**The Great River Writers Retreat accepts applications from writers currently residing in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin**
The Great River Writers Retreat winner is selected from an applicant pool of writers from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin across multiple genres, and allows the winner to spend a week working on a specific writing project they have underway.
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Announcing the Winner of the 2024 Great River Writer’s Retreat
Congratulations to this year’s winner of the great River Writer’s Retreat, Camilia Cenek of Stoughton, WI!
Camilia Cenek is a writer and editor. She has BA and MA degrees in English and a BA in Psychology. Places she has lived include France and South Korea; she now makes her home in Wisconsin. Her writing has appeared in Madison Magazine, The Good Life Review, The Sunlight Press, Women Who Submit, Creative Wisconsin Anthology, and others, and she has contributed on the editorial review committee for The Shallot: Journal of Mental Health, Art, and Literature. Her current project is to develop an essay collection about growing up with her mother’s mental illness. Find her at camiliacenek.com.
Cenek will be in residence August 26 – September 1, 2024, at Benet House Retreat Center in Rock Island, concentrating on revising the manuscript for her essay collection, which captures the author’s “experiences while growing up with a mother who suffered unmanaged mental illness and who died by suicide” when the author was nineteen. She will share some of her work-in-progress at a public reading, date and time TBA.
The Great River Writer’s Retreat winner is selected from an applicant pool of writers from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin across multiple genres, and allows the winner to spend a week working on a specific writing project they have underway. In 2024, we had our largest applicant pool in the history for the Retreat. This year’s finalists include:
Cole Chamberlain (Auburn, IL)
Kristin Gifford (Golden Valley, MN)
Christopher Marnach (Coralville, IA)
Jill Stukengerg (Wausau, WI)
Caleb Tankersley (St. Paul, MN)
Keith Wilson (Chicago, IL)
The Great River Writer’s Retreat Contest will open for all writers on November 1, 2024 and close on May 1, 2025. The retreat dates for 2025 are TBD.
The Great River Writer’s Retreat is generously sponsored by Dr. Nicolas Shammas and the Illinois Arts Council.
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Great River Writers’ Retreat – Submissions Re-Open November 1, 2024
“The week I spent at the Great River Writers’ Retreat was amazing. I got more accomplished during the retreat than I’d dared to hope, completely revising one manuscript and drafting several poems to include in a new one. Whether I was walking the paths of the 90 acres of land behind the monastery, reading in the library overlooking the lake, or writing at my desk in my room, my solitude and work were encouraged and protected. The nuns were kind and hospitable, and I felt very welcome. I am so grateful to the Midwest Writing Center for the gift of this time to reflect and write.”
–2010 Retreat Winner, Ann Hudson
**Update on the 2024 Great River Writers Retreat**
Currently, our plan is to host the winning writer for a residency at the Benet House Retreat Center in Rock Island, Illinois (including a travel stipend, and an invitation to read to the literary community of the Quad Cities), August 26 – September 1, 2024.
The application must include the following:
1. Cover page
2. Proof of residence in IL, IA, MN, or WI (valid photocopy of driver’s license, current utility bill, etc.). Sensitive information, such a Social Security numbers and Driver’s License numbers, can be redacted.
3. Short bio, listing publications and any relevant work experience (100 words max)
4. Statement describing the project you intend to work on and what goals to your project are you hoping to achieve while at Great River Writer’s Retreat (500 words max)
5. 10-page sample of your work (poets: 10 pages of poetry, one poem per page; fiction and nonfiction writers: 10 pages of a short story, essay, novel excerpt or other work, accompanied by a brief synopsis if necessary) Work sample should be in 12 pt. font, Times New Roman). The work sample should be taken from writing done within the last 3 years.
**Deadline for submissions is May 1, 2024**
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The Great River Writer’s Retreat is generously sponsored by Dr. Nicolas Shammas in collaboration with the Midwest Writing Center
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