“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”
Do you need protected time and space to hone a work of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry? Do you gravitate to deepening craft and your relationship to nature? Are you drawn to off-grid, star-studded landscapes cared for by eco-minded stewards who can cook up a storm?
Join Helen Humphreys, Pamela Mulloy, Susan Scott, and Andrew Westoll in this guided writing workshop for emerging and established writers. The 5-day spring retreat at Wintergreen Studios is designed to help writers develop a specific project they have underway.
WRITING ON THE LAND brings together award-winning writers and editors who understand the writing process and what’s involved in trying to find your footing. The retreat is a unique opportunity to work with seasoned guides who can speak to the full cycle of envisioning, researching, creating, revising, submitting, publishing, and beyond.
This retreat is for creators who are ready to develop, revise, or complete a specific work. Applicants will be asked to choose one of two streams—either a workshop or a mentorship—and to submit a synopsis of the project they plan to focus on, along with a writing sample.
Workshops: Join a small, craft-oriented group led by an instructor. Ideal for emerging writers, for those digging into new work, or exploring a new genre. Applicants to this stream are asked to submit a maximum of 10 pages from their project.
Mentorships: Meet with a mentor one-on-one, at the discretion of the mentor, to discuss your project. Ideal for established writers, or someone well into a work who is seeking guidance on direction and completion. Applicants to this stream will be asked to submit a maximum of 30 pages from their project.
Come with questions. Leave refreshed, focused, and determined. We want to help you make real progress with your work by offering the support of publishing professionals and introducing you to like-minded creatives.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
Wednesday
4:00 PM Arrival any time before dinner
6:30 PM Dinner
After settling into your room and learning about the bounties that Wintergreen offers, you will enjoy dinner with faculty, meet the other participants, and learn about the layout of the retreat.
Thursday to Saturday
8:00 AM Breakfast
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Meeting with Instructors or Mentors. Participants will either be part of an instructor-led group focused on craft development, or they will meet with a mentor. The length and content of group and/or one-on-one sessions is at the discretion of each faculty member.
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Lunch
1:00 PM – 5:00 PM Silent time gives everyone permission to write, read, walk the trails, unwind, and enjoy some quiet contemplation.
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM Ask the Mentor: Craft sessions with faculty, based on issues that surface in the sessions.
6:30 PM Dinner and Programming
Thursday: Faculty readings with Q & A
Friday: Writing time
Saturday: Participant readings. Time to celebrate the creative life—and wild offshoot of our time together—by sharing some of what’s sprung up on retreat.
Sunday
8:00 AM Breakfast
9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Publishing Roundtable: an A-Z session to address your questions on everything from agents and editors to magazine and book publishing and beyond.
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM Lunch & departure
ABOUT THE FACULTY
Photo by Ayelet Tsabari
Helen Humphreys is the award-winning author of fiction, creative-non-fiction, and poetry. The Toronto Star calls her, “one of this country’s most beautiful writers.” She has won the Rogers Writers Trust Fiction Prize, a Lambda Award for Fiction, and the City of Toronto Book Award.
She has been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Book Prize, the Commonwealth Prize, The IMPAC Dublin prize, and her work has been optioned for stage, film, TV, and opera. In 2023 she was awarded the Matt Cohen Writers Trust prize for her life inwriting. Her latest book is a novel about Henry David Thoreau called Followed By the Lark (2024). Born in Kingston-on-Thames, England, Helen lives and writes in Kingston, Ontario, where she is Director of Creative Writing at Queen’s University. To learn about Helen’s books, visit her author page at: https://www.harpercollins.ca.
Pamela Mulloy is an award-winning author of two novels, The Deserters (Véhicule Press, 2018) and As Little As Nothing (ECW Press, 2022). Her creative nonfiction book, Off the Tracks: A Meditation on Train Journeys in a Time of No Travel (ECW), was published in April 2024. Her work has appeared in The Literary Review of Canada, and the anthology Polished: Poland Rooted in Canadian Fiction. She has lived in Poland, England, the United States and now lives in Ontario, where she is the Editor of The New Quarterly and Artistic Director of the Wild Writers Festival. Visit Pamela’s website: https://pamelamulloy.com.
Photo by Ron Grimes
Susan Scott guides writers and creators in wrestling complex stories to the page and in transforming trouble into art. She has led award-winning initiatives in the environmental humanities and in culture work with First Nations, immigrants, and settlers in Quebec and Chile. Susan has taught writing in communities and classrooms in the States and Canada, including guest lectures at the Yale Institute for Sacred Music, and is a consulting editor with The New Quarterly, where she was the lead nonfiction editor until 2019. Book editing includes Body & Soul (2019), a collection Sarah Selecky calls “a revelation,” and a new (TBA) volume of unorthodox life writing by women writers and scholars in Canada and abroad. Learn more at her website: https://susanlscott.ca.
Andrew Westoll is an award-winning author and professor whose writing explores our fraught relationship with the natural world. His books include The Riverbones (2008), the Charles Taylor Prize-winning The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary (2011), and The Jungle South of the Mountain (2016). His next book, The Zoo at the End of the World, explores the many paradoxes and contradictions of the modern zoo, and is forthcoming from Knopf Canada. Andrew is Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, of Creative Writing and English at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), where he won the 2019 UTSC Teaching Award, which recognizes sustained teaching excellence. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, is a Gold National Magazine Award winner, and his books have been published in the USA, UK, Australia and Poland. Andrew’s website is: www.andrewwestoll.com.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Are you a writer under 30? Ask about our 50% “young creators” discount. Writing on the Land especially welcomes applications from writers of colour, Indigenous writers, 2SLGBTQ+ writers, and writers with disabilities. The Indigenous bursary is offered through the generous donation of Pam Dillon through The New Quarterly’s Spirit Ink program. The writer under 30 fund is assisted with a donation from Isabel Huggan as well as from a grant from the Community Foundation for Kingston and Area.
Pricing as listed below (+ HST) includes tuition, meals (12), and accommodation (4 nights). Included in the cost is a $250 non-refundable deposit. Payment in full is required at time of registration.
Registration for this retreat is a two-step process. First, prospective participants must apply by filling out the application form and providing a writing sample by December 15, 2024. To apply, please fill out the application form and attach the required documents.
Successful applicants will be contacted by January 31, 2025 and invited to complete their registration through Wintergreen Studios (accommodations, dietary needs, fees, etc.).
Refund policy and fees are noted below. Registration will not become “live” until January 31, 2025 after applicants have been contacted. Registration must be completed by February 21, 2025.
To inquire about the program design or the application process please write to The New Quarterly. Please contact Wintergreen Studios if you have site-specific questions, or inquiries about diet and accommodations.
RETREAT FEES
Pricing as listed below (+ HST) includes tuition, all meals, facilities, and accommodation, except for the off-site option. Included in the cost is a $250 non-refundable deposit. Payment is required in full upon registration (after January 31, 2025).
WINTERGREEN STUDIOS LODGE AND CABINS
Meadow Suite (private room in the Lodge with 1 king bed, ensuite bath; ground level): $2,400
Garden Room (private room in the Lodge with 1 double bed, shared bath; ground level): $2,200
North Room (private room in the Lodge with 1 double bed, shared bath; ground level): $2,200
Spanish Room (private room in the Lodge with 1 Queen bed, shared bath; ground level): $2,200
Porch Room (private room in the Lodge with 1 double bed, shared bath; ground level): $2,200
Forest House (woodland cabin near the Lodge with double bed; loft/upper level with stair access only): $2,100
Parthenon (remote woodland cabin with double futon — please click on the link to download the detailed cabin guide so you know what to expect): $1,900
Hobbit House (remote woodland cabin with small double bed — please click on the link to download the detailed cabin guide so you know what to expect): $1,900
Sauna View Room (private room in the Lodge with 1 twin bed, shared bath; upper level with stair access only): $2,000
Green Roof Room (private room in the Lodge with 1 twin bed, shared bath; upper level with stair access only): $2,000
Maple Room (shared room in the Lodge with 2 twin beds, shared bath; ground level): $1,700 each for two people
Courtyard Room (shared room in the Lodge with 2 twin beds, shared bath; ground level): $1,700 each for two people
Tree House (remote woodland cabin with 1 double bed in loft, 2 bunk beds in loft, and double window seat bed; ground level — please click on the link to download the detailed cabin guide so you know what to expect): $1,600 each for up to four people
Tenting/Camper in the Camping Meadow (with Lodge privileges to shower, etc.) – $1,500
OFFSITE
For those staying at a nearby home or cottage — fee includes instruction, facilities, and meals, but no overnight accommodation – $1,500
*If your preferred accommodation is no longer available when you register, please email us to be put on the waiting list for a shared or private room.
REFUND POLICY
If you cancel before April 7, 2025, all but $250 (non-refundable deposit) will be refunded to you.
If you cancel between April 8 and April 24, 2025, 50% of the full fee will be refunded to you.
If you cancel after April 24, 2025, refunds are not available.