Dates: Aug. 31st - Sept. 7th, 2024
Calling all Adventurous Writers…
Harvester Island is a stunningly beautiful private island off the west coast of Kodiak Island, Alaska offering refuge and adventure, contemplation and activity, solitude and community. It's wild, remote (population: no one but us) and a remarkable place to grow your writing. Leslie knows: she has written most of her books here over the last 44 seasons she's lived here and worked with her family in commercial salmon fishing.
Whether you’ve been writing and publishing for decades or you’re just beginning, we’re ready to propel your writing to the finish line. Leslie and Gary are not only award-winning writers, but they are also professors and teachers with decades of teaching experience. Each day, they’ll guide and teach participants in this profound means of public witness and transformation: discovering, crafting and sharing stories—- whether they’re memoir, essays, a novel, travelogue, Y/A, short stories, devotionals, or some other form of fiction and nonfiction.
Each day, Leslie and Gary will teach 4-5 hour intensive interactive classes and workshops. Afternoons we schedule (optional) Alaskan adventures including whale watching and boat rides across the bay. We’ll see sea lion and seal rookeries, as well as otters, puffins, bald eagles, and more. We also have beautiful beaches for beachcombing and hiking. Evenings, over dessert, we enjoy readings, movies, and discussions.
Trailer
Where Is Harvester Island?
Your Hosts
Leslie Leyland Fields
Leslie is the multi-award-winning author of 14 books including Your Story Matters and Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers. Other books include Crossing the Waters, which won Christianity Today's 2017 Book Award in Christian Living. Her books have been translated into eleven languages. Her essays have appeared in Christianity Today, Belief.net, The Atlantic, Orion, Best Essays and many others earning her a number of Evangelical Press Awards, Pushcart nominations and a Genesis Award.
With three graduate degrees (in English, Journalism and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction) she has taught extensively in undergraduate and graduate programs both as faculty member and guest lecturer. Her Memoir Masterclass program has over a thousand students around the world, and many of her students have gone on to publish their manuscripts, (which makes her incredibly proud!)
Leslie also speaks nationally and internationally at conferences, universities, retreats, and churches on a range of topics centered on faith, writing and culture. When not traveling, she lives on Kodiak Island, Alaska, teaching and leading in-person writing workshops and retreats.
Gary Schmidt
Gary is a professor of English at Calvin College and a multi-award winning author of more than 20 books.
He received two Newberry Awards from the American Library Association, the first in 2005 for his novel Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy and the second in 2008 for his novel The Wednesday Wars. Schmidt's novel Okay for Now, the 2011 sequel to The Wednesday Wars, was a National Book Award finalist. It also was the winner of a 2012 Children's Choice Book Award. a Gary recently worked with Susan Felch to edit two volumes on religiously themed fiction called The Emmaus Readers. Originally from New England, he regularly leads the New England Saints interim course in January.
Previous guest writers have included:
Ann Voskamp, Philip Yancey, Luci Shaw, Jeanne Murray Walker, Scot McKnight, Marilyn MacEntyre, Bret Lott, Paul Willis, and Gina Ochsner.
The Food:
The workshop is all-inclusive! Our chefs provide fresh, abundant gourmet snacks and meals (many including fresh Alaska seafood and locally grown produce.) We can also accommodate dietary restrictions; please let us know in the application.
Excursions:
The first excursion is our adventure in getting there! We’ll take a private flight on a float plane from the town of Kodiak across the spectacular wilderness to Harvester Island. Once at Harvester, we’ll have daily activities including whale watching and boat rides across the bay. We’ll see sea lion and seal rookeries, as well as otters, puffins, bald eagles, and more. We also have beautiful beaches for beachcombing and hiking.
The Details:
Getting Here:
Alaska, American, Delta all fly into Anchorage.
From Anchorage, Alaska Airlines flies into Kodiak.
Leslie will meet you in Kodiak. From there we’ll take a floatplane across the spectacular wilderness of Kodiak Island to Harvester Island.
The Spirit:
The wilderness can’t be scripted! The weather can be unpredictable and dramatic, preventing air or water travel at times. If your schedule is sacred, and missing a flight due to weather is devastating, this is not your workshop! An attitude of cheerful flexibility is the first necessary attribute to making the week spectacular, through sun, rain, and storm.
What’s Included: (All-Inclusive)
Private Flight: Round trip, private flight from Kodiak Island to Harvester Island
Housing: new, clean, comfortable, heated rooms, many with mountain and ocean views.
All Meals: 7 nights, 8 days of fresh, abundant gourmet meals prepared by professional chefs.
Workshop: all instruction, including a one-on-one session with Leslie or Gary.
Excursions: whale watching, boat rides, wildlife viewing, beachcombing, hiking, etc.
Scandinavian Steambath: traditional, authentic sauna experience! Provided every other night.
Accommodation & Pricing:
SINGLE Rooms: $5950
DOUBLE Rooms: $4950
Married couple discount: $7950
Please remember this is a wilderness island. We mostly use outhouses, but some rooms (the singles) have flushing toilets. Any room without access to a flushing toilet is equipped with a chemical toilet, to save night-time trips to the outhouse! Both outhouses are clean and new, offering the best outhouse experience you've ever had--- I promise!
For bathing, we use a sauna, a Scandinavian-style wood-fired steambath in a separate building. Saunas (which many describe as “heavenly”) are available every other night.
What Past Guests Are Saying…
“The Harvester Island Wilderness Workshop was so much more than a workshop; it was an adventure. Through words, through nature, through conversations. It refreshed my soul and creativity in a way I had not expected. If you're thinking about attending, stop thinking about it, and just go.”
— Andrea Lucado
”Meals were bountiful! Love the local flavors, the special treat of salmon, caribou, and crab. . . . Gina was very sweet in giving me special (writing) stuff that she wanted me to have. I was amazed at the breadth of knowledge Leslie had.”
— David Cecil
”I cannot thank you enough for the 2022 HIWW. It nourished my soul, spirit, mind, and body. I was so happy just to be there that I had tears when we landed at Harvester. Terry loved the experience also and it was special to have my brother there.”
— Kent Hanson
”Seeing the group photo with the stunning views of Harvester Island brought tears to my eyes. These were tears of joy and deep gratitude for the time we had together in such a phenomenal setting with joy-filled hospitality and unparalleled teaching of your craft. I bask in the delight in making friends who love words and writing. I am a beginner, honored to have been there with you all!”
— Clydette
“Harvester Island is by far one of the prettiest places on God's green earth. Thanks to Leslie and Duncan for sharing their home, their island, their family, and their life with us.”
— Karen Winkler
”I cannot thank you enough for our week on Harvester .. ..it really opened my eyes to how the Kingdom should look on earth---arms and heart open wide."
— Carey Christian
A Closer Look
