Program Dates: May 10-17, 2027
Deadline for New Applications: January 8, 2027
*Applicants can expect to hear back by January 29, 2027.
Program Cost: $1100 CAD + HST on accommodation costs
Link to Application Form
Program Description:
The Island Writers Retreat will bring together a group of twelve writers at Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts from May 10-27, 2027. The retreat will provide time and space for rest, reflection, deep focus and community in a beautiful, peaceful natural setting.
Programming will include craft workshops, mentorship sessions, nightly salon-style gatherings and a final evening of readings. Participants will be encouraged to go “low tech” for the duration of their residency and to spend time exploring the beaches, forests and paths of car-free Toronto Island. Open to a maximum of twelve participants, this retreat is designed to balance independent writing time with opportunities to spend time with other writers in a vibrant, inspiring artist community.
The fee for the Island Writers Retreat covers a welcome dinner, themed programming, shared studio space, private bedroom, a fully-equipped communal kitchen and a shuttle bus to and from Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts. One discounted place at the residency will be offered to a writer who provides a statement of financial need. Note: Residency participants are responsible for buying and preparing their own food, and for travel to/from Toronto Island via the ferry from Jack Layton Ferry Terminal, which is a 10-minute walk from Union Station in Toronto. Packing list and grocery shopping tips will be supplied to all participants.
The residency is open to writers of any genre with at least two publications or performances and/or a book-length project in progress. We encourage writers of all backgrounds and identities to apply. Applicants must submit a non-refundable $25 application fee by e-transfer to complete their application. If writers intend to apply for grants or bursaries to cover the cost of this residency, the facilitators would be happy to provide letters of support.
If you have any questions about this retreat or concerns about accessibility, please email
rebecca.atkinson.morris@gmail.com or
sarahwolfsonwriter@gmail.com.
Facilitators:
Rebecca Morris is a Montreal writer, editor and teacher who founded the Island Writers Retreat in 2026. Her debut novel Other Maps was released in 2024 with Linda Leith Publishing. Rebecca’s short stories have won the Malahat Review Open Season Award for Fiction and the Humber Literary Review’s Emerging Writers Fiction contest, earned Honourable Mention in Prairie Fire’s Short Fiction contest and been long-listed in Room Magazine's Fiction contest. She was a reader for the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize and serves on the Board of Directors for the Quebec Writers' Federation. Rebecca teaches writing workshops in Montreal and works as a developmental editor and coach for fiction writers. For more information, visit her online at
rebeccamorris.ca.
Sarah Wolfson is the author of A Common Name for Everything, which was awarded the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry by the Quebec Writers’ Federation. New poems appear or are forthcoming in The Walrus, The Fiddlehead, yolk, Geist, Arc, Canadian Literature, The Yale Review, and Best Canadian Poetry. Her work has received support from the Banff Centre, Sage Hill, and The Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference. It has also been anthologized in Rewilding: Poems for the Environment and featured at International Observe the Moon Night, a collaboration with The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Born and raised in rural Vermont, she is a longtime resident of Montreal, where she teaches creative writing at McGill University and in community settings. To learn more about Sarah, visit her online at
www.sarahwolfsonwriter.com.
