Island Writers Retreat at Gibraltar Point
Program Dates: May 10-17, 2027
Application Deadline: January 8, 2027
Applicants can expect to hear back by January 29, 2026
Application Form: https://forms.gle/UXr2tneP6UEwCJRf6
Residency Cost: $1100 plus HST on accommodation costs
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 in the residency will be offered to a writer who provides a statement of 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.
Please see the Gibraltar Point website for information on location and accommodations for this retreat. If you have any questions about programming 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 recently joined 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.
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, The Yale Review, and Best Canadian Poetry. Her work received support from the Banff Centre 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 bilingual 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 a variety of community settings. To learn more about Sarah, visit her online at https://www.sarahwolfsonwriter.com/.
