Eat. Write. Heal.

Nurturing mind, body and soul for creative people

Join us for coffee or breakfast, followed by quick, informative, practical sessions to fill your creative well, connect with kindred spirits and write great stories.

We offer a supportive, uplifting community, with talented Tutors and spirited writers.

Eat. Write. Heal is a live event in Dunedin, on Sunday 15th of October 2023: from 8 - 10 am.

This sets you up for a day at The Dunedin Writer's Festival.

EAT: 8 - 8.45 PM; THE PERK CAFE, 142 STUART STREET, NEAR THE OCTAGON. PRICE: from $5 - $30 (own cost)

- Optionally join us at The Perc Cafe for coffee or breakfast prior to the learning session

- Fresh, quick, delicious, healthy cabinet food

- Purchase your own to suit your unique dietary preferences

- Informal meet and greet social function

- Walk 300 metres (3-4 mins) to Library

- Option to meander through the Writer's Walk (commemorative plaques) and view street art around the Octagon on the way from the cafe, to the library, with your personal guide, Julia.

WRITE: 9 - 10 AM; DUNNINGHAM SUITE, LEVEL 4, DUNEDIN PUBLIC LIBRARY. PRICE: FREE. OUR GIFT TO YOU.

Get ready!

Get Set!

Now WRITE!

Re-convene in the nearby library for a Wee Write Inn
Follow our creative writing prompts to bring some sizzle to your style
Q & A Time - ask us anything

HEAL: 10 - 11.00 AM; DUNNINGHAM SUITE, LEVEL 4, DUNEDIN PUBLIC LIBRARY.

As writer's ourselves, we are aware of the common doubts and questions writer's have about themselves and their work.

In this nourishing Mind-Body-Soul session, we bring awareness to quick and easy practices, tips and techniques that help alleviate the doubts, stress and worry you have about writing, so you can be more creative.

We discuss things like:

Who are you really? Seek, find, feel and use your authentic voice.
Finding your north star: Why must your story be told?

Practical sessions: on wellness tips and tricks to help writers alleviate, process and heal stress, trauma and anxiety.
Mindfulness, breath and stretching for invoking different states, and then writing from those places.
Writing About Personal Traumatic Experiences: how to approach the difficult, the painful, and the highly charged without re-traumatizing yourself.
Calm The Farm: How trauma lives in the body and nervous system, how to understand your responses, and how to lean in to your feelings, while writing the story down.
What works?

Helpful herbs and nutraceuticals
Teas and tinctures for improving brain function
the power of plants for inspiring creativity
allowing nature to support restful sleep.

We also cover a brief overview of various healing techniques and wellbeing practices

What they do and how they help creative people?

An introduction to ways to support the min-body-soul connection:

Forest Bathe-ing, Reiki energy healing, or any form of massage
Somatic therapies, sound healing, or any form of hot pool therapy,
Breathwork, meditation, visualisation and chakra balancing to restore peace
Mirror-work, daily journals, crystals, grounding with nature.
How to create and throw energy balls (this is really cool!) :)
Hypnotherapy, acupuncture, and other wellness and wellbeing practices and modalities.

About Our facilitators

Meet Dr Julia Anne

Dr Julia Anne, is an award-winning scientist, writer and entrepreneur.

She’s also a performance poet and author of the creative non-fiction stories: Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur & Secret Diary of a Writer.

Julia has nearly 30 years of experience writing across many genres and styles: mainly business, PR, literary tourism, the Shared Access Economy, plant molecular biology and creative.

As Founder and Managing Director of the 'Look After Me' Accommodation Network, during Covid-19, Julia pivoted the company and has created retreats, live events and educational experiences for writers.

All events, but especially this Eat. Write. Heal Event adhere to a 'look after me' wellness and wellbeing philosophy.

As Facilitator, Julia will lead the creative writing sessions, quick writes as well as the Masterclass on Structure.

Passionate about looking after people, as a mindfulness and meditation practitioner for about 30 years, Julia shares her quick, practical and easy mindfulness, breathing and stretching techniques that are helpful for creative people.

Julia will also offer a self-care group therapy session, aligning chakras (the 7 wheels of energy in the body), and connecting with your higher self as a way to approach difficult, painful, and highly charged experiences without re-traumatizing yourself.

Meet Dr Dacia Garcia -

Eat. Feel. Heal.

Dr Dacia Garcia is both a qualified doctor (GP with an MD) as well as a Naturopath (ND).

Dacia will discuss nutrition for writers to help alleviate and heal stress, trauma and anxiety.

She will also discuss helpful herbs and nutraceuticals for improving brain function, which is critical for writers as they navigate the complexities of story telling.

Finally, Dacia will talk about sleep from a mind, body, soul perspective.

About Dunedin

Dunedin is New Zealand's only UNESCO City of Literature, so it's where writers come to read, write, learn, eat, play, stay and heal.

It’s also the home of the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival, which brings local, national and international writers to Dunedin to celebrate words, stories and ideas.

Need a place to stay?

No problem. Look After Me will look after you. We have 3-4 Day Thee Write Away Accommodation and "write-seeing" packages.

We'll share our local secrets of the most stunning beaches, endearing wildlife, historical architecture, fantastic bookshops and mouth-watering restaurants.

We're both an events and accommodation network, so we know safe and comfortable places to stay in Dunedin. Make a note in the comments, and we'll send you separate information about bed and breakfasts, homestays, self-contained units, holiday houses or lodges suitable for writers coming to this event.

Eat. Write. Heal.

Our time together will be an immersive experience of writing, story telling and connection.

We'll nourish our deepest self, fill our inner well of inspiration and tap into creativity and joy.

It's time to Eat, Write & Heal

Find your tribe.

Free your voice

Tell your stories!

Thanks to Our Supporters, Suppliers and Funding

We are grateful to all the tutors, individuals, organisations and businesses who have support this and other events for writers, with funding, logistics, risk-management, catering, venues, photography, marketing, in-kind and cash contributions or sponsorship.

Thank you!

Please note: Funding partners for our 2023 events are still being finalised as sponsorships and partnerships are being secured, so this may change slightly.

For all our new writers - welcome to our community - we are writers, authors, publishers, booksellers and tutors, private businesses, council owned organisations and national funding bodies, and of course a whole lot of accommodation hosts who have come together to support story telling in New Zealand.

Look After Me loves creating, hosting or being involved in memorable, enjoyable events in New Zealand communities.

Can't make it in April? No problem join us in October, in Dunedin.

We are now also selling the Great Write Inn: Romance at Olveston. A literary workshop on Thursday 12th of October 2023.

Visit https://events.humanitix.com/t... to learn more.