OUR EMILY DICKINSON

Our Emily Dickinson: a retreat for women poets

PLAINFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
June 4-10, 2023

*Full camper registration closed. Please email if you’d like to join for a single day (includes boxed lunch, workshop, packet and entry into that day’s activity).

Sure, you know the world’s Emily…
The white dress, the scraps of poems hidden away, the pop culture figure, the famous recluse.

But do you know our Emily?
The whip-smart woman who inspired generations of poets? The educated and opinionated friend? The inspired-by-everything woman, who breathed life into so many magical, holy, rebellious poems which seemed to come from nowhere, but REALLY came from her reading, her searching scientific mind, and her connection to the world around her?

Emily is part of our poetic DNA!

Find inspiration at Poet Camp 2023 by getting up close to Emily Dickinson’s life, poems and local inspirations! Get to know her friends, her influences, and find parallels in our modern lives to those same things she wrote about at her tiny desk all those years ago.

“The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.”
– Emily Dickinson

What’s included? Almost everything!

Lodging and all meals, which include delicious local food with vegetarian options present at every meal:

  • 6 nights at Nine Mountain Retreat Center
  • 6 Breakfasts
  • Box Lunches *including one to take away with you on the day of departure!
  • Snacks available all day, both at the house and on our excursions
  • 6 dinners at Nine Mountain *including a special wrap up celebration dinner on Friday!

Transportation & tickets to locations for group activities: *from Nine Mountain Retreat Center to activities at and around each of these locations.

  • Visit Dickinson’s home and grave in Amherst, Massachusetts
  • Find connections with visual artists and picture book authors at the Eric Carle Museum
  • Immerse yourself in her garden-grown influences at Smith College Botanic Garden OR West Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary (depending on what’s in bloom/hours and group availability of the Botanic Garden)
  • Explore trails bordered by New England’s native wildflowers, and meet a few wildly gorgeous things with feathers at the Vermont Institute for Natural Sciences. *Day trip to Vermont – We’ll leave early, bring snacks and our boxed lunches, and write away from the house.
  • We’ll take some quiet writing time to gather our thoughts and begin drafts at most of these locations, but you’ll also have time when we return to the house before and after our sumptuous dinners (featuring local food!) and all day Friday to work at Nine Mountains and reflect.
  • Friday evening, we’ll celebrate this newfound appreciation for our Emily and her connections on our pages at a special final dinner together, and a campfire read around.

    • PLUS…

  • Evening campfires
  • Emily Dickinson themed packet of prompts and resources to help you make the most of your time at Poet Camp and afterwards
  • A $50 discount voucher towards the full price of submissions coaching, feedback for a packet of 3 or more poems, or a manuscript consultation with Sarah Ann Winn (booked in 2023)

    • …and a few more surprises and goodies!

    You’ll leave in the afterglow of time spent with kindred spirits and poetry family, and a revived spirit after time in the fresh mountain air eating good food and focusing on your work!

This retreat is for you if…
You want to know this mega-influencer better.
You want to try some of her methods in your own work.
You’re inspired by details of everyday life, by art, by birds, and by being with kindred spirits.

This retreat is not for you if…
You prefer to keep Emily in her little box, thank you.
You prefer a retreat more like a workshop, more sitting and talking, less doing.
You prefer your poetic influences to stay on the page.

Still have questions? Please reach out to sarah@poetcamp!

Past Retreats