruments of discovery."

See the following for more information and to place an order

The book price is €12 plus postage, and the following indicates methods for payment and the postage due, based on how many you order.
• Send Sue an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. indicating the number of books you would like to order.
• Include your postal address.
• Include the Euro total for the number of books you are ordering plus the postage.
• Indicate which of the following payment options you would like to use:

BANK TO BANK TRANSFER (Be sure to include your name on the transfer.)
Name on account: Susan Paxman (my banking name)
Address of bank: AIB Bank, The Square, Castletown Berehaven, Co. Cork, Ireland
Telephone number: +353 27 70015
IBAN: IE97AIBK 936278 03993193
Account No.: 03993193
Swift/BIC: AIBKIE2D

PAYPAL

Email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and I will send a PayPal request to which you can respond. The amount requested will include a PayPal service charge.

EURO CHEQUE

Please make your cheque out to Sue Paxman (my banking name) and post it to:
Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat
Eyeries, Beara
Bantry P75 DP66
Co. Cork, Ireland

POSTAL RATES FROM IRELAND

POSTAGE TO IRELAND
1 = €3.40
2 = €6.80 (2 packages)
3 = €9.00
4= €9.00
5 = €9.00
6 = €9.00
10 = €15.00
20 = €16.00

INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE

UK
1 = €5.70
2 = €11.00
3 = €11.00
4= €14.00
5 = €14.00
6 = €14.00
10 = €28. 00 (2 packages of 5)
20 = €46.50

US/CANADA/AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND
1 = €5.70
2 = €11.40 (2 packages)
3 = €15.50
4= €22.50
5 = €22.50
6 = €22.50
10 = €45.00
19 = €69.00

EUROPE
1 = €5.70
2 = €11.50 (2 packages)
3 = €11.50
4= €14.50
5 = €14.50
6 = €14.50
10 = €29.00 (2 packages of 5)
19 = €58.00 (4 packages of 5)

CASH PICK UP AT ANAM CARA

Please contact Sue about postage for other international destinations.