Black Fly Writers Retreat

The Black Fly Writers Retreat is an inspiring four-day, three-night weekend of workshops, readings, and writing.

The 2024 Black Fly Writers Retreat will be held from Friday, May 3 through Monday, May 6 at the Schoodic Institute in Winter Harbor, Maine. The Institute is inside Acadia National Park, and its campus is a National Park Service Research Learning Center. We are excited to be offering this writing retreat again at this location!

Black Fly Writers Retreat attendees will spend Saturday, Sunday, and Monday mornings (8:30 AM to 12 PM) in workshops of no more than ten participants working with one instructor. Afternoons will be open for writing and an optional individual meetings with the instructor. There will be Friday and Saturday evening faculty readings and an optional Saturday evening open reading, giving attendees a chance to share their work with each other.

This year’s critically-acclaimed faculty include Gregory Brown (fiction), Phuc Tran (creative nonfiction), and Kristen Case (poetry. You will find this year’s workshop and faculty information below, and you can register online right on each workshop page.

Important Dates

Registration for Black Fly closes April 19th at 9 AM

Applications for the Dibner Fellowship close April 1st

2024 Information and Sign Up

The 2024 Black Fly Writers Retreat will be held at the Schoodic Institute in Winter Harbor, Maine, right next to Acadia National Park. Schoodic offers suite-style accommodations with private bedrooms and shared common spaces.

Meals are included for all retreat-goers who are staying over and can be added a la carte ahead of time for commuters. Schoodic “strives to cook with fresh, locally sourced ingredients.” Soups, dressings, sauces and baked goods are prepared from scratch daily, and they provides “gluten-free, dairy-free or vegetarian meals” as needed and will take other special requests ahead of time.

For those who live nearby and would like to commute, the Black Fly Writers Retreat commuter rate is $350, or $275 for members of MWPA. Commuters can pay per meal for particular meals they would like to eat with the group.

For those who are staying over May 3-6, the Black Fly Writers Retreat is $1086, or $986 for members of MWPA.

If you have questions about room & board, please contact Gibson at gibson@mainewriters.org or 207-228-8264.

In partnership with the Maine Community Foundation, the MWPA is proud to offer the Martin Dibner Memorial Fellowship for Maine Writers. The Dibner Fellowship will cover the full cost of one attendee to the Black Fly Writing Retreat. Every applicant must submit an application, statement of intent, and work sample.

Applications close April 1st

We are committed to keeping all of our in-person events and workshops as safe as possible.

Masking and some social distancing for indoor activities might be required depending on the current state of Covid infections in the area.

We know the pandemic is constantly changing, and we will closely monitor Maine CDC guidelines for any changes. An updated set of guidelines for the retreat will be sent around a week before the event.

Want to reserve a workshop slot?
If you’re concerned that a workshop might fill up before you have time to fill out and mail a registration form, just contact us and we’d be happy to hold you a workshop slot for one week. Contact: director@mainewriters.org / 207-228-8264

Payment
The MWPA is not able to accept installment payments. Workshop space will not be reserved until we receive full payment. If an agency, business, school, or other organization is paying student fees, payment is still due at the time of registration. Purchase orders or intent to pay are not accepted. The MWPA accepts checks, money orders, cash, and Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Amex through our website or or over the phone.

Cancellations
A nonrefundable fee of 25% of the workshop cost is included in each registration. Partial refunds (75% of the workshop fee) will be granted for cancellations made more than two weeks before the writing retreat. Cancellations made after that cannot be refunded, no matter how compelling the reason. We cannot refund participants for missed workshops.

CEUs
The MWPA is proud to offer Continuing Education Units (CEU) for this workshop. The CEU is a nationally recognized method of quantifying the time spent in the classroom during non-credit learning. Ten hours of instruction equal one (1) CEU. (*Please note that by definition, CEUs are non-credit continuing education and therefore not transferrable as academic credit.)

Retreat Cancellation
Workshops that do not meet a minimum enrollment may be canceled up to two business days (48 hours) prior to the first class meeting. If a workshop is canceled by the MWPA for any reason, all registrants will receive a full refund.

Bad Weather Policy
Weather-related cancellations are extremely rare. Call 207-228-8264 to check on the status of your workshop if you are concerned about inclement weather. If a workshop is canceled for weather-related reasons, the MWPA will announce the cancelation as soon as possible, the workshop will be rescheduled, and all registrants will be notified of the new date. If a registrant cannot attend the rescheduled workshop due to scheduling conflicts, the registrant will receive a full refund.