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Tuition for Writing Workshops Hawaii January 2024
Tuition for Writing Workshops Hawaii January 2024
 / 
Regular price
$2,995.00

Tuition for Writing Workshops Hawaii January 2024


Unit price per

2024 Workshop Dates:

January 21st - 26th, 2024

Workshop Faculty

Fiction Instructor Karen E. Bender is the author of two collections: Refund, which was a Finalist for the National Book Award, shortlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Story Prize, and Longlisted for the Story Prize, and The New Order, which was Longlisted for the Story prize. A new collection is forthcoming. Her novels are Like Normal People and A Town of Empty Rooms. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Ploughshares, Zoetrope, The Yale Review, The Harvard Review, Story, Guernica, and others, has been reprinted in Best American Short Stories and Best American Mystery Stories and won three Pushcart prizes. Her work has been read at the Selected Shorts program at Symphony Space and on Levar Burton Reads. She has taught for many highly regarded MFA programs, including the University of Iowa, Hollins University, and Warren Wilson College, and currently teaches for the MFA Programs at SUNY Stony Brook and Alma College.


Nonfiction Instructor Robert Anthony Siegel
is the author of a memoir, Criminals (Counterpoint,) and two novels. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian Magazine, The Paris Review, The Drift, The Oxford American, and Ploughshares, and has been anthologized in Best American Essays 2023, O. Henry Stories 2014, and Pushcart Prize XXXVI. He has been a Fulbright Scholar in Taiwan, a Mombukagakusho Fellow in Japan, a Writing Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and a Paul Engle Fellow at the Iowa Writers Workshop. He holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop and a BA from Harvard.


Lodging at Hawaii Island Retreat

Immerse yourself in comfort and inspiration for 6 days and 5 nights at Hawaii Island Retreat. This 4-star eco-boutique hotel and wellness spa is a place of intentional peacefulness, set among towering evergreens and ocean breezes along Hawaii Island's North Kohala coast.

Including your own room three delicious daily meals are included in your workshop tuition. 

Class Size

Each fiction and nonfiction workshops will have no more than 10 participants each. All writers will submit two completed pieces of writing. Your cohort and instructor will workshop one submission, and a second piece will be submitted for your one-on-one meeting with your workshop leader. Daily craft talks are open to all participants and led by program staff or faculty.

Schedule

Sunday

3:00PM: Hotel check-in begins.

6:30PM: Dinner meet & greet.

Monday - Thursday

Mornings: Breakfast served. Workshops and one-on-one instructor meetings.

Afternoons/Evenings: Lunch Break followed by optional craft seminar led by faculty or staff. Optional mid-afternoon activity followed by dinner.

Friday

8:00AM-9:00AM: Goodbye breakfast at Hawaii Island Retreat.

11:00AM: Final check-out.

Optional Afternoon Activities will be included throughout the week. Full schedule detailed below.

Tuition

Tuition is $2,995 or $3,650 depending on room type and includes the following:

  • Lodging in your own room at Hawaii Island Retreat for 6 days, 5 nights
  • Daily breakfast, lunch & dinner with faculty and staff
  • Luau on Monday
  • 4-day writing workshops in small groups of no more than 10 writers.
  • Critical feedback on two writing submissions
  • Several craft of writing and/or business of writing seminars
  • One-on-one conference with faculty
  • Optional afternoon activities
  • Free shuttle pickup and drop-off from Kona International Airport (KOA) on the first and last day of the workshop.
  • The time of your life
  • Payment Plans: accepted writers will have the option to pay their tuition in full or opt for a payment plan divided into equal monthly payments by selecting Affirm (for U.S. & Canadian residents) at checkout.
  • Accommodations: 10 Hotel rooms are available (tuition will be $3,650  with hotel room accommodation), and 7 Yurt's are available (tuition will be $2,995 with Yurt accommodation). Yurts have a private toilet and sink but will utilize a shared private shower area. The common shower area has four private shower stalls, two indoor and two outdoor. Accommodations are first come, first serve for accepted writers.
  • FAQ at the bottom of this page.

Program Staff

Operations Director Mike Franz was General Manager and Tour Guide at Fat Tire Bike Tours, Paris, for seven years. His tours were featured on Rick Steves-Paris, The Independent-UK, and the television show 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. Mike taught government, economics, and public speaking for ten years at Headwaters High School in Austin, Texas, where he won teacher-of-the-year award after his first year of teaching.

Trip Leader Virginia Reeves is a graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin. Her debut novel, Work Like Any Other, was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and the Center for Fiction’sFirst Novel Prize, and Booklist named it to their Top 10 First Novels of 2016. It has been translated into multiple languages and adapted into a graphic novel. Her second novel, The Behavior of Love, has been reviewed by The New Yorker, French Elle, and Le Monde, among others. Virginia’s short story “Bloodlines” is collected in the anthology Pie and Whiskey: Writers Under the Influence of Butter and Booze, and her flash-fiction “Old Girl” was a 2019 Editors’ Choice for Craft. Virginia has taught writing workshops through writers-in-the-school programs, libraries, and museums, and she currently teaches writing, literature, and speech at Helena College. She lives in Montana with her partner, daughters, and three-legged Pit Bull.

Trip Leader Bowie Rowan is a writer, editor, and multimedia artist. Their work has most recently been published by Electric Literature, The Kenyon Review, and The Los Angeles Review and has been anthologized in the latest edition of Without a Net: The Female Experience of Growing Up Working Class. Their audio essay, “How to Survive a Fire,” was recognized by the Missouri Review for the 12th annual Miller Audio Prize, and they are a grateful recipient of grants and fellowships from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, The Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, and The Ragdale Foundation, among others. In a former life, Bowie worked as a science textbook editor in New York City and San Francisco and worked as a cheesemonger and freelance everything. After traveling around the United States for a year with their dog and cat, they landed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they are currently working on a memoir in essays about travel, gender, trauma, and the environment.

Application & General FAQ


What is your COVID policy?

Updated information on Hawaii’s COVID restrictions, requirements, and policy can be found on the Hawaii Tourism Authority website. Writing Workshops Hawaii attendees are responsible for ensuring they are vaccinated and have the appropriate documentation required to enter the state of Hawaii if/when their state COVID-19 vaccination entry policy is in place.

If the state of Hawaii or the United States government forbids entry to the state of Hawaii for the scheduled dates of the January 2024 workshops, Writing Workshops will offer a full refund for program fees. Writing Workshops will not reimburse any airline tickets or additional trip-related expenses. If the Hawaii writing workshop takes place on planned dates, no program fees will be reimbursed, regardless of attendance.


How much does it cost?

Tuition is $2,995 or $3,650, depending on the selected room type.

What is the difference in tuition price?

Tuition includes your own room and is either $2,995 or $3,650, depending on the selected room type. Ten (10) Hotel rooms are available (tuition will be $3,650 with hotel room accommodation), and seven (7) Yurt are available (tuition will be $2,995  with Yurt accommodation). Yurts have a private toilet and sink,  but will utilize a shared private shower area. The common shower area has four private shower stalls, two indoor and two outdoor. Accommodations are first come, first serve for accepted writers.

Are Payment Plans Available?

Yes. Accepted writers can pay their tuition in full or opt for a payment plan divided into equal monthly payments by selecting  Affirm (for U.S. & Canadian residents) or Lay-Buy (for applicants inside or outside of North America) at checkout.

Are Scholarships Available?

Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to offer scholarships for this workshop. However, we do have payment plans available. 

What does tuition include? 

  • Lodging in your own room at Hawaii Island Retreat for 6 days, 5 nights
  • Daily breakfast, lunch & dinner with faculty and staff
  • Luau on Monday
  • 4-day  writing workshops in small groups of no more than 10 writers, led by workshop faculty.
  • Critical feedback on two writing submissions
  • Several craft of writing and/or business of writing seminars
  • One-on-one conference with faculty
  • Free shuttle pickup and drop off from Kona International Airport (KOA) on the first and last day of the workshop.
  • Optional afternoon activities
  • The time of your life
  • Note: accepted writers can pay their tuition in full or opt for a payment plan divided into equal monthly payments by selecting  Affirm (for U.S. & Canadian residents) at checkout.

What is the tuition payment schedule? 

If your application is accepted, full tuition is due no later than 14 days after acceptance. You can pay your tuition in full or opt for a payment plan by selecting Affirm at checkout.

Where is the hotel and workshop venue?

Immerse yourself in both comfort and inspiration for 6 days and 5 nights at Hawaii Island Retreat.  This 4-star eco-boutique hotel and wellness spa is a place of intentional peacefulness, set among towering evergreens and ocean breezes along Hawaii Island's North Kohala coast. Three delicious daily meals are included in your workshop tuition.

How late can I apply? 

We will accept applications until the workshop is full.

What is your Refund policy?

Tuition is nonrefundable 14 days after acceptance notification, regardless of attendance. If a refund is requested up to 14 days after acceptance notification, all but a $750 deposit will be refunded.


What will you do with my email?

We respect your privacy. We will only use your email to send you information about Writing Workshops. We won't sell or rent your email to other organizations.

I have a question not answered here.

Please contact us, and we’ll reply promptly. You can also Chat with us (lower left of your screen).