ABOUT
SPARKS FLY
Creative workshops in beautiful Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Everyone has a story to tell. Whether you’re interested in expressing it through fiction, poetry, screenplay, non-fiction, or the visual arts, SPARKS FLY creative retreats provide a supportive atmosphere in beautiful Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, where you’re free to imagine, explore and write. No matter your level of experience; putting pen to paper for the first time, or looking for one on one professional guidance for a creative work in progress, there’s a retreat for you. We believe everyone can create, they just need the space and encouragement to do it.
By distancing yourself from your routine and the stresses of daily life, you’ll be able to access those deeper inspirations that often escape unnoticed. You’ll meet a like-minded community and benefit from guided instruction with experienced and nurturing teachers. There will be quiet time to work, take walks, explore the local culture, and eat good food. Give yourself the gift of exploring your creativity in the transformative retreat that suits your needs.
THE SPARKS FLY TEAM
Diana Leszczynski
Author
Plotter and Planner/Onsite Host
Born in England, raised in Canada, and an ex-Angeleno, Diana Leszczynski recently relocated to the gorgeous province of Nova Scotia. After working in film and television development for over twenty years in L.A., she finally turned to her first love – writing. She is the author of middle-grade novels Fern Verdant, Wretched, and Hawke Farm, and is currently writing short stories and her first adult novel. She holds a B.A. in English and a Creative Writing Certificate, from the University of Toronto. A few years ago she traveled to a writing retreat that had a profoundly transformative effect on her, and hopes these retreats will be equally inspiring to others.
Tracy Hutchinson
Copywriter
Marketing Maven
Tracy Hutchinson is a happy-go-lucky expat who copy-writes for a very niche market: erotica. After majoring in Film & Communications at Brock University, in Canada, Tracy worked in arts and tourism PR, eventually landing a position in media relations for the Ontario Medical Association. She also wrote for the likes of Metro and Now Magazine. Ever adventurous, Tracy travelled to Portugal fifteen years ago and never left. She continues to write sexy stuff, searching for the perfect lingo for that next best 50 Shades of Grey.
Nuno Nogueira
Architect
Web Wizard
Nuno Nogueira was born and raised in Portugal. It was there, at the Porto School of Architecture, that he completed his studies. Along with his architecture practice, Nuno has since accumulated a wealth of experience in other areas of design and the visual arts. Over the past two decades, his passion for life and all artistic pursuits has grown to encompass the written word: he is the author of several short stories and has an extensive body of poetry.
GET IN TOUCH
ABOUT OUR 2023–24
INSTRUCTORS
Allegra Huston
Memoirist Allegra Huston grew up in London, Ireland, Long Island, Los Angeles and Mexico—where her father, director John Huston, lived for the last decades of his life. She is the author of Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found; novel A Stolen Summer; and two guides for writers: How to Edit and Be Edited and How to Read for an Audience (with James Navé). She is also a contributor to the anthology One Last Lunch: A Final Meal with Those Who Meant So Much to Us, edited by Erica Heller. She teaches memoir writing workshops internationally.
Allegra read English at Hertford College, Oxford and spent nine years in publishing in London, working with authors that included Alan Hollinghurst, Iris Murdoch, Edna O’Brien, Henry Shukman, Robert Conquest and Jane Goodall. She has written journalistic pieces for Newsweek, Vogue, and Condé Nast Traveler, amongst many others.
Allegra has taught writing workshops at the National University of Ireland, Galway, the OSLEP program at the University of Oklahoma, and the Arvon Foundation in the UK. She is co-founder of Imaginative Storm Writing Workshops and is developing Imaginative Storm Writer Training, a 10-week audio course to stretch and strengthen your creative writing imagination.
Topics covered in Allegra’s memoir writing workshop will be Authenticity, Narrative, Character, Setting, and Editing/Performance. There will be two or three short timed writings each day to be read aloud but there will be no group critiques; Allegra believes that critique is not a spectator sport. She will meet with participants in the afternoons for one-on-one sessions.
Hester Schofield
Hester Schofield is a writer/artist/teacher living in Bridport, Dorset, UK. She is an award-winning visual artist and filmmaker who has exhibited at the ICA and Lisson Gallery in London, the Laing Gallery and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. She is also a writer of film, television and fiction.
Hester initially trained in the visual arts. She has a BA Hons in Fine Art from Newcastle Polytechnic, an MFA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art in London, and an MA in Screenwriting and Research from University of the Arts London.
Most recently, she was a lecturer on the MA Screenwriting and MA Creative Writing courses at Bournemouth University. She has been a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths, UAL and UEL, and has conducted workshops in creative writing, children’s visual art, and screenwriting. She is currently a narrative designer and producer in virtual reality, working on a series of projects to explore alternative narrative forms.
While teaching MA Creative Writing students at Bournemouth University, Hester developed a method of combining visual art and writing exercises which resulted in Developing Your Unique Creative Voice. This creativity training workshop focuses on connecting with the soul in your work and your creativity. Her workshop is for everyone, even those who have never drawn or written before. Each of us has a creative voice and we just need to learn how to tap into it.
Paul A. Teolis
Paul A. Teolis is an award-winning photographer, animator, and educator, living in Toronto, Canada. His photographs have been exhibited in The McMichael Gallery as part of the Polar Artists Group, in The Robert McLaughlin Gallery’s Exposed exhibitions, and he has been a resident artist at the Village Gallery outside Toronto.
Paul’s photography paralleled his successful career in animation. Studying at the acclaimed Sheridan College School of Animation, Paul worked for more than three decades in the film and television industry, employed by, amongst other studios, Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Animation and the Walt Disney Studios.
Paul is best known for his work on the Antarctic, but travel photography has taken him to more than seventy countries on six continents. Paul designed and launched the Photographer-in-Residence program on G Adventures’ Expedition ship as part of their education program in 2012, leading workshops in the Polar regions, Africa and South America. The program is currently in its eleventh season.
Some of the highlights of his photographic work include winning Best Photograph at the CONTACT photography festival in Toronto. The British Commonwealth Office in collaboration with IAATO issued a commemorative postage stamp featuring his Antarctic photography. Photographs from his artist residency in the Norwegian Archipelago were published in Harper’s Bazaar Taiwan. Paul has had numerous juried and group shows in Ontario and Los Angeles throughout his career.
Paul’s workshop is designed for both novice and experienced photographers, and covers a wide variety of topics from his international workshop with a strong emphasis on composition and design tools for adding narrative to a photograph. With one-on-one sessions and a back-to-basics approach, his goal is for each participant to create one master shot at the end of the course.
Ronalda Jones
Ronalda Jones is a PEI native, now living and working in Toronto. Her background is in theater, screenwriting, and film and television production. Her career began as an acclaimed film actress and theater director, winning a Best Actress nomination at the 1982 Genie Awards.
Ronalda studied Drama at the University of Windsor and later studied screenwriting at the University of San Francisco and at York University, where she received her Masters in Screenwriting, after the birth of her two children. She has directed and performed in many stage productions, including Steve Petch’s Cousins and Robert Locke’s The Dolly. She directed the first Canadian production of John Patrick Shanley’s Danny and the Deep Blue Sea.
As a writer for film and television, Ronalda has had screenplays optioned by both producers and broadcasters, and is currently adapting a screenplay about Rezso Kasztner into a five-part television series. She was Head of Development at Toronto’s Up-Front Entertainment for many years. While there, she wrote several biographies for A&E in the US, as well as documentaries for international broadcasters.
As an instructor at the Humber College Graduate Program for Writing, Ronalda taught the art of pitching, concept development, and screenwriting, as well as producing for film and television. Screenwriting 101 will cover character, plot, dialogue and structure. The course will include writing exercises to set you on the right path and is designed to give new writers the tools and ongoing inspiration necessary to write the film script you’ve yearned to create. This course is suitable for absolute beginners.