Adirondack Memoir Retreat on Lake Champlain

Sept 26 – Sept 30, 2017

Led by Kate Moses

Focus on your memoir-in-progress at a peaceful Adirondack lakeside lodge set against a backdrop of autumn’s turning leaves. Intensive, individual manuscript consultations and feedback in small group workshops.

THE RETREAT

Led by an acclaimed, award-winning writer and writing teachers, this retreat will offer participants targeted, individual and peer critique and professional advice on their works-in- progress as well as daily workshop-style feedback from the group, dynamic conversation about literary life over meals and evening campfires, and time for writing, nature’s shifting beauties, and imaginative refueling during an intimate four days in the company of inspiring, supportive, like-minded writers.

THE SETTING

On Lake Champlain and next to a gorgeous, forested state park (beaches and hiking trails), Point Au Roche Lodge is a perfect combination of rustic and stylish, with numerous quiet spots for writing, reading, and simply being. All guest rooms in the main lodge have private baths, many featuring private decks with views, Jacuzzi tubs, and fireplaces. Rooms in the cottages overlooking the lake have shared baths. See the lodge’s website for more details, and to choose your room (first come, first served): www.pointaurochelodge.com.

As the lodge is less than an hour from the Canadian border, a group trip to cosmopolitan Montreal for one evening’s dinner is an option. At the lodge, meals will showcase local organic farm-to-table ingredients and Kate’s renowned and omnipresent baked goods.

REQUIREMENTS

This retreat is ideal for writers who are already working on a memoir, fiction, or food writing project. For the workshop, participants will submit a manuscript of 20 pages for group feedback. For the individual consultation, up to 50 pages may be submitted. Let us know if you have questions about whether this retreat would be helpful for you! 

WHAT IS INCLUDED

The Adirondack retreat includes individual manuscript consultation, group workshops, a paired critique partner, airport pickup & drop-off, lodging for 4 nights, and all meals minus one dinner out. Optional morning yoga and other fun and relaxing activities in an outdoor paradise, including hiking, kayaking, swimming, bird watching, and seasonal leaf-peeping.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Tuesday September 26:

  • Late Afternoon Arrival (airport pickups as needed)
  • Cocktail Introductions & Group Dinner
  • Project Sharing over Bonfire

Wednesday September 27:

  • Morning Yoga & Stretch (optional)
  • Breakfast
  • Morning Writing Workshop with Daily Prompt, Mid-morning Break
  • Group Lunch
  • Afternoon: One-on-One Consultation, Peer Critique, or Free Time for Writing or Relaxing
  • Group Dinner followed by Candlelight Readings by the Lake

Thursday September 28:

  • Morning Yoga & Stretch (optional)
  • Breakfast
  • Morning Writing Workshop with Daily Prompt, Mid-morning Break
  • Group Lunch
  • Afternoon: One-on-One Consultation, Peer Critique, or Free Time for Writing or Relaxing
  • Group Dinner (Montreal Trip Option)

Friday September 29:

  • Morning Yoga and Stretch (optional)
  • Breakfast
  • Morning Writing Workshop with Daily Prompt, Mid-morning Break
  • Group Lunch
  • Afternoon: One-on-One Consultation, Peer Critique, or Free Time for Writing or Relaxing
  • Lakeside Cocktails & Final Group Dinner

Saturday September 30:

  • Breakfast
  • Closing Writing Prompt
  • Departure/drop off at airport

WORKSHOP LEADER

Kate Moses is the author of the internationally acclaimed Wintering: A Novel of Sylvia Plath, published in sixteen languages, and Cakewalk: A Memoir, chosen by National Public Radio as one of their favorite memoirs of 2010. Recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for Best Fiction by an American Woman, an American Book Award, and a Prix des Lectrices de Elle, Kate is also co-editor of two bestselling anthologies of essays on motherhood, Mothers Who Think: Tales of Real-Life Parenthood and Because I Said So: 33 Mothers Write About Children, Sex, Men, Aging, Faith, Race & Themselves. A founding editor of Salon, her literary essays and food writing have appeared in many publications in the U.S. and U.K. Learn more about Kate’s books at katemoses.com.

COST

  • $1400 for private rooms
  • $1150 for shared rooms (limited availability, first come first served)