Writing Poetry & Prose in the Loire Valley
Join Tupelo Press for a writing retreat at the gorgeous
Château de Détilly, in the Loire Valley, France
Includes daily workshops, generative prompts and sessions, bespoke craft talks, one-on-one meetings with faculty, evening work-in-progress readings, plus generous free writing time.
2026 Conference Dates:
September 3th-8th 2026
Our Wildly Popular faculty from our Zoom-Based Poetry Manuscript Conference are offering a new conference in the loire valley:
Our retreat will be kept intentionally small.
Space is limited to 8, and 4 spots are
already taken. Tuition includes all meals & lodging.
Application includes a writing sample, and
description of your writing project is required.
Workshop is 6 day/5 nights.
Tuition $3,500
Your faculty are two of the most experienced editors, mentors, poets, publisher, and spirit guides in the country: Jeffrey Levine, Publisher & Artistic Director of Tupelo Press, Kristina Marie Darling, Editor-in-Chief of Tupelo Press and Tupelo Quarterly. (See bios below.)
For more information contact kmiles@tupelopress.org
What to Expect
Daily Work Plan:
At least three weeks prior to the retreat, participants will be invited to submit their current projects (up to a minimum of 20 pages);
Two weeks in advance of the retreat we will send you a form, allowing you to select craft talks that speak to your work. Choose from an extensive menu that your faculty has planned to offer;
We also encourage participants to pitch topics for craft lectures that are directly related to their writing or current projects.
Conference Daily Schedule:
Early morning begins with an (optional) coffee and guided writing warm-up sessions
Breakfast
Participatory craft talk
Faculty guided writing workshops to explore work in progress
Lunch (during lunch, we’ll hand out a writing prompt for the afternoon writing time)
Afternoons: Free writing and/or exploring writing time
One-on-one meetings with participants by sign-up
Dinner
Evenings, following dinner, participant readings of work in progress, with commentary, if requested
A Small Example of Participatory Craft Talks:
In the past, participants have asked for Poetry and Myth,
Structure and Architecture for Hybrid Texts, Micro Fiction,
Memory and the Lyric Essay, Autofiction,
Hybrid Forms: A Guided Tour. We will offer a much larger menu.
TRAVELING TO DÉTILLY, FRANCE: Click Here for Travel Directions:
Address: 18 rue des Fromentaux, 37420 Beaumont-en-Véron – easily accessible from Paris.
Détilly is about a three-hour drive south of Paris, and is also accessible by train.
From Nantes, about 1 hr 45 min drive. (Paris to Nantes by plane is about 1 hr.)
Getting There by Car: The Château is easily found on GPS systems, Google Maps and Mappy.
The Château is easily found on GPS systems and Google Maps.
From the North (Bourgueil / A85 Motorway): Château de Détilly is located 7 km from exit no. 5 (“Bourgueil”) on the A85 motorway, which connects Tours (45 minutes away, also accessible via the A10 motorway from Paris and Bordeaux, with TGV and minor airport connections) to Angers (TGV) and Nantes (TGV, major airport). From the exit, follow signs to Avoine (D749), cross the Loire River, and pass the first roundabout. At the second roundabout (5.5 km), turn right onto a small road marked by a sign for Détilly. Continue for approximately 1.5 km, passing several intersections, until you reach the hamlet of Détilly. The (unmarked) entrance gate to the Château will be on your right.
From the South-East (Chinon): From the town center, follow signs for Angers (A85) on the D749, which runs along the north bank of the Vienne River. Pass through a large first roundabout and continue to Beaumont-en-Véron. At the second roundabout (approx. 5.5 km), turn left towards La Roche Honneur and follow the road westward through bends and small intersections. After about 1.5 km, you will see the park and the (unmarked) entrance gate to the Château directly in front of you.
The main gate remains closed at all times. Please call us shortly before your arrival so we can open it for you if we are not near the intercom. Plenty of parking is available inside the enclosed park, ensuring your vehicle’s safety. Guests staying at the Coach House have a reserved parking space next to the building.
Getting There by Train/Plane
By Train: The nearest major train stations are in Tours, Angers, and Nantes, all of which are served by TGV (high-speed train) connections.
Tours (Saint-Pierre-des-Corps): Approximately 45 minutes from the château, with TGV links to Paris Montparnasse (about 1 hour) and Bordeaux.
Angers: About 1 hour away, with TGV connections to Paris and other major cities.
Nantes: Around 2 hours away, offering extensive TGV routes across France.
From these stations, car rentals and taxis are available for the journey to the château.
By Plane:
Tours Val de Loire Airport – A minor airport with flights to select European destinations, about 45 minutes from the château.
Nantes Atlantique Airport – A major international airport approximately 2 hours away, offering flights to various European and long-haul destinations.
For the final leg of your journey, we recommend renting a car, as public transport options to the château are limited.
Meet the Team
Jeffrey Levine
Publisher & Artistic Director
Jeffrey Levine is the Founder, Artistic Director and Publisher of Tupelo Press, an award-winning literary press dedicated to discovering and championing essential voices at the margins, including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, women, and international writers in translation. A poet and essayist himself, he is the author of several acclaimed collections and the recipient of 27 Pushcart Prize nominations. His poems and hybrid essays have appeared in Agni, Antioch Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Harvard Review, Poetry International, The Missouri Review, Barrow Street, Ekphrasis, Colorado Review, and Western Humanities Review among many dozens of others. In addition to his editorial and publishing work—where he annually shepherds 18 books into print and oversees a national distribution partnership with the University of Chicago Press—Levine teaches poetry seminars and master classes, consults with nonprofit literary organizations, and is widely recognized for his exacting editorial guidance, his devotion to emerging and established writers, and his ongoing exploration of lyric craft, attention, and moral imagination. He reviews regularly for Los Angels Review of Books, Southern Humanities Review, North American Review, On The Seawall, and Tupelo Quarterly, among many other venues. In addition, he is the translator from the Spanish of Pablo Neruda’s world historical epic, “Canto General: Song of the Americas.”
Kristina Marie Darling
Editor-in-Chief
Editor-in-Chief of Tupelo Press and Tupelo Quarterly, is the author of over thirty books, which include recent releases from Bloomsbury, Persea, Dzanc, and Penguin Canada. A twice-awarded Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Darling was granted a five-year tenure as an expert consultant with the U.S. Fulbright Commission and now serves on the jury for Fulbright awards. Her work has also been recognized by Yaddo, where she has held multiple endowed residencies and served two terms on the literature jury; the Villa Lena Foundation; the American Academy in Rome, where she has been awarded fifteen juried residencies and previously served as an ambassador for recruitment; Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris; the Ucross Foundation; Fundación Valparaíso; the Andorran Ministry of Culture; the American Academy in Berlin, where she was nominated for the Distinguished Visitor Fellowship; the European Law and Governance School; the Clews Foundation, where she will serve as faculty at their Chateau La Napoule Retreat Series in the south of France; and many other leading institutions in the U.S. and abroad. A prolific educator and public speaker, Dr. Darling has also lectured at the American University of Rome, Stanford University, Yale University, the Leysin American School in Switzerland, Columbia University in the City of New York, the New School, the University of Cyprus, the Prague Summer Program for Writers, the University of Zadar, the San Miguel Writers Conference & Literary Festival, and the Ionian Center for the Arts & Culture, where she is now permanent faculty. Born and raised in the American midwest, Dr. Darling now divides her time between Greece, Croatia, and Italy’s Amalfi coast.
