Wild Writing in the Boreal
an annual wilderness writing retreat for women
APRIL 19-22, 2024
held at Falcon Trails Resort in Whiteshell Provincial Park, on Treaty 3 territory, the traditional lands of the Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ and Michif Piyii (Métis) people.
Wild Writing in the Boreal blew my expectations through the roof! The entire weekend was so full of love, honesty, and beautiful writing. Both Lauren and Donna are amazing, talented women that we are all lucky to be learning from. Never have I felt so grounded at a retreat, and I am walking away feeling knowledgable and motivated. – Kiera Anderson
Wild Writing in the Boreal is an intense, engaging experience. I’ve attended two years in a row and both times came away with the information I need to keep building my career as a writer. Donna and Lauren are extremely knowledgeable and engaging, and class sizes are small. It’s a safe place to share your writing with others.
They pulled me into a deeper level of writing than ever before and the connections made within the all-female group were extremely empowering for me as a woman. I made new friendships and professional contacts at this retreat and I can’t recommend it enough. Regardless of your level of skill or where you are on your writing journey, if you’re passionate about writing, this retreat is for you. – Elizabeth Page
About the Retreat
Wild Writing in the Boreal is an annual writing retreat for beginning, emerging, and experienced writers. Women from Ontario, Manitoba, North Dakota, Minnesota, and beyond have gathered for four years for this wonderful weekend of writing, sharing stories, and connecting in a warm, safe, easygoing, and gorgeous environment.
Delicious food, hot tubs, wood-burning stoves, starry nights, beautiful nature, and new friends, as well as our Saturday evening open mic and after party and our Sunday lunch raffle with fabulous prizes, create a weekend to remember!
Past workshops have included sessions on character development, revision, and other explorations in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Spring 2023’s workshops were Play & Writing and Taking Risks In Creative Nonfiction with Donna, and Finding Your Story’s Roots and Who Said That?!: POV in Fiction with Lauren, who also hosted a silent write-in on Sunday morning. Our guest writer, Zilla Jones, gave a talk on the ins-and-outs of publishing (literary journals, publishers, agents, rejection, and more). View detailed descriptions of 2023’s sessions here and April 2023’s itinerary here. And stay tuned for details about 2024’s workshops and itinerary — we’ve already booked acclaimed writer Lorri Neilsen Glenn as our guest and our so excited and eager to have her join us!
Our retreat in 2023 ended with a reading on Sunday night celebrating Lauren’s new Places Like These, a short story collection published by Book*hug Press in April 2023.
2024 Guest Writer: Lorri Neilsen Glenn
Lorri Neilsen Glenn’s forthcoming memoir in pieces will be published in spring, 2024.Her last book, Following the River: Traces of Red River Women (Wolsak and Wynn) is an award-winning work about her Ininiwak (Swampy Cree) and Métis grandmothers. Lorri is the author and contributing editor of fourteen titles of nonfiction and poetry, former Halifax Poet Laureate, and Professor Emerita at Mount Saint Vincent University. Lorri has mentored writers across Canada and in Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Greece and Chile and has served on several national and regional juries for poetry and creative nonfiction. Lorri was born in Winnipeg, grew up on the prairies and now lives in Nova Scotia.Find her: T @neilsenglenn and IG @river2seashore
The Retreat Facilitators
Donna Besel loves writing of all kinds, and does workshops and presentations for schools, libraries, universities, conferences, and retreats. She grew up at West Hawk Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park and her “boreal stories” have appeared in various publications and earned national recognition. Her work has won the Prairie Fire Creative Nonfiction prize, the Great Canadian Literary Hunt, and has been longlisted multiple times for the CBC Literary Awards.The forests of Eastern Manitoba, where she has always lived, provide endless ideas and settings. Her first book, a collection of short stories called Lessons from a Nude Man, earned several award nominations. In 2021, the University of Regina Press published her memoir, The Unravelling: Incest and the Destruction of a Family.
Lauren Carter‘s latest book, the short story collection Places Like These was recommended as a Spring 2023 read by the Globe and Mail. Her last novel This Has Nothing To Do With You won the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction from the Manitoba Books Awards, when she also received the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer. Her debut novel Swarm appeared on the CBC Canada Read’s longlist. She has also published two poetry collections: Lichen Bright and Following Sea. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and has taught creative writing across Canada and in Mexico and coached writers from around the world, including Syria, Qatar, and California. Visit her at www.laurencarter.ca
Ready to Join Us?
Contact Stephanie at Falcon Trails for booking details
Email: groupsATfalcontrailsresort.com
Phone: (204) 349-8273
Countdown the Sleeps Until Our Next Retreat!
Day(s)
:
Hour(s)
:
Minute(s)
:
Second(s)