CERCA de RONDA - Poetry in Spain

Two Trees house for Sale

2011-10-03T09:47:00.004+01:00

Casa Taramas, the house with the patio and the tree which inspired the poem Two Trees (from Rain, Don Paterson, Faber, 2009) is for sale for 80,000 euros

Those of you who have been in the house for tutorials with Don will know it well.

However, there is a website with more pictures:

Casa Taramas

Get in touch if you know of anyone interested.

Helen Mort's First Collection

2011-09-20T11:35:00.006+01:00

I was very pleased to see the news, officially out this month, that Helen will have her first collection published by Chatto and Windus.

Assistant editor Parisa Ebrahimi said:

"Helen Mort is one of the most promising poets of her generation. Hers is a wonderfully distinct and assured voice, and the poems are taut and punchy, yet capable of moments of astonishing tenderness, as well as being superbly musical and accessible. We're thrilled to be welcoming such a gifted young poet to the Chatto list."

And who could disagree.

Titled "Division Street", the book is scheduled for early 2013 (yes, 2013, such is the speed at which the mills of big publishers grind... but the collection will certainly be fine... and hopefully not small)

So it will be a bit of a wait, but well worth it.

Next month Helen is at the Geological Society in Piccadilly for their Poetry and Geology celebration on the 10th of October. I'm going, so we'll get a chance to catch up then.

Forward Prize Shortlist

2011-08-31T14:12:00.007+01:00

First news for a while - and great news too:

Judy Brown's new collection "Loudness" has been shortlisted for the Forward prize for a first collection, so congratulations and best of luck to Judy for the prize.

The collection is published by Seren, and should be available soon from their online shop.

The Forward Prize for Best First Collection shortlist:

Rachael Boast Sidereal
Judy Brown Loudness
Nancy Gaffield Tokaido Road
Ahren Warner Confer
John Whale Waterloo Teeth
Nerys Williams Sound Archive

The Forward Prize Best Collection shortlist:

John Burnside Black Cat Bone
David Harsent Night
Geoffrey Hill Clavics
Michael Longley A Hundred Doors
D Nurkse Voices Over Water
Sean O’Brien November

The Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in memory of Michael Donaghy shortlist:

R. F. Langley To a Nightingale
Alan Jenkins Southern Rail (The Four Students)
Sharon Olds Song the Breasts Sing to the Late-in-Life Boyfriend
Jo Shapcott Bees

Picador Prize Winner

2011-01-23T14:07:00.005Z

I went to the Picador Prize award evening. It was a bit tense in the lead up to the announcement of the winner, the poets having to do a reading while trying to maintain their composure. However, they all managed it. The prize went to Richard Meier, despite his never having been on Cerca de Ronda...

It was a good night (free wine) and I enjoyed the evening even though somewhat tempered by the fact that Helen Mort didn't win. She took it well though. And in any case, everyone I spoke to seemed in agreement that Helen's poetry future is assured. So, we should see her first collection before too long.

Don Paterson and John Stammers were two of the judges and, as it's been a while since I've seen them, it was good to catch up and hear how they're doing.

I also saw Jacqueline Saphra, who has a collection coming out soon. So I shall look out for that.

The Picador Prize

2010-12-12T12:59:00.002Z

We are pleased to see Helen Mort's been shortlisted for the Picador Prize. The results aren't out till January, so she'll have to contain herself for a bit.

You can get all the details here:

http://www.picador.com/poetryprize2010/

It's been a good year for Helen, what with being the Wordsworth Poet in Residence as well, and getting to live in the Lake District, where currently, as the pic she sent us this week shows, it is a bit wintry.

Not that different from the view from my window in London recently, just fewer houses and higher hills. But the amount of snow was the same...

We are hoping to drop in on Helen en route to Glasgow this weekend, weather permitting. She was also saying she might be having some more permanent company - in the form of a dog. Looks like it's going to be a whippet - appropriate for a runner.

So will A Pint for the Ghost be followed by The Hair of the Dog? Perhaps it would be a natural progression, especially if the whippet's done a bit of wraithing....

Don's Official Website

2010-12-02T11:10:00.008Z

Having been so used to seeing the "under construction" welcome on his website I've been a bit tardy in realising it was up and running and so not posting the links here. Anyway, just mark his handsome coupon on the right with a click and be transported... or click on this link
http://donpaterson.com/index.htm

The other new item is, of course, his book on Shakespeare's sonnets. But don't bother to click on it here: the link doesn't work.

The image was borrowed from Amazon, where, of course you can buy all of Don's books if you haven't got them already.

You won't be able to buy any of his CDs, although, given the amount of material on his website, you hardly need to.

Congratulations to Judy

2010-11-02T20:54:00.006Z

Good news to hear Judy Brown is the winner of the Manchester Poetry Prize 2010.

http://www.manchesterwritingcompetition.co.uk/poetry/winners.php

I'd love to be able to say she has offered to give us a few bob to tide us over these crisis-ridden times, but, no.

Though I shall be giving her a call....

It´s Hail, Mary...

2010-09-25T11:44:00.010+01:00

Extreme weather is not that unusual here.
Last winter brought the floods, and this summer has been really hot with temperatures in the 40s. The swimming pool did good business....

This week has been ridiculously windy, with all sorts of stuff flying around the village. But worst of all happened last month.

In the middle of August, with high temperatures, a freak combination of conditions led to a really heavy build up of clouds.

Even the swimming pool closed early having been given warning of what was to come. It got darker and darker, then the thunder and lightning started, followed by hailstones. We were in the car, having just parked outside the house, and the noise inside was ear-splitting, as though army of drummers were banging on the roof. We had left windows open in the house, so I had to make a dash for the door and even in that short distance I got soaked and whacked by lumps of ice the size of grapes. I dashed upstairs and closed the shutters, then went up to the roof terrace. The cotton sunshade was almost touching the table underneath, so full of hailstones it was. It took half a dozen pushes to gradually empty it out onto the roof. I reckoned there was maybe 10 buckets-full of ice. One load landed on the terrace, so I took a pic.

Then, of course, a village load of ice melted and the streets were flooded instantaneously, though thankfully only for a few minutes.

I've never seen anything like it - ever.

The weather does give us some great images though. Like this pic of the church with the storm clouds behind.

Helen Mort - Wordsworth Poet in Residence

2010-09-11T23:42:00.016+01:00

Belated congratulations to Helen on getting herself a new job. Swapping the flats of Cambridge for the fells of Cumbria.

And a rather nice little pad (B&B possibilities there, I should think...)

She´s mentioned that she´s been doing a fair bit of swimming in the cold, cold water of Grasmere, wandering the fells and catching the sun glinting on water... cue for a poem, I'd say:

Helen´s on the up and up

with honours she´s been garnished,

but she went for a swim

in a mountain lake

now her reputation´s

tarn-ished...

No excuses now for not having space to write.

Check out her page on the Wordsworth Trust site.

http://www.wordsworth.org.uk/information/index.asp?pageid=53

Martin Gil

2010-05-19T17:32:00.002+01:00

The big adventure of the Spring was undoubtedly the climbing of Martin Gil. From the village there is one mountain that takes the eye - a nice cliched pyramid shape - and which dominates the view. Interestingly, I know a chap in Cortes (from where the mountain can't be seen) who didn't know which one it was... we are so parochial here. Even the accents change from village to village.

On the only day forecast not to be rainy, we climbed up from Cortes in the morning, via the track to the Llanos de Libar, on the other side of the ridge, then cut across and climbed up onto the peak.

The views were stunning. Jimera was tiny.

We could see south to the Rock of Gibraltar, the Mediterranean, and over to the Rif mountains in Morocco.

One of the surprises was the number of flowers so high up, especially some tiny wild narcissi growing among the rocks.

We had lunch watching the vultures beneath us, scrambled about on the rocks (at least I did) then headed down along the ridge towards Cortes, eventually getting back to the house at 8.45, just as it was getting dark.

And was I sore the next day?.......

Spring Flowers

2010-05-15T15:59:00.000+01:00

With all the rain over the winter, the valley is looking very green, and the flowers were especially good in April.

The usual suspects made their appearance, such as irises, broom and poppies,
and we saw some bee orchids.

Martin Gil, on the other side of the valley, was starting to look inviting...

Springs in Spring

2010-05-14T16:57:00.009+01:00

The water for the village comes from a spring (nacimiento or manantial) on the other side of the river.

Due to the limestone nature of the rocks, there are many springs which appear suddenly from the mountainside, and the one which supplies the village is known las Artezuelas, which probably derives from a word meaning small troughs, as there is a series of bowls down which the stream flows.

With all the rain over the winter, there is plenty of water, some of which is piped off and pumped up to the water treatment plant above the village. Cortes de la Frontera also gets its water from las Artezuelas.

Benaojan, the next village has a much bigger nacimiento, a regular river emerging from the rocks. It is amazing how much water appears from weird places after a lot of rain.

And, of course there is the Rio Guaduares which flows under the mountain and comes out, or this year rather bursts out, at the Cueva del Gato, where, beneath the waterfall, is the mountain pool where hardy souls can swim.

Jimera Floods

2010-01-21T20:49:00.008Z

The heavy rain which lasted for days and days, together with high winds, caused all sorts of damage around the village. This pic was taken from the bridge looking towards the station.

There were landslides, with the road to Atajate closed, and severe rockfalls on the roads to Cortes and Benaojan.

But worst of all, was the flooding in the Station Barrio, all along the river.

In this pic the car is actually floating.....

A number of cars were washed downriver.

At its maximum, should you have been standing in this street, the water would have been over head height!

These pics taken by Karl Smallman. There are more pics at his website, Secretandalucia.com.

Two Poets

2009-11-19T22:34:00.006Z

Helen Mort came to visit us in Jimera a couple of months ago, and we dropped in on Rainer in Ronda.

That little book he's holding isn't Helen's new pamphlet, "A Pint for the Ghost", published by Tall Lighthouse. Probably something not as good.

Rilke stayed in Ronda at the Reina Victoria in 1912, and they liked him so much in the town that there is now a street, a driving school, and an estate agent named after him.

So he must have been a good laugh, though you wouldn't know from the statue.

Dawn Wood

2009-11-19T21:26:00.004Z

Congratulations to Dawn for being shortlisted for the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. Her collection, "Quarry" is published by Templar Poetry. She also has a new pamphlet out - "Connoisseur" - also from Templar, and still she finds time to paint, and study for her doctorate....

Poetry London Autumn

2009-10-11T12:50:00.004+01:00

On Wednesday 14th October, Foyle's, 3rd floor Gallery, Don will be reading with Helen Farish, John Stammers, and Judy Brown.

Judy recently won the Poetry London Competition, so that was good news, as is the fact that John has a new collection, Interior Nights, coming out next year.

Hope to see some of you there.

Forward Prize 2009

2009-10-11T12:16:00.002+01:00

We were pleased to hear Don's new collection, Rain (Faber and Faber, 2009), has won the Forward Prize for Poetry. It was a strong shortlist, with, in addition to Don, Glyn Maxwell, Sharon Olds, Peter Porter, Christopher Reid and Hugo Williams.

The wins mean that Don, along with Sean O'Brien and Robin Robertson, has now won all three Forward prizes: for best first collection in 1993, with Nil Nil; last year, for best single poem, with Love Poem For Natalie "Tusja" Beridze (which is included in Rain); and, this year, for best collection, with Rain.

some people have been busy

2009-07-14T19:45:00.003+01:00

Helen Mort's new show, pamphlet and blog
http://apintfortheghost.blogspot.com/
has shown me up for a lazy so-and-so.

My excuse is that I've been busy keeping the wolves from the door, and that's why there have been no blog posts of late. However, back to Spain in a fortnight, so maybe scope for a few entries then.

Fiesta del Agua

2008-11-06T12:11:00.000Z

Since it has been raining here in London, all that water reminded me of the Fiesta del Agua back in August.
I had got myself a waterproof disposable camera, and took some good pics (if a little blurry at times, more due to the water than the cheap lens).

We participated, as do most of the villagers and visitors, and this was our fourth.

Water for the village comes from a constantly running source in the hills, not from a reservoir, so if it's not used it runs off to the river.

There is only a smallish tank and processing plant above the village, and after about an hour when the tank's getting empty, the fiesta draws to a close. By that time, everyone is worn out and just wants to stand in the sun to dry off and have a drink or two.

Autumn

2008-10-15T19:04:00.006+01:00

Season of mists...etc.

From my study I've got a good view of the local landmark hill - Martin Gil. And some days before we left the village, he didn´t so much have his hat on as have a scarf round his (thickish) neck.

The valley does look particularly charming as the winter sets in.

I'm glad we are above the clouds. Down by the river the mist lingers, and at night, it can sometimes feel a bit like Glasgow in December...

Martins

2008-10-15T17:38:00.005+01:00

The house martins are pretty much gone now except for a few transients en route from further north, but I was lucky enough to get a picture of the last one in the village as it stocked up on some last minute supplies of food...

...before later heading off into the sunset...

or rather at right angles to it. At least they know where they are going...

Summer excitement

2008-10-15T17:01:00.007+01:00

With all the hot, sunny weather this summer, the campo was extremely dry and liable to easily catch fire. And it did. We've had three major fires one of which was very close to La Jara and the village.

If the size of the blaze warrants it, helicopters are used. They carry water in large buckets slung underneath, which is then dumped on the fire.

The buckets are filled at the local swimming pool. All the people at the pool have to get out and leave the immediate area and everything gets closed up or tied down to prevent it being blown away by the draught from the rotors.

At one point, there were three helicopters circling in a relay, taking turns to fetch and carry water to the blaze.

Kids love to dress up

2008-10-13T10:24:00.005+01:00

If you are in the village at the Feria or at Christmas or at Carnival (or whenever there is an excuse, really) people get dressed up, especially the kids...both little...at the Feria...

and large...at Carnival...

Feria features

2008-10-13T10:16:00.004+01:00

For those of you who found the walk up the hill a bit of a slog, the Feria also featured a neat way of nipping up and down to the station....

and of course we had our Queen of the Feria - and a Mister Jimera, but I won´t show him as it wasn´t me...

The Feria

2008-10-13T09:46:00.004+01:00

Back in August we had the four day feria with processions and dancing and various events.
The feria is ostensibly in honour of the patron saint La Virgen de la Salud, so there are serious processions....

and....fancy dress parties....

The weather

2008-10-10T18:13:00.004+01:00

If you are curious to know what the weather is like here, then you can find out by going to the Spanish Met Agency site

http://www.aemet.es/en/eltiempo/prediccion/localidades?p=29

Click on welcome at the top right if your Spanish isn´t up to it, then select Malaga province and Jimera de Libar from the drop down menu in location (municipalidad)

At the moment it's raining....

RSS Feeds

2008-09-27T08:51:00.005+01:00

If you would like to be notified when there is a new post (i.e. once in a very blue moon) click on the RSS link to subscribe.

The music

2008-09-27T08:48:00.007+01:00

We have a music night where Don plays and I play and sing, and everyone else is free to contribute if they are not too overwhelmed...believe me, it is more fun than it looks..!
(Well, for me anyway...)

Different Beaches

2008-06-19T07:44:00.003+01:00

The difference between Spanish beaches and Scottish ones is that the Scottish ones can look more tropical.
Note the word "look"...

On Bolonia Beach

2008-05-08T21:24:00.003+01:00

It is currently raining today, so to cheer myself up here's a photo taken a couple of weeks ago on the Costa de la Luz, south of Cadiz. Here cattle roam the grass near the beach while people can choose to visit roman ruins, skinny dip, or just sit at the chiringuito and have a drink.

Flowers

2008-04-26T11:52:00.003+01:00

Here are some pictures of flowers to hopefully brighten up your day.

Some Margaritas, the white from the campo, the blue from our terrace.

And the first flowers from our clematis

Easter in Jimera

2008-04-14T00:47:00.008+01:00

Semana Santa is not so elaborate in Jimera. The largest trono seems tiny compared to those in Sevilla, needing only six people to carry it, but it still weighs a fair bit.

The kids also have a trono...

Semana Santa

2008-04-14T00:12:00.003+01:00

We went to Sevilla during Easter week, and saw some processions, which feature some great music from brass bands, and large floats called tronos.

The tronos can be particularly detailed and sculptural.They can also be heavy, weighing several tons, and are carried by squads of up to 60 costaleros. The processions can take up to an hour to pass by and involve thousands of participants.
.

La Jara

2008-03-14T15:26:00.003Z

The flowers in bloom just now are various species of broom and the rock rose (Cistus) which is known here as La Jara.

It grows, as the name suggests, in some uninviting places, such as at around 2500 feet above sea level on the hill above the village.

Walking in the Serrania

2008-03-11T11:02:00.003Z

The day after we got back, Jess and I went a walk up the hill behind the village. There are great views over to the next town, Cortes de la Frontera.

Spring and Autumn are the best times to walk - the summer months are too hot except for an hour or two in the early morning. We are looking forward to all the spring flowers which are just coming into bloom.

Different Birds

2008-02-22T11:13:00.006Z

The most spectacular and impressive sight in the Serrania is to see a griffin vulture flying close by. Only then can you appreciate the sheer size of them. I'm not sure what's the biggest bird in london. Maybe a heron - I've seen one fly over the garden - or a swan.

But vultures (and eagles) are a frequent sight in Jimera, especially further out into the more rocky areas, where they soar on the updrafts and thermals created by the terrain.

Where we are in London, this is the closest thing to a vulture - a sculpture in the Horniman Gardens.

Different flowers

2008-02-22T10:48:00.005Z

As we are in London just now, we are having to put up with reports from Jimera saying how beautiful the almond blossom is. And how all the spring flowers are emerging. One of the joys of being in Andalusia in the early months of the year is to walk out of the village and wander among the flowers in the campo.

However, we can console ourselves with the snow drops in the garden or a walk up to the Horniman Museum, where the crocuses and blossom compensate to some extent - though it will be good to get back to Spain and see a real extravaganza!

September Course Now Full

2008-02-08T00:02:00.000Z

Thanks to everyone who was interested in coming in September. We are now oversubscribed, but no doubt there will be another CdR at some point, so keep watching. In the meantime we shall keep you informed of what's happening in Jimera and round about.

If you didn't get to come then look on the bright side - you won't have to suffer the vertigo-inducing view from the Alameda in Ronda...

Oranges and Lemons

2008-02-01T11:11:00.000Z

Juan Manuel, the owner of Casa Taramas, where Don stays, has written to say that there are oranges on the lemon tree in the patio. Most of the time there are lemons, the oranges coming early, so we don't see them.(I should add that there is nothing miraculous about it - the lemon tree has a orange grafted on to it.)
In the next picture you can see a bunch of lemons coming through. Though it does look a bit magical...
And below, a picture of the patio, just as a reminder of how pleasant a spot it is.

Poems by Helen Mort

2008-01-26T11:44:00.000Z

The French For Death

I trampled ants for kicks on the quay at Dieppe, dawdling
by the desk where they wouldn’t take yes for an answer;
yes, it was our name and spelled just so –
we shook our heads at Moor and Maud and Morden,
dad traced phonetics in Oldham’s finest guttural.

Rope swung from the captain’s fist
and flayed the water. I saw him shudder, troubled
by a shift of air or a vision of our crossing: glower of thunder,
the lurch and buckle of the ferry, a thick Alsatian
with a face like Cerberus ushering us in to port

and I looked him in the eye, popped my bubblegum,
a child from the underworld in red sandals
and a t-shirt made by Disney, not yet ashamed
by that curt syllable, locked, cold to the tongue,
its hush of the morgue, not yet the girl

who takes the worst route home
pauses at the splayed mouths of alleyways
and looks straight past you as we kiss, as if to pick out
small behind your left shoulder, the spindle of a shipwreck,
prow to a far country.

From the Alameda Gardens

2008-01-25T00:05:00.001Z

Another misty Winter day in Ronda, looking south west towards Jimera, which is totally obscured by cloud. We should have a course in January, when there are so many contrasting days, with mist, cloud, sun, but unfortunately rain as well, and no guarantee which we would get.

CdR 2008

2008-01-24T23:38:00.000Z

We are now in 2008 and Jimera had its usual crowd in the square for the bells at New Year and again on the evening of the 5th of January - King's Day - when the three wise men came to the village bearing gifts for the children.
Our gift, such as it is, should make some of you happy.

CdR 2008 will run from 1st to 7th September, with Don as tutor.

There will be 8 places, some of which are pre-allocated to those who lost out last time. If you are interested, email us.

Ronda views

2007-11-03T10:24:00.000Z

Just as a reminder of Ronda, here's a link to a site which has panoramas of the new bridge etc
Cut and paste:

http://www.ronda.ws/panoramicas360/index.htm

or go to the Related Sites links below on the right...

Misty Morning

2007-09-14T20:06:00.000+01:00

After the recent thunderstorms(or tormentas, as they are known here) the whole valley was covered in mist this morning as we drove to Ronda through drifting clouds with glimpses of the river and the mountains. The weather is cooling down now and while there is less heat and sun, it is made up for by the amazing range of effects which, because we are quite high up (540 metres) seem more pronounced.
Check out the link lower down on the right to find out what the weather is like now. It opens a window with a drop down list of villages (municipios) one of which is Jimera.

Poems by Dawn Wood

2007-09-12T11:39:00.000+01:00

ANOTHER

Viva! those swimming pool swallows –
that one!
and that one!
and that one!
whose undersides mimic with blushes;

Viva! those webbed bats that softly –
that one –
and that one –
and that one –
spirit themselves from the mountain;

Viva! the days that we worked here –
when the wind and the sun graced our lifetimes –
that one!
and that one!
and that one.

Dawn Wood

ODE TO MALAGA BUS STATION

The girls at the bus stop
are all mascara, napes
and their own reflections.
A man whose eyes swallow
the colour of his T-shirt
is asking about a number 4 bus.
I shrug my shoulders
but he still sits beside me
in the space I made
and we agree, these girls dress
as if life was outside.
The beautiful old trees
are masked by traffic.
I am glad to see his bus arrive.
Any more of this and we
would be in each other’s arms.

Dawn Wood

SHIBBOLETH

She left them a note to walk the dog
and I shouldered her luggage
while the choir who know me best
would dart looks,
fascinated by twinhood.

They would keep it up
even after the obvious –
hairstyle: maybe hers is thinner,
and the glasses she’d worn
since we were eleven

after the German measles
when she’d come out of Belfast
humming hospital radio.
It might be the single, deep breaths
That have left me taller.

She’d never heard our Mag and Nunc
and I couldn’t make her see
till then, the pattern:
call – response –and call again,
or the way the composer

might play around in the setting
of his version or even let it stream,
ears of corn, through his fingers,
ringing true to self
and world without end.

Dawn Wood

In search of Africa...

2007-09-12T11:32:00.000+01:00

We went looking for Africa...but it was too hazy. Only a vague outline of the rock of Gibraltar was visible and maybe a hint of the Rif mountains, but only with a poet's imagination.

Normal service resumed

2007-09-12T11:26:00.000+01:00

After a night of thunder and lightning, and a few heavy rain showers, this morning we are back to normal. The local landmark, a hill named Martin Gil, someone of whom nobody seems to have any info, is now visible.
True to the pragmatic and sometimes obtuse nature of the Jimeranos, they have a saying regarding the weather which features Martin Gil: If Martin has his hat on, it is going to rain, or may be sunny, or somewhere in between...

CdR 2007

2007-09-10T19:29:00.000+01:00

Last week's course was fantastic - once again everyone seemed to enjoy it and get so much out of it. Don did a great job and his efforts were much appreciated both by the participants and us. The walks were a big feature of the week and the weather was great. Of course, as soon as we get back to normal here it rains - we had a brief thunderstorm this evening which was welcome as it cleared the air.
Hopefully, we shall be able to include some more thoughts on the course and if anyone wishes to add comments they would be welcome. I shall try and be more diligent with updating, but...

Burro

2007-08-28T22:58:00.000+01:00

There are still some things that haven't changed...

La Jara

2007-08-28T22:31:00.000+01:00

The house where the course is being held is called La Jara, which is the name of a flower - cistus or rock rose - and at the moment it is looking good with the entry surrounded by oleanders and the palm trees waving in the breeze which helps to cool the air as it flows throught the trees - August is normally windier than July, and so not so hot.

Don's house

2007-08-28T22:17:00.000+01:00

Don stayed in Casa Taramas, where he took the tutorials, chilled, and hopefully did some writing. There is a patio with a lemon tree and swathes of jasmine.

Gegory Awards 2007

2007-08-28T21:06:00.000+01:00

Good news for two of our participants from last year, Rachel Curzon and Helen Mort. Both have won Eric Gregory Awards this year, and we managed to get along to see them and hear them read at the awards reading hosted by Roddy Lumsden.
There are 5 awards in total, so 2 CdR out of 5...not bad.
Helen will be joining us in Jimera again this September. Rachel, who won second prize in the 2006 Poetry London Competition, would have if she could have...
See the links for more on Helen and Rachel.

Jimera during the Feria

2007-08-28T20:18:00.000+01:00

At the beginning of August we had the annual Feria with four days of partying, and dancing all night. The real reason is a religious one and there are various processions through the streets. The square is full and the village is buzzing. Then at the end of August all the visitors and families head of to the coast or to Madrid or Bilbao or Barcelona and the village sinks into its usual sleepiness once again.

All about our courses

2007-06-27T09:48:00.000+01:00

Situated in the breathtaking Serrania de Ronda Mountains, near the historic city of Ronda, the week will be a mixture of group tuition and one-to-one tutorials. It will also include generous space and time for students' own writing. The participants will stay in a large villa on the edge of the village overlooking the mountains. There is a garden with a swimming pool, and inside the house there are lots of nooks and crannies to settle down to write in.

Accommodation is in shared rooms, with 2 sharing or single rooms, for which a supplement will be charged. All meals are included, with high quality food typical of the best eaten locally. Eating will be communal, with buffet breakfast and lunch and participants taking a turn to cook the evening meal for the whole group. Wine is, of course, provided. Dinner will usually be followed by informal evening sessions, including readings.

The area around the village provides the perfect backdrop for writing. A walk will be organised to guide your discovery of the many tranquil spots you may write in. You will be spoilt for choice.

The week, which runs from monday to sunday, will also include a special trip to the literary haven of Ronda. Rainer Maria Rilke fell in love with it: "Nothing in all Spain", he said, "is more surprising than this wild town". If participants wish to make their own trips (this is a simple matter) we can provide information. Nearby is the fabulous Cueva de la Pileta, containing some of the earliest cave paintings in Europe.

The village can be reached by both bus and train. Minibus places will be available on arrival and departure days to pick you up and drop you off at Malaga airport (for flights arriving around 16.00(ish) on the Monday, and checking in after 14.00 Sunday). We can supply further transport details on request for those wishing to fly to Granada, Sevilla, or Jerez.

We will indicate which flights will connect with these pick-ups.
Alternatively a direct bus can be taken from Malaga to Ronda where transport to the village can be arranged.  

Writers on Ronda

2007-06-27T09:20:00.001+01:00

And a vulture hung in air
Below the cliffs of Ronda and below him
His hook-winged shadow wavered like despair
Across the chequered vineyards.

Louis Macneice

"... the incomparable phenomenon of this city, set above two massive stones cut with a pick and separated by the narrow and deep gorge of the river. It could be that other city, revealed in dreams. The spectacle of this city is indescribable, and, around it, a wide valley with working fields, holm oaks and olive trees. And finally, revealed in all its strength, the pure mountains rise, making the most admirable range."
"...for all these reasons it was wonderful to have arrived to Ronda, where everything I wish for can be found: a Spanish city fenced in, in a fantastic and magnificent way..."

Rainer María Rilke

He is from Ronda and his name is
Joaquín Peinado
Who else is as fine and serious a painter?
How tall and strict.
Now, if this painter were a bullfighter..!

Rafael Alberti

The art of bullfighting
was a wonder
because it was created together
by Ronda and Seville.
They put two ways into one
with Illo and with Romero,
Seville and Ronda.
From Seville came the wind
from Ronda the fire:
and they met at the bullfight.

José Bergamín

Islam was made from the swords
which desolated the west and the north
and from the loud crash of armies on the land
and one revelation and one discipline
and the destruction of the idols
and the conversion of everything
and the rose and the Sufi wine
and the rhymed prose of the Koran
and rivers that minarets recite
and the infinite language of the sand
and that other language, algebra
and that long garden, the thousand and one nights
and men talking about Aristotel
and dynasties whose names are now dust
and Tamerlane and Omar, whom they destroyed.
it is here, in Ronda
in the delicate half-light of the blind
a concave silence of courtyards
an idleness of jasmine
and a slight murmur of water,
that they conjured memories of the desert.

Jorge Luis Borges

...strolling in Ronda at dusk, the cypresses, the palaces, the wind from the courts of Cadiz; and an indescribable sky, neither pearl grey, nor silver colour; a suspicion of a very light pale blue that some fierce white light was erasing and balancing with its radiation.

Luis Cernuda

Round mountain range,
bullring of Ronda.
And the bullfight´s light
measures its ripples...
my pure Ronda,
bullring of restless light ,
everlasting rose.

Gerardo Diego

The little houses of this Ronda street, with its forged grills on the ground floor windows, seem to grow a belly.
These others have first floor grills... like foreheads leaning.
As if from one side of the street to the other they want to come near and whisper something malicious about the people passing.

Eugenio D'Ors

Health and peace, rocks, mountains, bushes,
tree groves, streams;
health, peace and joy,
nobility, friends, blood, my fatherland

Vicente Espinel

... The girls came shouting
in painted carriages
with round fans
embroidered with sequins.
And the youths of Ronda
grey wide hats,
set to the eyebrows,
on conceited ponies
The bullring, with the crowd
(all hats and high combs)
turned like a zodiac
of black and white laughs.
And when the great Cayetano
crossed the straw-colored sand
wearing a suit the colour of apples,
embroidered with silver and silk,
detaching himself gracefully
from the hard, down to earth crowd
to face the vicious bulls
which Spain raises on its land,
it seemed as if the evening
was becoming darker.

Federico García Lorca (Mariana Pineda)

We finally saw Ronda. It was set on the top of the mountain, like a natural extension of the landscape, and in the sunlight, it seemed to me the most beautiful city in the world.

Juan Goytisolo

Ronda is the place where to go, if you are planning to travel to Spain for a honeymoon or for being with a girlfriend. The whole city and its surroundings are a romantic set. Nice promenades, good wine, excellent food, nothing to do...

Ernest Hemingway

"Where is that captivation, that passion of a typical Andalusian city, the best town, that old stronghold, that stopped time?. This is it, here. It is Ronda, Serranía de Ronda."

"Ronda high and deep, round, profound, round and high..."

Juan Ramón Jiménez

... and Ronda with its old inn's windows, the eyes spying hidden after the lattices, so that the lover can kiss the iron grills of the window, and the tavern with its doors half-opened at night and the castanets and the night we lost the Algeciras ship, the guard making his patrol with his lantern and, oh, that awful deep torrent, oh, and the red sea, sometimes like the fire and the glorious sunset and the fig trees at the Tajo's tree-lined Avenue, yes, and the strange little streets ,and the rose, yellow and blue houses, and the gardens full of roses and jasmines, and geraniums and cactus.

James Joyce (Ulysses)

In Ronda there is one of the world's most incredible"Tajos" (gorges). It seems like a giant tried to do a surgical operation on the planet that he later abandoned leaving the patient open and unstitched.
In Ronda there are many streets that should carry a sign for tourists: "To the chaos". In every landscape or every city that the tourist goes, he will see a sign ordering him "to the Cathedral", "to the Museum". But in Ronda, there are many streets that come to us...The Tajo doesn't have any kind of agreement with the guides. You look to the bottom of it and you can find there in the depths fear, predictions, prayers or verses.

José María Pemán

Early moon ringing
The bullring of Ronda,
The multiple wonder,
A city, deep yet winging
A moon of round stone flinging
Down a golden flower
On the ground, the lower
Of the proud mountain range;
Wild moon, what will emerge,
From that magic brilliance of yours?

Pedro Pérez Clotet

The white path climbs
slithering from Ronda to Grazalema.
It clears the working fields, it gets lost
towards the hard stones.
Mountains break through the ridges
and with the light my heart goes far away.
As it comes back
in my eyes the hemmed-in land is a
brave little universe

Dionisio Ridruejo

Ronda, bullring
of macho bullfighters,
your balconies demand
one Carmen for each box;
one Romero for each bull,
a knight on a horse
and two bandits who ask for
the key with their pistols.
Bullring of Ronda,
And of macho bullfighters.

Fernando Villalón

Jimera

2007-06-21T09:29:00.000+01:00

Jimera de Libar is one of the Pueblos Blancos (white villages) of western Andalusia. It has a church, a town hall, a couple of bars, a couple of shops, a municipal swimming pool which is open for two months in the summer, a hotel (kind of) and a population of 450 of which only around 200 are actually resident all year.

The village is in two parts: town and station. The pueblo is up the hill at an altitude of 540 metres, and the station on the banks of the Guadiaro some 200 metres lower, with a surrounding population of 50 or so permanent residents. The rest of the houses remaining empty for much of the year except at weekends and holidays. Like many local villages the population has been decreasing steadily over the years from a high of 1500, but the decline has been halted due to the increase in rural tourism and the arrival of people like ourselves from abroad.

Ronda

2007-06-21T09:10:00.000+01:00

Jimera is situated not far from Ronda, Rilke's "dreamt city". There is a statue of Rilke in the grounds of the Reina Victoria Hotel in which he stayed at the end of 1912.

The New bridge is perhaps its most famous landmark. Built at the end of the eighteenth century is is the third bridge over the river, the other two being the not surprisingly named "Old Bridge" and the Arab Bridge which dates from the 15th century. The other well known edifice is the bullring which dates from the same time as the New Bridge, and is one of the oldest in Spain.

There are also the Arab Baths and the Palacio de Mondragon which was the old sultan's palace, now a museum, of which Ronda has many. But the best of all are the views looking out over the cliffs towards Jimera as the sun is setting...

On a trip to La Cueva de la Pileta

2007-06-20T14:26:00.000+01:00

Outside La Cueva de la Pileta, near Jimera, site of some of the earliest cave paintings in Europe. La Cueva is one of a number of extensive cave systems in the area. It is quite an experience.