Poetry, Spirit and Survival

Join us for one of two retreats with Pádraig Ó Tuama at the St Columba Hotel in March 2026.

Every culture has generated poetry: poems that narrate survival, pluck, desire, change, shock, delight, wonder and grief. Poetry has been used to call down the gods, and to cast them out. There are famous poems,  and then there are the lines you repeat to yourself when you need them.

These retreats — for writers and readers and lovers of poetry, or those who wish to become any of those — will take a close reading of poems that speak to the human condition: contemporary poems, little-known poems, and well-known ones. We will discuss what the poetry evokes, and have opportunities to practice both reading and writing poetry. Whether you write poetry, or read it — or want to — this opportunity is for you. The poems for the 2026 retreat will explore longing and land, or — another way — prayer and place. 

Each retreat will follow the same programme, so choose the one that works best for your timing.

Set at the gorgeous Columba Hotel on the island of Iona, the days will have a mix of walks, discussions, reading, response and down time for rest. The retreat will draw on some poetry that is part of religious traditions, but there is no expectation that participants have any religious affiliation. Morning and evening liturgies at the nearby Iona Abbey may be of interest to some participants, but are not part of the formal schedule. Closer to the time we will share a schedule, but pack walking boots, and curiosity. Please know that our meeting venue is a ten minute walk from the hotel. The Tuesday of this retreat will have a lighter schedule to allow for longer walks, or rest. 

The retreat is facilitated by and will be facilitated Dr. Pat Bennett; Pat is a writer, scholar and liturgist based in Glasgow and the former programme development worker for the Iona Community. She works at the intersections of the humanities and sciences fostering conversation, exploration and exchange. She is a member of the Iona Community.

Arriving Saturday 7th departing Friday 13th March 2026

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Arriving Saturday 14th departing Friday 20th March 2026

About Padraig

Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet, theologian and conflict mediator from Ireland. He spent most of 20 years in peacework in Belfast, and now writes, broadcasts and travels. 

His podcast “Poetry Unbound” is part of the On Being project, and since its beginning in early 2020, has been downloaded 20 million times. His most recent books are “44 Poems on Being with Each Other” (Canongate and Norton 2025) and “Kitchen Hymns” (CHEERIO and Copper Canyon Press, 2025). He has authored many other books of poetry, theology and prose. 

For Pádraig, poetry opens doors to exploration of experience: and he treats a poem as a text in conversation with he text of a person’s life. Close reading of the poem brings about close reading of the life of the reader of that poem.