The Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices is the nation’s premier LGBTQ writing residency. It is the only multi-genre writing residency devoted exclusively to emerging LGBTQ+ writers. The Retreat is an unparalleled opportunity to develop one’s craft and find community.
Since 2007, the Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices has offered sophisticated instruction in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young adult fiction, playwriting led by the most talented writers working today. In 2022, the Writers Retreat expanded to include instruction in screenwriting and speculative fiction, and in 2023, the community grew even more with an all new completely virtual multi-genre cohort. In 2024, we will return to a fully in-person Retreat as well as introduce a Winter Retreat in 2025 dedicated to an immersive, fulfilling experience for faculty and fellows in a virtual setting.
Relive the 2023 Writers Retreat
On July 30, 2023, over 100 queer writers flooded Chestnut Hill campus in Philadelphia, PA for what our keynote speaker Kay Ulanday Barrett so aptly called, Big Gay Writing Camp™. The energy was high; the jittery nerves and first day school vibes melted away quickly to show us the home we built: within Chestnut Hill, within the Fellow’s cohorts, within each other. Faculty members Jeanne Thornton, Meredith Talusan, Phillip B. Williams, Victor I. Cazares, Ashton Pina, K-Ming Chang, Candice Iloh and Marcelo Hernandez Castillo provided instruction, wisdom, and leadership, while our Fellows and Writers in Residence provided the joy, energy, and community. There we were, back in person for the first time since 2019 as well as online, celebrating our 15th Retreativersary in style. Check out some of our highlights below.
Images and videos from the retreat
Join the 2024 Retreat
Our 7-day retreat takes place annually around the end of July into the first week of August. In addition to our full suite of programming which includes 5 days of workshops, panels, and craft talks, we also offer the opportunity to connect as a community by reading at our nightly reading series, attending social events, and building camaraderie over meals. Tuition covers programming, room and board, as well as on-site food services for the duration of the event. Full and partial scholarships are available. Applications open October 30, 2023 and close on December 11, 2023. Click below for more information.
Our Impact
Launched in 2007, Lambda Literary’s Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices is the only multi-genre writing residency in the world devoted exclusively to emerging LGBTQ writers. It provides a uniquely powerful opportunity to participants, jumpstarting the careers of dozens of LGBTQ writers every year.
637
Emerging writers since have taken part in the retreat since 2011.
53
Faculty, including Dorothy Allison, Danez Smith, Andrew Holleran.
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genres, including poetry, young adult fiction, screenwriting, and playwriting
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Anthologies, presenting Retreat Fellows work.
Growing Together
As a non-binary and disabled author from the deep south, I used to constantly feel like I was playing catch-up, like I was pretending at being an author. Why couldn’t I write the stories other people wanted to read? It turns out that I had been writing those stories all along — I just needed to find the right people. By sharing my writing with other LGBT+ writers, I was able to focus on the story I wanted to tell, rather than having to justify the presence of queerness in my work. In short, the Retreat allowed me to see myself as a writer again.
Creating Art
Lambda cultivates a space that centers queer/trans experience totally and in doing so circumvents the debate of whether I am a person worthy of a reader’s love and attention…It allows us to ask better questions of our work. When we strip away all the conversations about whether this is subversive, is this niche, is this morally palatable it gives us room to ask: is it good? Does it stand on its own? Does it make me feel? Does it make me think? Is it art?”
Finding Family
“As a faculty member I can attest to the unique and extraordinary talent who participated in this extremely competitive writing residency. I met a cohort of some of the most exciting and talented emerging artists in my field. I was inspired to help move the field forward and create a new body of work from one of the most diverse groups of artists I had ever worked with. We now have a new playwriting family.”
Forging Community
“The Retreat helped me embark on a serious focus, not just in writing but — and this is what’s most important for me — forging a sense of community within the literary world.”
Support Lambda Literary Fellows!
The Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices has put many queer writers on the path to publishing. Books by Lambda Fellows can be found on our bookshelf at Bookshop.org, where 10% of your purchase will benefit Lambda Literary.
