Butler has changed the way I look at my work and challenged me to go into more depth and to question what I am doing. Both in the sessions and through reading his book I gained valuable insights as to how to work with one’s unconscious and introduce “yearning”, and how to  avoid abstractions and explanations. I got a lot out of this workshop. Marylle Goumas

It has been wonderful Amalia. Overall it exceeded my expectations, mostly because of the warmth and support of the group as we have all gone on a personal journey. Butler’s experience in the movie world helped a lot with my needs in screenwriting.  The workshop hours, amount of free time, day trip to Hora, staff service and set up were all spot on.  The food was consistently great. Thank you so much for your efforts. Allison Bullock

 Amalia you did a fantastic job, you were wonderful. Workshop: material covered, excellent, difficult, no-nonsense, beneficial. Georgia Lee

 This was a wonderful, life changing experience. I understand that each workshop is different, depending on the instructor and mix or participants but for me this workshop was near perfection and the island, hotel, room, view and staff were perfection. The meals were delicious. This is my first workshop and I now understand that writing is intense and time must be made for the solitude writing demands. The one day off going to the other side of the island was absolutely fabulous. Bravo Amalia.  Jacquie  Hoskins

Amalia,  you are the white hot center of the workshop. Dawn Sandoe

2011 AAC

Writing can be so lonely at time, but that feeling can be easily dispelled in Andros at the Aegean Arts Circle.  I've attended four workshops there which have helped me enormously to finish two novels and begin a third one. Its amazing how Amalia, the Director, finds such convivial leaders and attendees.  These people have been an inspiration, and I much appreciated the different slants of the so well qualified leaders.  There is no simple explanation to my ecstasy for the place.  It could be the excellet accommodations, the sumptuous food and drink, the sea, the fine museums, the art, the simple elegance of the Greek way and the Greek Light.  Whatever.  Let's just attribute it to the magic of the Greek Islands.      J N Pratley

My time there on Andros changed the direction of my writing, gave me time to find myself and my own voice.  The time there seems as if it was yesterday and I bask in it constantly.  It was a turning point in my creative life.....even so that I felt free to ride a motorcycle around the Aegean sea, and in the mountains.  A freedom took place in me that has not left.

 MNell   AAC  2004  PARTICIPANT

The environment inspired me to write two new poems, (one about the view of Andros from my hotel balcony, the other inspired by visiting the local bank downtown) which I have revised and are ready to send out. I write better because I think of the group as part of my audience and therefore write up to their expectations. The stimulation of the workshops and the peace I found on the island when I was writing and exploring made my visit unusual and highly inspiring. In Andros, I was in a kind of Eden; long vistas of blue water, sky, geraniums, and island outcroppings from my terrace, delicious, abundant food, sunshine and starry skies, companionable writers and instructors. My thoughts ran deep, my writing kept up with my thoughts, I wrote and I read, I had time, a precious commodity for a writer, and someplace new to inhale and explore.   What else could a writer ask for? 

 Each day was special. Before and after our workshops I was free to swim in the pool or the sea, take a walk, write and read or just talk about writing with the other participants. The meals were astounding, marvelous vegetables, pasta, Greek salads, fish, chicken, everything. Platters and platters of food brought to us by congenial waiters. Even champagne and a chocolate birthday cake brought to me as an after dinner surprise!  We all ate together, the instructor and the participants. The instructor made himself available to us during breaks and at our meals. So did Amalia, the director. We also had lots of time to walk into town, browse the streets, take photos and write on our terrace or in a coffee shop downtown.  Amalia arranged for us to go to her parents’ side of the island for a remarkable home made lunch at her parents’ house, (a tremendous highlight of the trip.) She also arranged museum visits as well as a walking tour of a larger town on the island.  I loved sitting along the waterfront, in the town closest to our hotel, watching the ferries slip into port, sipping an iced coffee frappe and later, on the walk back to the hotel, eating Gelato from the local ice cream parlor in the late afternoon. Our dinners weren’t until 10, so I didn’t spoil my appetite! 

Although I was in the thick of finishing my novel about a second generation Holocaust survivor, I wrote the poem below while I was in Andros last summer. What a surprise! 

I am the workshop leader for 2006 and I will help my writing students experience their own surprises this summer and assist them in unlocking the cupboards in their lives and in their writing.   June Gould 2005 Participant - 2006 & 2007 Workshop Instructor

Diary Entry, Angela Cole, 2004 Participant