Accessing Our Wounds through Words (starting at $99)

Writing difficult narratives can offer an opening, create awareness, and begin necessary conversations. Often, we seek penning our experiences to help make sense of our wounds, to assign meaning to what is not easily expressed. This three-part workshop-based class offers practical and empowering exploration into the trauma-writing process. Instructor Rebecca Evans has instructed trauma writing to a wide range of students and in a variety of settings. She shares her own curated process that she developed while confronting vulnerability and pain on the page. Through compassionate and gentle exploration, students will learn to re-frame their experiences into craft that feels true and meaningful. Session one includes methods to help establish sacred writing practices, including space for self-care. Students will explore concepts to help manage emotions that might surface during writing sessions. Session two offers a study in forms, crafts and approaches. Students will explore narrative accessibility should they wish to share or publish their work. Session three helps students establish a creative and safe ongoing writing practice. This class is open to writers of all levels.

Rebecca Evans writes the heart-full guidebooks for survivors. She teaches high school teens in the Juvie system and co-hosts Radio Boise’s Writer to Writer show. She’s a disabled veteran, an avid gardener, and lives with four Newfoundlands and her sons.

Her poems and essays have appeared in Brevity, Narratively, The Rumpus, Hypertext Magazine, and more. Her books include Tangled by Blood (Moon Tide Press, 2023) and Safe Handling (Moon Tide Press, 2024).

Laughter and Poetry (starting at $99)

In a two-day workshop on “Poetry and Laughter“ we will explore the presence and the healing power of laughter in poetry. We will discuss: "The Laughter of Women" by Mary-Sherman Willis, "Your laughter turns the world to paradise" by Jalal al-Din Rumi, "The Laugh" by Don McKay, and "Poem about your laugh" by Susan Glickman; one week lecture, the other workshop.

Carmen Bugan, George Orwell Prize Fellow, published her sixth collection of poems, Tristia, earlier this year. She is an award-winning author of 10 books that include memoir, essays, and criticism. Her work has been translated into several languages, gathered international praise, and has been widely anthologized. Carmen's memoir, Burying the Typewriter, was BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and she has been featured on NPR, ABC, PRI and the BBC.

Building from Scraps: Making Old Things New 
(starting at $79)

For this workshop, you will be asked to bring drafts of old poems that aren’t “working” for you. These might be finished poems, or they might be scraps of incomplete poems, sentences or paragraphs. We will use several techniques to infuse new life into them. You will leave the workshop with at least one new draft that surprises you. Writers who are new to poetry, but have old bits of prose to repurpose, are welcome.

Sherre Vernon is the author of two chapbooks and two full length poetry collections, Flame Nebula, Bright Nova and Translating Blue. Sherre has been nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart prizes, and anthologized in several collections including Fat & Queer and Best Small Fictions.

Dwelling in Poetry (starting at $99)

In his book "The Poetics of Space" Bachelard says that "Sometimes we find ourselves in the presence of a form that guides and encloses our earliest dreams." (p. 239) That form becomes a space where the poet's imagination dwells. In this workshop we will explore the sense of "dwelling" in relation to "place" through Heidegger, the "poetics of space" through Bachelard and then we'll reflect on concrete poetry. We will think about the poem's actual space on the page, the shape it occupies in order to express it visually: poems as trees, poems as vases, poems as tears. Two-part workshop, two hours per session: first part will be lecture, discussion, and generative exercises; second part will be feedback/workshop on poems that participants bring to class. By the end of the workshop, participants will have a few concrete poems and an appreciation of the intersection between philosophy, psychology, and poetry.

Dr. Carmen Bugan, George Orwell Prize Fellow, published her sixth collection of poems, Tristia, earlier this year. She is an award-winning author of 10 books that include memoir, essays, and criticism. Her work has been translated into several languages, gathered international praise, and has been widely anthologized. Carmen's memoir, Burying the Typewriter, was BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and she has been featured on NPR, ABC, PRI and the BBC.

To Question or Not Question - a factual fiction freewrite workshop 

In this 90 minute workshop, we will dive into ways of asking questions, of making assumptions ... asking questions about question asking as such! We will touch upon theories re direct and indirect communication, a factual facekeeping that will prompt us to freewrite to poems by Sarah Uribe & Hagar Peeters, to lyrics by Annie Lennox. At the end of the workshop you will receive a document with more facts & fiction to muse on. To ask or assume … let’s read and write beyond conjecture!

Kate Copeland’s love for languages led her to teaching; her love for art & water to poetry. She is curator-editor for The Ekphrastic Review & runs linguistic-poetry workshops for TER and IWWG. Find her poems @TER, WildfireWords, Gleam, Hedgehog Press [a.o.] and https://www.instagram.com/kate.copeland.poems/ Kate was born @harbour city, and adores housesitting @the world.

Matwaala South Asian poets' Collective:
From OTHER to CENTER (starting at $45)

Usha Akella moderates a panel of four poets - Kirun Kapur, Sara Garg, Anita Nahal & Meher Manda to delve into the notion of immigration as a spectrum of unfoldment. More than a static dot in time, immigration is a wave giving birth to endless surges of the notion of identity enacting within the larger canvas of country, belonging and borders. The poets will read poems that explore an evolutionary journey to reflect changing themes, concerns, and poetic expression. What does a poet write about upon arrival? What does the poet grapple with in successive years? What does an American born poet with immigrant parents write about? From ‘other’ to ‘center’, is there indeed a definite destination of belonging?

Moderator, Usha Akella: Usha Akella has authored ten books that include poetry, and two musical dramas with noted publishers. She earned an MSt. in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge, UK. She is the founder of Matwaala (www.matwaala.com), launched to increase the visibility of South Asian poets, and www.the-pov.com, a website of curated interviews.

Panel: Kirun Kapur, Sara Garg, Anita Nahal & Meher Manda

Join Us for a Reading from our 2025 Write Forward Anthology

Readers will feature those who participated in the anthology. All are welcome to join to listen and hear about our next anthology.

Our soon to be released anthology efforts aligned with the 69th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69). This event is a call to action, reminding us of the power of storytelling to illuminate the 12 critical areas of concern outlined in the Beijing Platform for Action—from education and health to climate justice and human rights. The 2025 IWWG Anthology, supported by The de Groot Foundation, brings together voices from around the world to reflect on these themes.  The anthology previewed on March 8, International Women’s Day, at the United Nations in New York City, as part of our statement at CSW69. 

We will also host an in person reading at our Summer Retreat where the printed version will be available. We look forward to sharing it with our community.

Writing poems that surprise (starting at $45)

Will go over various techniques for writing poems that surprise the writer, will read sample poems and talk about how the techniques have been used. Participants will be given time to write and to share their poems.

Brenda Wildrick, poet and visual artist, member of Columbine Poets of Colorado, the Arizona State Poetry Society, Colorado Poet’s Center, and IWWG, has published poems in several anthologies. Her book, On the Train for Somewhere Else, and her coloring book with haiku were published in 2023 by Wild Rising Press.

IWWG Writing & Wellness Retreat
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August 11-15, 2025

Stepping Stone Retreat Center 

320 Sawkill Road Kingston NY 12401

Room block link:

International Women’s Writing Guild

The link will expire in May 31st.  A new block will open in June if needed. 

View Property - https://lumen5.com/user/bestwestern/33195-bw-plus-kings-0y7lb/

Monday, August 11 – Arrival Day

• Evening Welcome Reception at the hotel restaurant/bar – casual meet and greet.

Tuesday, August 12 – Thursday, August 14

Daily Schedule

8:30 AM – 10:00 AM

10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

3:00 PM – 4:30 PM

also from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Evenings

Friday, August 15 – Departure Day

• Farewell breakfast

• Hotel check-out and shuttles to station/airport as needed

Meals & Shuttle Info

• Complimentary Breakfast – at hotel each morning

• Lunch (Tues–Thurs) – provided at retreat center

• Dinner (Tues & Thurs) – group dinners at retreat center

• Shuttle Service – Daily shuttle between hotel and retreat center (1 mile). Participants may also drive.

Workshop Descriptions

Please note registration is for retreat, workshops, and meals only. Rooms will be booked separately under an IWWG block below. Rooms must be booked by May 31 for early bird rate of $129 per night for a room with two queens. You can share, but you must decide on your roommate and book together. IWWG is not handling hotel reservations. Nearby Kingston retreat center for workshops with shuttle services.

ROOM BLOCK LINK:

International Women’s Writing Guild

 To help you with your guest accommodations needs, we have created a customized reservation link for your room discount. Please test the link so you understand how it works. Guests can adjust the dates to the night or nights they need.  

Reservations can  also be made by calling the hotel directly 845 338 0400 and ask for the group by name.

Please make your reservations early. Individual reservations can be cancelled up to 24 hours prior to arrival. A new block will open in June if needed. 

View Property - https://lumen5.com/user/bestwestern/33195-bw-plus-kings-0y7lb/

Gateway to Memoir III (starting at $199)

In this 6-week workshop we will build on the foundation and skills developed during Gateway to Memoir I & II. You do not have to have participated in I & II to enroll in III, but you should have completed at least two full essays/chapters of your project for this workshop to be most beneficial to you.
Week 1 - Real-time Revisions
Week 2 - Sharpening Your Writing Voice
Week 3 - Book Proposal Basics

Weeks 4-6 will be reserved for workshopping.

Minda Honey’s essays have appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Oxford American, Teen Vogue, and Longreads.

Her debut memoir, THE HEARTBREAK YEARS is a hilarious and intimate portrait of a Black woman finding who she is and who she wants to be, one bad date at a time.

Embodied Editing (starting at $79)

Embodied Editing pushes the revision practice beyond the norm of academics, highlighting the connection between the body and art. This approach helps surpass traditional boundaries of language, acting as an invitation to explore story and narrative in relationship to the body’s visceral response, creating a deep conversation between work and heart.

We’ll explore editing in two sessions. Please bring work that you wish to revise, along with highlighters and/or markers to the event. Dress in comfortable clothing to allow yourself to move freely as part of the revision process.

Rebecca Evans writes the heart-full guidebooks for survivors. She teaches high school teens in the Juvie system and co-hosts Radio Boise’s Writer to Writer show. She’s a disabled veteran, an avid gardener, and lives with four Newfoundlands and her sons.

Her poems and essays have appeared in Brevity, Narratively, The Rumpus, Hypertext Magazine, and more. Her books include Tangled by Blood (Moon Tide Press, 2023) and Safe Handling (Moon Tide Press, 2024).

Inside the Edit: Navigating Process, Partnerships, and Publishing Routes

In the world of writing, editing is an essential step that transforms initial drafts into polished, compelling narratives. This presentation explores the critical role of editing in the publishing journey, highlighting importance in enhancing clarity, coherence, and impact. Attendees will only learn about the various types of editing, but the dynamics of the editor-writer relationship and how timelines and expectations vary depending on your chosen publishing route.

Born and raised in Northern Ireland, Debbie Anderson joined the FriesenPress publishing team in 2012 after a career in the financial services industry. As a Publishing Consultant, she has helped hundreds of authors start their publishing journey and fully realize their literary aspirations.

World Building for Any Novel (starting at $129)

A character’s world greatly impacts how that character responds to the obstacles they face and ultimately shapes who that character becomes. This mini-course will discuss the techniques necessary to create and/or strengthen works with complicated and layered worlds and timelines. This course is for any project with large worlds, whether that be science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, intergenerational novels, or a mystery novel, or if you simply want to understand how to incorporate diverse characters and perspectives. We will explore how to keep your readers engaged in such layered storylines. Considering writers such as Octavia Butler, N.K. Jemisin, and Margaret Atwood, we will be inspired to write stories that immerse readers in worlds that illuminate today’s conversations. We will spend four weeks learning world-building techniques, developing the character of multiple protagonists, incorporating diverse characters and world settings, and keeping track of your world’s details/rules. The final two weeks will be spent generating materials or making plans for revisions using your new tools. Start a novel, strengthen one already begun, or even finish a short story during our exploration of world-building techniques.

Melissa Michal is of Seneca, Welsh, and English descent and is a fiction writer and essayist. Melissa has work appearing in the SFRA and other spaces. Her story collection, Living Along the Borderlines, was a finalist for the Louise Meriwether first book prize and she writes Indigenous futurism novels.