The Panchgani Writers' Retreat
The Panchgani Writers’ Retreat (PWR) is an annual event that writers look forward to. This is hosted in the natural scenic splendor of Panchgani and is brought to you every year by a bunch of dreamers, writers and creators!
You will enjoy a week of wholesome and healthy living in an olde world rustic setting, including yoga, meditation, reiki, hiking trails, sightseeing and vegetarian home-cooked meals.
This year, in addition to our fiction, nonfiction and poetry workshops, we are excited to add a screenwriting workshop and a self–publishing workshop by experts in their field. Come elevate your craft!
Our workshops and teachings incorporate Ayurveda, Yoga, Pranayama and Reiki. We look to find creative success through a holistic lens.
Writer’s block as well as finding the inspiration to write is a struggle for many writers. But we forget that stimulation is everywhere, and unless we get to the root cause of the block, the needle does not move. In the workshop, ‘writing to harness your inner healing”, the creative writing instructor will bring creativity techniques and holistic wellness together. Using ayurveda, yoga, reiki, and mindfulness tips, she will help enhance the writing flow, boost participants’ creativity, help them create from a place of calm, hold safe space for any emotions and share writing techniques so that there is never a dry spell.
In our memoir writing workshop, we will go over what is needed in order to start your journey of writing into the very essence of who you are. We will talk about voice and courage which are the two most important factors required when we start looking into our hearts to find the words to write.
Our screenwriting workshop is an exciting opportunity to work with a professional screenwriter to discover how storytelling works on screen. It will allow you to explore the fundamentals of writing for film and streaming platforms and get you acquainted with the tools you need on your screenwriting journey.
In our self–publishing workshop we discuss the advantages of taking full control of the publishing process yourself versus pursuing a traditional publishing deal or paying a vanity/hybrid publisher. You are walked through the process of writing, editing, self-publishing and marketing your book.
If you are wondering how one gets here, please click here.
The Person behind the Retreat
SHABNAM SAMUEL, Founder & Organizer
SHABNAM SAMUEL is a writer, business coach, social media trainer and the founder of the Panchgani Writers’ Retreat, an international writing retreat based out of Panchgani, India. The retreat incorporates mindful living along with creativity and wellness following Ayurveda principles, with yoga, meditation and writing workshops.
As a writer, Shabnam has been writing ever since she can remember. Her essays have been published online in Brain, Child Magazine and Your Tango. Shabnam’s first book, a Memoir, called A Fractured Life, was published in the US on September 19th, 2018. She is now working on her second book, which is a historical fiction.
Shabnam also hosts a local TV show called Dew Drops and Words that broadcasts to 6.1 million viewers on the ABC News –WJLA /LA TV networks in the Washington DC area. You can find her on YouTube under Dew Drops and Words.
She mentors with the Empowered Women International, in Alexandria, VA, that helps train low-income, immigrant and refugee women on how to be successful entrepreneurs, as a business coach.
Shabnam has called the suburbs of Washington DC her home for the last 30 years.