Oristano, Sicily: First Day of the New York Writers Workshop

Friday, August 14, 2026

Oristano, Sicily

First Day of the New York Writers Workshop

I woke up inordinately early in my hotel as I am on Bombay time. Hence by 5.00 am, I was up and blogging—an endeavor that kept me busy for at least a whole hour as I had so much to blog about our nightmarish ordeal of the journey to this spot yesterday. Still, I am not tired. I have what seems like a cold and taking the medication I bought from the pharmacy yesterday certainly did help. I slept soundly, if for too short a time.

Them, with daylight breaking outside, it was time to go to downstairs for breakfast—service begins at 7.00am. I got dressed in the clothing Emma Sweeney had lent me last night and made my way downstairs to the restaurant. The breakfast is generous—indeed quite magnificent. There is a variety of cold and hot stuff: Italian breads and breakfast pastries plus a bunch of cakes (which Italians seem to eat in the morning), cereals (muesli and cornflakes with flavored yogurts), bread that you can toast and make sandwiches with, smoked ham and provolone cheese, a variety of croissants and brioche and pain au chocolate, plus hot options such as scrambled eggs and bacon with tomatoes and the wafer-thin, crispy bread called curacau, a specialty of Sardinia. There is tinned and stewed and fresh fruit too. You could stay here for a week and eat a different breakfast each day. For this, my first breakfast here, I chose grapefruit juice (a bit too tart for my liking), muesli which I ate with cherry yogurt, scrambled eggs and bacon with curasau and a hot chocolate. I also took a herb-sesame croissant with some ham and cheese and made myself a sandwich to eat at lunch time. I am entitled (with this room) to two breakfasts—so I have told my colleague Ifeona (who gets no breakfast) that she can come and eat at my hotel. She is only too pleased to do so.

Breakfast done, I ran into Emma who told me that we began today at 10.00, not 9.00 am as I had thought. As I was getting no internet connection in my room, I sat close to Reception, hoping to pick up a stronger wifi signal—but no dice! There seems to be a hardware issue with my laptop. I am urgently now in need of a new one. I sat downstairs and when I saw that there was no signal, I left my backpack at Reception and walked across the street to the huge supermarket called SPAR, where I browsed around to my heart’s content for half an hour. There was such a mouth-watering array of foods and drink (and Italian being my favorite cuisine, I saw a huge bunch of items I could buy (I would do so later in the day).

Then, as planned, I returned to the hotel, met Emma there and the two of us walked together to the Delada Instituto to be in time for our first 10.00 am session of the day. Ravi held the fort as he spoke about The Hermit Crab Essay, telling us about the wisdom of using non-literary forms of writing for inspiration in our own Creative Writing. I enjoyed the session which was short and sweet. We were then left with about two hours to ourselves and while most folks, finding it already too hot, returned to their hotels, I decided to explore the adjoining Bishop’s Garden which is attached to our own property. And what a fab place it turned out to me! But the gates were locked and, luckily, I ran into Alberto, one of the personnel here. He opened them for me and I was able to wander inside and find a glorious spot in the fruit orchard. And so there, surrounded by falling lemons, limes, orange and quince tress, with a rose garden in bloom around me, olive trees lending shade and the architectural grandeur of the outlines of the Duomo of Sancta Maria Assumpta right in front of me, I found myself a shady glen. It was there that I continued the outline of the work that I hope will become my own personal memoir. I had started the outline in the classroom inside but I lengthened it and then actually decided to start writing the first chapter. Time flew as the tolling bells of the church peeled a musical carillon at exactly 12 noon. Nothing could evoke Italy more sharply for me and I felt as if I had to pinch myself to believe that I am here, having this brilliant opportunity and making the most of it.

At 1.00 pm, I stopped to eat my croissant sandwich lunch and enjoyed it thoroughly. Although it was hot, it was neither unpleasant nor oppressive in the shade and living in Bombay now with its tropical climate, allows me to be much more tolerant of the heat. At 1.00 pm, I went inside into the cool comfort of an air-conditioned classroom. It was time for our Sample Writing critiques and the three faculty members (Ravi, Tim and Emma) did a very competent job in leading the group while other folks added the benefit of their opinions too. I had discovered, by this time, that I could not pick up the internet on my laptop even in this location—a very distinct indication that the hardware on my PC needs repair.

The Critique Session was an enormous success with five pieces reviewed and dissected. All five participants took the criticism well and time flew. We had a few breaks in-between to stretch our legs, use the facilities, etc. Before we knew it, it was 5.00 pm and we closed shop. Almost all of us returned to our respective hotels as our next meeting was at 7.00 pm for our Faculty Readings. En route to my hotel, I stopped at the SPAR and picked up a few things: milk, a wedge of Gorgonzola cheese, a packet of TUCS crackers, and two small pots of Tiramisu. In my hotel, I discovered that my bag had not yet arrived. However, I was able to make myself a hearty snack with the crackers and cheese and a pot of Tiramisu—so delicious! Then, I kept my laptop to charge and returned to the Institute for the 7.00 pm Reading.

All three readers did a grand job but I particularly enjoyed Tim’s account of his troubled relationship with his father which is part of a memoir on which he is working. He is such a wonderful writer. Emma and Ravi followed and it was great hearing them read and explain the context behind their writing. Then, at 8.30 pm, it was time for us to think about dinner.

Tim and Ravi chose a place called Ristorant Panne e Olio and with about ten of us trooping down there, we were sat at a table where we had a hearty meal. I have to admit that I was still too full with my tea-time snack, but I did order a pizza with prosciutto, caramelized onions and gorgonzola cheese. It was very good but there was no way I could eat it all and so I had most of it packed away for me (it will be my dinner tomorrow). Dinner stretched late into the night with several folks ordering red or white wine (which is really cheap here). It was finally after midnight when we got up to leave and with Emma, I walked to our hotel and straight to her room to borrow another change of clothes from her as my bag did not seem to have arrived. It was not in the Reception area although I searched thoroughly. Upstairs, in her room, we found a pair of pants and a top I could use and with these, I returned to my room, two doors down, only to discover—Glory Be!—that my suitcase had arrived and had been deposited in my room. Of course, I returned the items to Emma and then went about doing all the things I needed to do before getting ready for bed. It had been a very long day and so all I did was take my cold medication and go straight to bed.

Until tomorrow, ciao…