Your Story Matters:
Kodiak Retreat

June 14th - 21st, 2025

Calling all Writers…

Your Story Matters.

You’ve led a remarkable life. You’ve overcome a lot. You have much to remember, so many stories to pass on to your family and even the world. Do you have to be a “good writer” to accomplish this? You only need good stories. And—-you have a lot of them!

Each day of this retreat, you’ll spend mornings in Leslie’s living room (over the ocean) where she’ll present the dynamic and inspiring writing process she has used as both a writer and a teacher of writing for decades to thousands around the world. No matter your starting point as a writer, Leslie will equip you with all the tools you need to discover, write and share your life stories.

Our writing adventures each day will be followed by afternoon adventures on Kodiak Island. Kodiak is the second-largest island in the U. S. and home to the world-famous Kodiak bear. We’re also known for our abundant fisheries, our wildlife, our dramatic scenery and our Russian and Alutiiq heritage. Kodiak’s beauty, wildness and rich culture form the perfect backdrop for our own memoirs and self-discoveries.

Meet Your Host

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!) 

Kodiak Island

Kodiak Island is a stunningly beautiful island offering refuge and adventure, contemplation and activity, solitude and community! It is a remarkable place to grow your wonder and your writing.

What to Expect

The Food

This is an all-inclusive retreat! All meals are included and our chefs provide fresh, abundant gourmet meals (many including fresh Alaska seafood.) We can accommodate dietary restrictions; please let us know in the application.

The Excursions

Included in this experience will be a whale-watching excursion off the stunning coast of Kodiak in a private boat. Along the way, while spying for humpbacks, grey whales, and orcas, we’ll see sea lions, seals, sea otters, puffins and bald eagles.

We’ll also explore the island of Kodiak and all it has to offer by traveling to some of the most well-known and beautiful spots: mountaintops, spruce rainforests, tidal flats and vast beaches where we will beachcomb, hike, and view wildlife.

What Will You Learn?

→ Learn why your story is so important and how writing it can bring healing and peace

→ Discover proven writing techniques and exercises to help the memories flow to the page

→ Take control of the narrative of your life and leave a legacy behind you

Topics We’ll Cover

  • Discovering and Mapping Your Story

  • Practicing the Three Building-Blocks of Story-Making

  • Writing as Prayer, Discovery and Response

  • Excavating Memory: Freeing the Creator; Educating the Editor

  • Telling the Truth of Hard Places and Difficult People

  • Launching Your Work into the World

Apply

Accommodation & Pricing

In Kodiak, you’ll stay at one of two comfortable oceanfront homes for 7 nights.

This retreat is an all-inclusive experience that includes lodging, all excursions, all meals, and airport pickup. You will be responsible for airfare to and from Kodiak. Delta, Alaska, & American all fly to Anchorage. From Anchorage, Alaska Airlines flies into Kodiak.

  • 1 Person, 1 bed

    $4450

  • 2 people, 2 separate beds

    $3450

  • Sharing a Queen

    (Spouse doesn't need to be a writer)

    $6550

What Past Guests Are Saying…

  • “Thank you for your courage and generosity...for using your life...all aspects of it as a shining light to encourage us on our journeys.  This retreat was an absolutely beautiful experience. Thank you for leading with such grace, humility,  strength, vulnerability,  and wisdom.  I cannot shake the feeling that this experience has changed the trajectory of my life.”

    — Kelly Platillero

  • “There were lots of questions when I got home about what it was like to be at a writing retreat in Alaska. My answer is that it was like tasting true hospitality,  the kind that says, come on into my house, live here where I have raised my family, eat in my kitchen, let me show you the beauty of this part of the world, show you why we love this island, let us give you a warm bed, good food and time to just be. Let me connect you to people who understand the desire to live deeply!”

    — Maureen Misura

  • "What a fantastic retreat. I wish everyone I know could attend it! Thank you so very very much for your wonderful hospitality, your excellent and inspiring teaching, the beautiful group picture, the new journal, and the selection of your books to take home. Thank you for all that you did to make this an unforgettable retreat. I miss all of my cohorts/friends so much and am enjoying reliving so many moments spent there with all of you!”

    — Mookie Revell

  • “Like many others, I've learned much from Leslie about storytelling. Leslie's many stories, some heartbreaking and some glorious, do something an abstract proposition can't do and never do: they penetrate into the hidden realities of the world in which we live, into the barely known realities of our own life. Leslie will teach you how to find those hidden realities with texture and tone.”

    — Scot McKnight, Professor of NT at Northern Seminary

  • "Leslie Leyland Fields was not only my first writing mentor: She continues to mentor me with the way she actually lives her life and then shapes it into an unforgettable story that gives sojourners hope—and gives God all the glory. She is a profoundly wise, Christ-formed guide whose every word I will always read.”

    — Ann Voskamp, NYT Bestselling author

A Closer Look

Application

Now Taking Applications for Summer 2025