Wild Seeds Retreat for Writers of Color (WS)

About the Week

Fellows will engage in daily writing, reading and sharing sessions with workshop leaders and cohort leaders. Fellows will also have an opportunity for one on one sessions with their workshop leader. A detailed itinerary will be provided to accepted fellows. Tuition is $600 for this in-person retreat. A limited number of scholarships are available, with a written rationale required upon applying.

The Writers Retreat Goal

The Wild Seeds Retreat provides writers of color with an opportunity to meet other writers; to workshop their writing among peers; and to engage with published writers about concerns and issues related to writing and publishing. Through its writing workshops leaders, the Retreat provides the public with an opportunity to become knowledgeable about the range and diversity of the work produced by writers of color.

Our Background

The Wild Seeds Retreat for Writers of Color (formerly the North Country Institute & Retreat for Writers of Color), began in 2004 as a collaboration with the Center for Black Literature, the English Department at SUNY, Plattsburgh, and the Paden Institute and Retreat for Writers. Today it continues to provide a writing community where established and emerging writers can focus on the craft of writing and create cross-cultural conversations around the literature created by writers of the African diaspora.

Writing fellows have an opportunity to draw upon their experiences as writers in a racialized society; to become knowledgeable about the issues facing other writers of color; and to study with a professional in the genres of fiction, memoir, and poetry.

Recognizing that the Writers Retreat should not be limited to a specific geographical region, the Center renamed the Retreat in honor of Octavia E. Butler, a speculative fiction writer known globally for blending science fiction with African American spiritualism. Butler's writing crossed many boundaries and represented varying diverse voices.

A Look Back

The first Writers' Retreat, held in 2004, was highly successful and featured the internationally acclaimed poet Sonia Sanchez, author Tony Medina, and writer Indira Ganesan. The Retreat had alternated between the Valcour Educational and Conference Center in Plattsburgh, New York, and the campus of Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York. Venues are subject to change each year.

Previous Poetry, Fiction, and Playwriting Workshop Leaders

Jeffery Renard Allen, Mo Beasley, Breena Clarke, Kia Corthron, Bridgett Davis, Martin Espada, Patrice Gaines, Indira Ganesan, Aracelis Girmay, Marita Golden, Tonya Cherie Hegamin, DaMaris B. Hill, Donna Hill, Major Jackson, Sandra Jackson-Opoku. Patricia Spears Jones. Victor LaValle, E. Ethelbert Miller, Bernice McFadden, Shaun Neblett, Greg Pardlo, Willie Perdomo, Ernesto Quiñonez, Sonia Sanchez, and Ravi Shankar.

Last updated April 13, 2024