Write Your Story:
Kodiak Retreat

June 12 - 19th, 2027

Write Your Story in the Wild Beauty of Alaska

Each day of this retreat, you’ll spend mornings in Leslie’s classroom (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. Whether you're just beginning or have been writing for years, you'll gain the tools, guidance, and encouragement to discover, write, and share the stories that matter most.

Our mornings of writing will be followed by afternoons of adventure on Kodiak Island, the second-largest island in the United States and home to the world-famous Kodiak bear. Known for its abundant wildlife, dramatic scenery, rich fisheries, and Russian and Alutiiq heritage, Kodiak offers an extraordinary setting for both adventure and self-discovery.

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Meet Your Host

Leslie is the multi-award-winning author of sixteen books including Your Story Matters and Write Your Story, Change Your Life. Her books have been translated into eleven languages and her essays have appeared in more than 50 publications.

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 online Memoir Masterclass program has over a thousand students around the world. 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 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

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Accommodation & Pricing

In Kodiak, you’ll stay at one of three 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.

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