Writing Retreat 2026

Great Mountain Forest invites you to explore the art of nature writing in the heart of the forest

Yale Camp in Great Mountain Forest
August 7 – 9

Join fellow writers to explore how nature shapes language. This three-day writing retreat is inspired by the life and legacy of longtime New York Times nature columnist, prolific author, and outdoorsman Hal Borland.

This retreat emphasizes accurate and evocative description, encouraging writers to channel scientific and environmental concerns, personal involvement in the landscape and its history. Participants will leave refreshed, with a deeper understanding of how to captivate their audience and create meaningful relationships between their writing, readers, and the natural world.

Enrollment is limited to foster deeper engagement between participants and presenters. Participants will have the opportunity to submit work developed during the retreat to an online anthology to be published in the fall.

A three-day retreat of talks, activities, and workshops!

Friday

  • Lunch and Dinner Provided
  • Explore journaling techniques and approaches
  • Spend quality time in the forest and connect with participants and presenters
Evening

  • Learn about Hal Borland with Tom Shachtman and Kevin Godburn

  • Start journaling, relax by the camp fire or star gaze

Saturday

  • Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner Provided
  • Participate in a morning nature walk

  • Gain insight on publishing your writing with Meghan McPhaul, Northern Woodlands Magazine

  • Session A (select 1 of 2)

  • Session B (select 1 of 2)
Evening
  • Understanding nature writing and conservation with our presenters
  • Attend an additional journaling workshop, enjoy the camp fire or star gaze

Sunday

  • Breakfast and Lunch Provided

  • Session C (select 1 of 2)

  • Discussing the evocative and the ephemeral in nature writing
  • Final Thoughts and Reflections

Workshop Sessions

Session A

Learning How to See Nature with the Writer’s Eye

Speaker: Todd Davis

Learn how to eloquently, accurately, and vividly convey your impression, reactions and feelings toward the natural world to your readers.

Session A

The Writer’s Personality and Writing about the Natural World

Speaker: Eiren Caffall

Discover how your own personal experience and involvement with nature can enhance your writing.

Session B

Ecopoetics: Poems of Our Changing Climate

Speaker: Evelyn Reilly

Explore poetry that strives to take into account the impact of climate change, habitat loss and the extinction crisis on our language, thinking, and relationships to each other and to the more-than-human world. 

Session B

Living Maps: Turning Place into Character

Speaker: Sean Prentiss

Uncover how fiction and non-fiction writing techniques create compelling characters and vivid settings that enrich description and reader immersion.

Session C

Ecological Understandings of the Environment

Speaker: Eileen Fielding

Understand the southern Berkshire biomes and how to meaningfully portray the significant human activity that has impacted the land’s past, present, and future.

Session C

The Endless Forest: Writing about the Southern Berkshire Biomes

Speaker: Kateri Kosek

Understand the southern Berkshire biomes and how to meaningfully portray the significant human activity that has impacted the land’s past, present, and future.

Presenter Bios

Eiren Caffall

Todd Davis

Eileen Fielding

Kateri Kosek

Sean Prentiss

Evelyn Reilly

Meghan McCarthy McPhaul

Tom Shachtman

Mike Zarfos

Amy Wynn

The Venue

Yale Camp at Great Mountain Forest

209 Chattleton Rd, Falls Village, CT 06031

All photo credit in this section goes to Audra Leach

Nature Writing Retreat Pricing

Total cost includes the Retreat programs, meals and snacks (2 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 2 dinners, and snacks). Check-in is on Friday from 11am-12 noon, and the Retreat ends at 1:30pm on Sunday, after a luncheon presentation. Meals and mid-session refreshments are catered by Chef Kevin Stawitz of GMF Catering, and will include a variety of delicious selections. Optional camp-style lodging is available for $70/two nights. Participants may choose to commute or lodge at local inns or AirBnBs.

* Students must email WritingRetreat@greatmountainforest.org to apply for a discount code.

Registration Fees

$385 through May 31; $435 after May 31
$285 for Students* through May 31; $335 after May 31

Payment Policy

  • Early pricing for the retreat must be paid in full by May 31. Regular pricing for the retreat must be paid in full no later than July 24.
  • Early pricing registrations without payment in full by May 31 will lose early discounts and be responsible for regular registration rate.

Refund Policy

Registration fees must be requested in writing. Refunds will be issued in the same manner as payment was made; processing fees will not be refunded. No refunds will be made once you have started participating in the Retreat.

No Show Policy

Those who register for our workshop but do not attend, will still be responsible for their full payment. The workshop will not guarantee materials or resources to individuals who no-show for the event.

Retreat Questions

Email WritingRetreat@greatmountainforest.org

The 2026 Great Mountain Forest Nature Writing Retreat is made possible in part through support from H. Bruce McEver, Roshy and Dalton Dwyer, and Housatonic Heritage. The Writer’s Retreat program has been curated by author Tom Shachtman.

GET IN TOUCH!