Upcoming Writing Retreats


May 11-17, 2025
Bordeaux, France
SOLD OUT

Carol Weston
Writing Retreat
A week in a castle? Oui, s’il vous plaît! We’ll gather each morning, inside or poolside, to focus on craft and storytelling, whether you’re working on a memoir, essays, or fiction for adults or young people. Carol Weston will lead a dynamic and encouraging discussion, then offer prompts for two bursts of writing. We’ll share our words in a way that is supportive and constructive, and afternoons are free for writing, reading, and exploring.
During our sojourn together, each writer will also have a one-hour private consultation. As a group, we can visit the château’s vineyard, enjoy a private wine tasting, admire a farmer’s market, and tour the Citadel of Blaye, a Unesco World Heritage Site. Chefs will cook for us, our refrigerator will be stocked, and one day, we’ll sample the local fare at a restaurant.
Get ready for a life-changing week at this extraordinary château.

Lightning on the Page
Christine Sneed Writing Retreat
Each morning our group of 8 writers will meet for three hours of writing, workshop, and discussion, both of craft-related and practical aspects of the writing life.
We’ll aim for the flexible goal of creating three to five short, new vibrant works—either stand-alone or part of the same longer work—by the end of our week together.
Each student will meet with Christine for an individual one-hour session.
All genres—fiction, nonfiction/memoir, poetry, and one-acts/scripts—and all levels of experience are welcome.

May 18-24, 2025
Bordeaux, France
SOLD OUT

June 3-9, 2025
Chamonix, France
SOLD OUT

Storytelling Sojourn with
Jamie Ford
Join us for a week of creative splendor with seven fellow writers at a cozy chalet in the high alpine village of Chamonix, France.
Each morning we’ll gather for three hours to workshop beginning chapters, opening scenes, and examine the types of contracts we make with readers on page one.
We’ll discuss writing vs. storytelling, ways of immersing the reader, and how to bank and spend emotional currency. Each participant will also have a 1-hour private session.
All genres are welcome in this generative workshop.

David Rocklin
Writing Retreat
Join David for an inspiring writing retreat in the high-alpine village of Chamonix.
Every day our group of 8 writers will gather for a three-hour workshop in a luxurious high-alpine villa.
The classes will be a combination of generative writing exercises and small-group critiques in a close-knit & nurturing environment. Each student will also meet with David for a one-hour private session.
David’s retreat is designed for beginner-intermediate writers, all genres are welcome.

June 15-21, 2025
Chamonix, France
SOLD OUT

September 14-20, 2025
Arcachon, France
SOLD OUT

Christina Baker Kline &
Paula McLain Retreat
Morning light on water. Salt air carrying voices from the market. Two luxurious villas, their shutters open to the Bassin d’Arcachon, will become our writing homes for six unforgettable days.
Each morning, we’ll gather for a three-hour workshop, not to polish, but to excavate. We will find the precise point where memory meets story, where truth begins to breathe. Christina and Paula will guide daily sessions on various elements of craft, with the intention of opening new doors into your work and process. Through a combination of generative writing exercises, small-group critiques, and deep reading of key model texts, we will lean in together, prioritizing our work and the creative life in a way that’s rarely possible in our everyday routines.
Private one-hour consultations will allow for deeper exploration of each writer’s work. Afternoons are open to possibility: writing at a café table, walking the beach at low tide, sharing wine, and inspiring conversation with fellow writers as fishing boats return to the harbor.
This retreat welcomes sixteen women writers seeking to understand their stories. Whether you’re crafting memoir, novel, or essays, we’ll help you locate the heart of what you’re trying to say—and why only you can say it.

October 5-11, 2025
Bordeaux, France


Leslie Zemeckis &
David Rocklin
Confidence, Courage and Craft

Miranda Cowley Heller
Writing Retreat
Share a villa with eight other writers for a week of creative splendor in the SouthWest of France.
In an intimate and beautiful setting, along with seven others writers, this will be a week dedicated to unlocking your deepest voice by learning tools that help you let go of your “intellectual” writer —embracing your individual creative instincts free from the constraints of what so many of us are taught good writing “should” be. The classes will experiment and generate work across a variety of genres.
Each day will include three hours of class where we will experiment with tools, fresh techniques, readings, and writing prompts. Afternoons will be for working on your own material or craft exercises assigned by me wherever you find the most inspiration—whether writing at a desk, a kitchen table, a local cafe, or sitting looking out at the sea.

October 12-18, 2025
Arcachon, France

Joshua Mohr
Writing Retreat
The best plots aren’t controlled by the author. They spring from the characters themselves. The writer masterminds all things, yes, but the more we as authors realize that our characters are sovereign beings (even in memoir), the better prepared we are to traverse what Joshua Mohr calls “plaracterization.” In this intensive workshop, we will ponder characters’ decision-making, the causality between plot points, and how to keep a reader flipping pages. We’ll delve into specific tactics for constructing present action and folding in backstory. During the session, students will have the opportunity to write and share their work with others.

TBD
Arcachon, France

October 19 - October 25, 2025
Provence, France
SOLD OUT

Alka Joshi
Writing Retreat
Fiction writers of all genres are welcome for this week-long retreat in a grande maison in Provence.
Along with seven other writers, you’ll gather each morning for three hours in one of the maison’s magnificent settings to explore techniques that hook your reader from the first page to the last. You’ll learn how to make your writing more immersive, deepen your character arcs and explore new ways to weave your values, your points-of-view, your reasons for writing into your narratives.
Each participant will have a one-hour private consultation with Alka.

John Claude Bemis
Writing Retreat
All genres and levels are welcome for this week-long retreat in a grande maison in Provence.
Along with seven other writers, you’ll gather each morning for three hours in one of the maison’s magnificent settings to explore techniques to make each scene and every page more captivating to readers. You’ll learn new ways to create an immersive writing voice with point-of-view, how to micro-plot scenes into strong arcs, and how to weave together your characters’ interior lives with their external struggles.
Each participant will have a one-hour private consultation with John.

October 26 - November 1, 2025
Provence, France
SOLD OUT

May 3 - May 9, 2026
Bordeaux, France

Marissa Stapley
Writing Retreat
Find your craft. Hone your voice. Rewrite your future.
The Story You Were Meant to Tell. Join bestselling author Marissa Stapley for an unforgettable week in Bordeaux, France, where inspiration grows wild amid vineyards and stone, the stories deepen, and your novel finds its voice. In daily three-hour workshops, we’ll explore the art of storytelling with a focus on character, structure, emotional resonance, and narrative momentum. Whether you’re halfway through a manuscript or starting from a spark, you’ll gain the tools and confidence to take your work to the next level. With generative writing sessions, feedback circles, and intimate conversations about writing and publishing, this is more than a workshop—it’s a turning point. Come with a dream, leave with direction, clarity, and community.

Susan Rich
Writing Retreat
Taking Flight: Travel Poetry (& Memoir) with Humans and Birds

May 24 - May 30, 2026
Bordeaux, France

Ignite the Spark
with Sarah Penner
Fiction writers of all genres are welcome for this week-long retreat in the high alpine village of Chamonix, France.
Our goal for the week is to unlock your story’s spark. With views of Mont Blanc from our chalet, we’ll cozy up with our pens and notebooks to explore your story from fresh angles. We’ll deepen characterization, create immersive settings, and strategize backstory in a way that captures your reader. By the end of the week, you’ll have written or revised several key scenes or chapters within your story.

May 31 - June 6, 2026
Chamonix, France
“What a lovely experience from start to finish. Everything was so well done for us with such consideration for each of us. The view from my room was spectacular!”
– Mercilee Jenkins