About Amorgos

About Your Accommodations

The lovely blue-and-white Hotel Lakki Village is just a few steps away from the sandy Aegiali Beach in Amorgos, and just a few blocks from the town center, which includes restaurants, shops, cafes, taverns, and stores. The hotel features an outdoor pool, air-conditioned rooms, wi-fi, a restaurant, and a charming outdoor courtyard.

• Six nights in the lovely Lakki Village Hotel
• Daily writing sessions with Kelly and Tanya 
• Hiking along mountain trails overlooking the sea
• Guided tour of an 11th-Century Monastery
• Swimming and relaxation by the beach and pool
• Oceanside ecstatic dance
• Fresh, delicious Mediterranean meals
• A Greek cooking class
• Afternoon yoga
• Guest lecture on contemporary Greek writing
• Optional Athens tours with our hosts, Imagine Greece Retreats, in the two days before the retreat officially begins.
• Camaraderie and connection with a warm circle of kindred spirits!

Kelly Dwyer is the author of three novels, most recently Ghost Mother, published by Union Square & Co. in 2024 (available at Barnes & Noble and wherever books are sold)and numerous plays that have been produced nationally and internationally. A native Californian, Kelly was educated at Oberlin College (where she met Tanya!) and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and now divides her time between Wisconsin and Los Angeles. She has taught at the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival and in the University of Wisconsin system for many years, and also works as a developmental editor who loves to help her students and clients achieve success.  

As a young adult, Kelly enjoyed visiting Greece, where she spent time in Athens and on the islands, and traced the Peloponnesian War in a rental car. She is very excited to be returning after many years for the Rejuvenate & Create Transformational Women's Writing Retreat!

Tanya Shaffer is an award-winning playwright and author of the travel memoir, Somebody’s Heart is Burning: A Woman Wanderer in Africa. Her plays have been produced Off-Broadway and by major regional theatres, and have toured to over forty cities in the US and Canada. Her work has appeared on Salon and in more than a dozen anthologies. She publishes the Substack Tanya Shaffer’s Off-Leash Chronicles, in which she writes on topics ranging from creativity to parenting to travel to spirituality. (For more information and to purchase Tanya's books, go to Tanya Shaffer books.)

For the past seven years, Tanya has worked with hundreds of writers through her Off-Leash Writing Workshops and Memoir & Fiction Workshops, and through private coaching and editing. Last year she realized her long-held dream of leading creative retreats in magical places by co-hosting her first Women’s Creativity Retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii. She can’t wait to join forces with fellow Kelly to create an unforgettable retreat in Greece!

For more information and to stay in the know, 

go to Tanya Shaffer Retreats

    WE CAN'T WAIT TO 

REJUVENATE & CREATE

WITH YOU IN GREECE! 

 Happy October, everyone! 

Do you like spooky season? Do you celebrate Halloween? Do the leaves turn where you are? I love October and agree with Anne Shirley, who says, "I am so glad to live in a world where there are Octobers." 

I'm on the road again, and on Zoom--hope to see you soon!

Southport Literary Fair

Southwest Library, 7979 38th Avenue, Kenosha,

October 5th, 11 AM--5 PM 

Free and open to the public

Panel, "Words that Haunt," 1 PM

Sadie Hartmann, aka Mother Horror, in conversation with 

Clay McLeod Chapman, Kelly Dwyer, and Richard Thomas

Live discussion over Zoom

Monday, October 7th, 

5 PM Pacific, 7 PM Central, 8 PM Eastern time

Free! Just join the Zoom link! 

Zoom link for event

October in-person book events in 

Southern California 

"Prepping for Publication" live event

Register here

My book events in September--live and on Zoom--have been so fun! 

I hope you can join me in October!

Let me know how you're doing, what you're reading, and how you're celebrating fall! 

The first live Zoom event is Thursday, September 12th, 7 PM Central, when I will be in conversation with Amy Margolis, the Director of the University of Iowa's Iowa Summer Writing Festival. If you know Amy, then you know that she is brilliant and funny, so this is sure to be a good time!

The 45-minutes to 1-hour event will include a discussion with Amy about my new novel GHOST MOTHER published by Union Square & Co., a short reading, and a question-and-answer session with all of you!

There is no need to register for this event. Simply Join the Zoom discussion with Amy and Kelly here on Thursday, September 12th, at 7 PM Central.

One of the great joys of teaching at  The Iowa Summer Writing Festival   is that I get to meet and become friends with the most incredible people! One such person is Jessica Kusisto, a book influencer with an impressive YouTube channel and a super cute Etsy Page.

Jessica will be hosting my presentation on "Prepping for Publication." Our one-hour discussion is a truncated version of the "Prepping for Publication" day-long and weekend-long workshops I teach through the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, and will include the following topics:

• Traditional publishing vs. self-publishing and what's right for you
• How to find an agent
• How to write a query letter (including hooks)
• Feedback on your own query letter hooks! (The one-sentence description of your book that gets readers excited to read on.) If you'd like feedback, please come prepared to share your hook with the group.
• Note that one person who attends will receive a free copy of GHOST MOTHER. (U.S. residents only--sorry.) 

Please register for the FREE event, "Prepping for Publication," with Jessica and Kelly here.

Amy and Jessica and I hope to see you at these upcoming live Zoom events! 

Thank you for your support, all, and let me know how your readings and writings are going!

GHOST MOTHER was published by Union Square & Co. on August 6, and I've loved hearing from readers ever since. If you've had the chance to read the novel, please let me know what you think! And please let others know by posting on goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and social media, if you're so inclined. I try to read every review and I appreciate every one. (Well, not every one, ha!)

I've participated in two in-person events, and both have exceeded my expectations. Dr. Marc Seals and I discussed unreliable narrators, gothic literature, and the meaning(s) of the title. At my Chicago event, I talked about the inspiration for the novel and gave a short reading. And at both events, we had a lively question-and-answer session, in which people asked thoughtful and interesting questions, and I attempted to give thoughtful and interesting answers. 

Also we had Ghost Mother cake! (see above and below)

Thank you for your support! 

I hope to see you soon! 

As I'm sure you know, preorders considerably help spread the word and get a book noticed, and I so appreciate everyone who has pre-ordered GHOST MOTHER already. If you haven't, please consider doing so, for the low price of about $14!

Go to GHOST MOTHER at B&N , enter the code Preorder25, and please, let me know what else you preorder! (My cart awaits...)

In other news, I had a great time teaching at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, and am thinking about what to teach online in the Fall. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

Happy summer! Kelly 

Say hello at KellyDwyer0077@gmail.com 

 "Ghost Mother is a moving, thrilling ride! I was so caught up in the mystery of the narrator's possible haunting, I couldn't stop reading until I learned the story's many secrets. I've read ALL the best haunted house novels, but none of them shocked me more at the conclusion than this mesmerizing plot! A must-read for those who love ghost stories..."

--Mona Susan Power, award-winning author of four books, most recently, A Council of Dolls

I hope it makes you want to read the book! And if you do, please consider pre-ordering Ghost Mother!

Thank you so much for your support! xo Kelly

GHOST MOTHER at Barnes & Noble

Please see links below to pre-order the novel, and if you like it, I'd be grateful for you to write a review on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. (If you don't like it, don't worry about it..) 😅 If you're a blogger or reviewer who might be interested in writing an early review, please let me know, and I'll be glad to send you a digital copy of the galleys. 

Thank you for your interest and support! Let me know what you think! xo Kelly

GHOST MOTHER on Amazon

GHOST MOTHER at Barnes & Noble

GHOST MOTHER at Bookshop.org