Save Your Place at the Okoboji Writers Retreat! September 17-20, 2023
There is a story in everyone. Let award-winning journalists, columnists, authors, storytellers, and agents help you tell yours.
Early Bird Enrollment by January 31, 2023: $695
Enrollment fee: $795
Save your place with a $100 deposit. Click here: SAVE MY PLACE
This will be the third annual gathering, starting on Sunday night, September 17, 2023, with a hot dog roast hosted by volunteers who have attended the previous year. It’s a chance to meet around a campfire on the shore of West Lake Okoboji and get into the spirit of what’s to come the following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
Your first session will be when we all get together in one big tent, Monday at 8:30 a.m., and our speakers will introduce themselves for two minutes. Next, you can attend one of five or six panel discussions featuring various presenters; From there, you’ll have a real sense of the speakers you want to work with in small group sessions. Here’s a partial list of speakers.
You’ll choose from top columnists (Rekha Basu, Kyle Munson, Art Cullen, Mary Swander, Debra Engle, Chuck Offenburger) along with best-selling fiction and nonfiction authors, playwrights, poets, publishers, and a literary agent.
Agent Andy Ross posted on Twitter the day after his first retreat: The Okoboji Writers’ Retreat was the best conference I’ve ever attended! He came as a lark because his wife is from Iowa originally, and he ended up signing clients, to his surprise. It’s not easy landing an agent, let alone a publisher, and self-publishing could be your best route.
You’ll learn about writing a Substack column, book publishing, and marketing. Perhaps your goal is to simply improve daily correspondence or the holiday family newsletter. Whether you want a nudge to get started, work on a memoir, make professional connections, or hang out with fascinating people from around the country, this experience will become a life-long memoir, and for many, a turning point. In addition to the dozens of workshops held throughout the day, there are optional evening activities, including dinner at the Lakes Art Center Monday night and the ever-popular barge ride around the Lake on Tuesday.PLEASE NOTE: The Early Bird discount ends Jan. 31, 2023. Your $100 deposit will lock in the rate (you have until July to pay in total). All fees are refundable, less a $20 service charge up until September 1.
We sold out the first and second years, so reserve your spot today if this is on your wish list. Don’t be shy. There’s a story in everyone. Half of our participants have professional writing experience, and the other half do not. The group is genuinely split down the middle between hobbyists and pros. You will find yourself at home in this group and working with a supportive faculty.
