15th Annual 49 Writers Tutka Bay Writers Retreat

featuring instruction by Ramona Ausubel – Applications now open!

September 26-29, 2025, at Tutka Bay Lodge.

About the Retreat

Join us for a one-of-a-kind writing retreat set against the stunning backdrop of remote coastal Alaska. The Tutka Bay Writers Retreat allows writers of all genres, backgrounds, and experience levels to take a break from their day-to-day lives, reconnect with their creative selves, and dive deeper into their writing practice. At this generative writers retreat, you and a small group of other writers will enjoy craft talks, in-class writing exercises, readings, and discussions led by Ramona Ausubel, acclaimed author and teacher. In between instructional sessions, you and other retreat participants will have plenty of unstructured time to write, rest, dream, and socialize. The retreat is limited to 12 participants.

“One of the best times of my life. My time spent with other writers at Tutka Bay transformed my writing.”
-Chris Baron

 

About the Instructor

Ramona Ausubel grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is the author of three novels and two story collections. Her newest novel, The Last Animal, received a Science + Literature Prize from the National Book Foundation and was a National Bestseller and a Barnes & Noble monthly pick. published in spring of 2023. Winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Fiction and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, she has also been a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, California and Colorado Book Awards and long-listed for the Story Prize, Frank O’Connor International Story Award and the International Impac Dublin Literary Award and New York Times Notable Book selections. She holds an MFA from the University of California, Irvine where she won the Glenn Schaeffer Award in Fiction.

Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Tin House, The New York Times, NPR’s Selected Shorts, One Story, Electric Literature, Ploughshares, The Oxford American, The Best American Fantasy and online in The Paris Review.

Ramona has taught at Tin House, The Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference, The Community of Writers, Writing by Writers, the Low-Residency MFA programs at the Institute of American Indian Arts and Bennington. She is an associate professor at Colorado State University.

Workshop Description: Writing from the More-than-Human-World

Our human lives are changed by—and exist because of—the more-than-human world in which we live. Over the course of the workshop, we will write characters (whether real or imagined) by way of the creatures and natural forces that matter to them. We will study the natural world for shape and pattern and arrange and rearrange our own stories or essays based on the ecosystems and emotional landscapes within the pieces, and in the world around us. We will take inspiration from our surroundings in Tutka Bay and from memories of animals, insects, plants and trees in our lives or the fictional lives of our characters.

Writers will come away with new pages and new ideas, and a renewed sense of connection to the beautiful, curious lands we inhabit as human animals, both inside and outside of ourselves.

The workshop will be equally useful for writers from all genres and levels of experience.

About the Lodge

Located across from Homer on Kachemak Bay, Tutka Bay Lodge is an award-winning boutique adventure lodge (in 2012, it was named by Fodor as one of the World’s Top 100 Places to Stay). The 35-acre property features seaside coves, old-growth forests, and soaring mountains. The surrounding areas are home to humpback whales, orcas, sea otters, shore and water birds, bioluminescence, and more. The Lodge’s full-service, luxurious accommodations include gourmet meals that incorporate organic, local ingredients, many of them sourced from the on-site gardens or foraged nearby. When not writing, you and other participants can enjoy complimentary activities such as guided hiking and kayaking, yoga, meditations and sound baths, cooking classes, and more. In the evenings, spend some time relaxing in the sauna or hot tub before retiring to your cozy, well-appointed cabin.

“The lodge was hands down one of the most incredible places I have ever stayed at!”
-2023 TBWR Attendee

Accommodations & Transportation

Participants are responsible for their own transportation to and from Homer, though we will try to facilitate opportunities for informal carpooling from Anchorage. Commercial air service between Anchorage and Homer is also available. Round-trip water taxi between Homer and the lodge is included in the registration fee.

Retreat fees include instruction, meals, double or triple occupancy accommodations, sauna use, self-guided and guided hiking, water taxi accommodations, and more. All accommodations are in shared cabins. Lodging will be shared with fellow retreat participants, with all accommodations being double or triple occupancy. Rooming and cabin requests may be made at the time of registration, but Lodge staff reserves the right to place you according to availability.

Retreat Fees

The fee for this year’s Tutka Bay Writers Retreat is $2,300 per person.

The decision to increase the fee was not made lightly, and is a direct result of the rising costs of goods and services. To offset this cost, 49 Writers is offering two partial scholarships to this year’s retreat (see “Scholarships” below). Payment for the retreat is due July 31, 2025.

Eligibility

The Tutka Bay Writers Retreat is restricted to 49 Writers members. Non-members are welcome to apply, but if accepted, will be asked to purchase a membership. Both emerging and established writers are encouraged to apply.

To join 49 Writers or renew your membership, visit www.49writers.org/join. If uncertain about your membership status, please contact Alison Miller (alison@49writers.org).

Application Information & Scholarships

To submit your application to attend the retreat, click here. Applications are due by midnight on June 12, 2025.

49 Writers is offering one partial scholarship in the amount of $750 to attend the retreat. To be considered for the scholarship, please fill out the relevant section of the application.

Cancellation & Refund Policy

If the retreat must be cancelled because of circumstances beyond 49 Writers’ control, all fees will be refunded in full. If the retreat goes forward and you must cancel for personal reasons, fees are non-refundable unless we are able to confirm a replacement for your slot. If we are able to find a replacement, a $50 cancellation fee will be applied to the refund.

Any questions about the retreat or application process can be directed to alison@49writers.org.

*****

Past Tutka Bay Writers Retreat Instructors include: Mieke Eerkens (2024), Amy Butcher (2023), Luis Urrea (2022), Elena Passarello (2021), Paul Lisicky (2019), Hannah Tinti (2018), Louise Erdrich (2017), Debra Magpie Earling (2016), Gary Geddes and Ann Eriksson (2015), Carolyn Forche (2014), Ron Carlson (2013), Pam Houston (2012), Dani Shapiro (2011), and David Vann (2010).

*****

49 Writers extends deep gratitude to Kirsten Dixon and Tutka Bay Lodge for their longtime support for the Tutka Bay Writers Retreat, without which the retreat would not be possible. Kirsten is a past Board President of 49 Writers and an acclaimed author herself, and her support for Alaska’s writing community has been unfailingly steady and generous. Thank you from all of us, Kirsten!