Ossabaw Island Writer’s Retreat

Several openings still available! Sign up now and qualify for early registration discount.

Enjoy and learn from workshops, readings and craft sessions held at the pristine Ossabaw Island Heritage Preserve—just twenty minutes by boat from historic Savannah, Georgia and its renown restaurants, art galleries, squares and riverfront beauty.

Join us February 12-16, 2012 at the second annual Ossabaw Island Writers’ Retreat: 26,000 acres of maritime forest, tidal wetlands, and wide beaches on the Atlantic Ocean island—an unspoiled treasure that’s home to hundreds of animal and plant species as well as a 4,000 year cultural history.

For almost fifty years, notable artists, writers and scientists from around the globe have gathered to experience and draw inspiration from Ossabaw Island’s pristine beauty and natural inhabitants.

Writers Ralph Ellison, Annie Dillard, Olive Ann Burns, Margaret Atwood, T.C. Boyle, Rosemary Daniell, and Alice Walker; poets Edwin Honig and David Hamilton; composers Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber; ecologist Eugene Odum; and art historian H. W. Janson are among those who have participated in the Ossabaw Island Project.

We hope you will join us in this great tradition by taking part in the 2012 Ossabaw Island Writers’ Retreat which spans five days and includes lodging, meals, ferried transportation to the island, writing workshops, one-on-one manuscript consultations with nationally recognized authors, craft seminars and readings. Since the Retreat takes place the same week as the Savannah Book Festival, participants who wish to stay for the festival will be offered special hotel rates. Participants also will receive recognition at the festival and an opportunity to read excerpts of their work to festival audiences.

Please explore the pages of this site to find out more about workshops, critiques, craft sessions, faculty and participant readings, lodging, meals, etc.

Where loggerhead sea turtles and endangered wood storks nest. Where students learn research techniques and the value of an unspoiled place. Where historic cultures are studied.  Where photographers, writers, painters and musicians listen, watch, reflect and create. Come join us for a retreat that will inspire you.

See our guidelines and information page for more information on application process.