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Olvar Wood is a privately owned business run by writers for writers. We currently offer a range of mentorships, courses and manuscript appraisals. We also run a small suite of workshops and masterclasses each year. Olvar Wood is owned by Dr Nike Bourke and Dr Inga Simpson. Nike is an award-winning author with over 12 years experience teaching creative writing in university and community contexts. Inga is the author of Fatal Development and has published numerous non-fiction articles and short stories. Inga and nike's goals in establishing Olvar Wood are:
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Olvar History
Perilous Adventures was founded in 2007 by Kris Olsson and Nike Bourke to provide personalised and meaningful support to writers, particularly through our unique mentorship and manuscript appraisal services. In early 2008, Inga Simpson became part of the Perilous Adventures team.
Olvar Wood was established in 2008 by Nike and Inga to supplement the services offered by Perilous Adventures by offering residential writing retreats.
In 2009, Perilous Adventures and Olvar Wood were merged into a single entity, Olvar Wood Writers Retreat. Perilous Adventures lives on as our online writers magazine.
In late 2010 (finding ourselves completely exhausted) we decided to focus, for the moment, on our mentorship programs, including the year-long Manuscript Development Program (MDP) and online courses (OWL).
Why Olvar?
"But the Kelvar can flee or defend themselves, whereas the Olvar that grow cannot.
And among these I hold trees dear" (from Tolkein's Silmarillion)
Olvar is the elvish word for the plants and plant-life in Tolkein's Silmarillion. After Yavanna's husband Aule created the fathers of the dwarves, she became concerned for the fate of both the kelvar (animals) and olvar (plants). When she spoke of her fears to Manwe, he revealed that Eru intended that spirits should be sent to dwell among some of the olvar and protect them. These protective spirits were the ents.
We chose this name for our business because we share Yavanna's concern for the living things that cannot protect themselves - both Olvar and Kelvar. One of our goals in establishing Olvar Wood Writers Retreat is to preserve the natural bushland and its inhabitants for future generations, while also providing a peaceful haven for those humans who write.
What's Happening at Olvar Wood?
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