The Retreats

Once a year, we leave our usual surroundings behind for a week devoted to writing, reading, conversation, and reflection. Working with experienced instructors, artists and local collaborators, we explore different ways of paying attention to language, to memory, to the body, to the landscape, and to one another.

No two retreats are quite alike. Each takes its character from the place and the people we encounter there. A morning might begin with writing exercises and close readings, followed by an afternoon of walking, yoga, breathwork, guided meditation, live painting, or cooking together. There is room for solitude, for unexpected friendships, and for the sort of ideas that rarely arrive when we're sitting at our desks.

Applications are open to our wider literary community, primarily for emerging writers currently working on their debut book. Where funding permits, we aim to offer supported places to women for whom the cost of attending would otherwise be a barrier.

Our Retreat Archive

Our retreats draw on years of experience, collaborations and creative gatherings across different places, projects and communities, including:

United Kingdom
London · Bude · Penrith

Montenegro
Kotor

Türkiye
Istanbul · Izmir

On the horizon
Dubrovnik, Croatia

Our Partners

Penwoman works with independent instructors, artists, and organisations to develop creative experiences that bring writing into conversation with other disciplines.

Our retreats are commercially organised and operated by Britisher Limited, a separate company with which Penwoman collaborates.