Annual Fall Writing Retreat

October 10-12, 2025: Minnowbrook Conference Center (Blue Mountain Lake, NY)

Award: 2 nights’ lodging, meals, tuition (attendance for the retreat duration is required)

Timeline: The application period is open Nov. 25, 2024 with a deadline of Jan. 22, 2025. Award notifications will be issued in February.

Sample: Preview the application questions (Word doc download)

Connect with scholars from across the Corridor, learn how to make your writing more sustainable and fulfilling, and make meaningful progress on your project. Awardees in the cohort will have additional time to network, socialize, and enjoy the Adirondack setting. While the writers attend in person, facilitators’ workshops and consultations are led online: this hybrid format allows us to maximize the number of faculty we can support with this annual initiative.

Who is eligible? Faculty (including lecturers and postdocs) in the Humanities and related interdisciplines from Corridor institutions.

Who is not eligible? At this time, academic staff, graduate students, and prior Minnowbrook attendees (retreat "alumni") are ineligible to apply.

Especially encouraged to apply are:

• faculty who currently or historically have been in service-heavy administrative roles
• BIPOC faculty, LGBTQ+ faculty, women faculty, and/or first-generation faculty (i.e., those whose parents did not attend a 4-year college/university).

Applicants should be interested in … participating in a supportive, professional, cross-disciplinary scholarly community; exploring new tools and writing strategies; tackling writing obstacles and identifying research momentum strategies; and advancing a piece of writing. The application will ask for details about your writing project and goals and a copy of your c.v.

By the end of the retreat, each participant will … make measurable progress on their writing; understand barriers that can impede research momentum; implement at least one strategy for addressing such barriers; and be able to integrate that strategy into their writing practice.

Applications will be evaluated holistically. Criteria include: intended work plan/focus for the retreat; track record of submission and publication (or creative output); service contributions and workloads; and barriers to tenure/promotion or securing tenure-track positions. Applicants should also clearly delineate how their work engages with and contributes to the humanities, broadly conceived.

Typical Schedule (subject to change):

• Friday: Check-in; Lunch; Opening Welcome Session; Writing Blocks/Optional workshop/consultations; Reception/Dinner
• Saturday: Breakfast; Writing Blocks/Optional workshops/consultations; Lunch; Writing Blocks/Optional workshop/consultations; Reception/Dinner
• Sunday: Breakfast; Writing Block/Optional workshop/consultations; Lunch; Departures
• Awardees are expected to commit to the entire Friday 11:30am to Sunday 1pm, to fully benefit from the experience.

Read about the Fall 2024 writing retreat cohort's experience.

*"Retreat alumni" does not include Directors, staff, or their guests.