Hedgebrook is a rural retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island

Whidbey Island

Whidbey Island is one of nine islands located in Island County, Washington, in the United States. Whidbey is located about north of Seattle, and lies between the Olympic Peninsula and the I-5 corridor of western Washington...

, Washington, founded in 1988. Hedgebrook's artist in residency program accepts 40 writers each year, who spend 2 to 6 weeks in residence working on their diverse writing projects. Each writer stays in her own hand-crafted cottage. Room and board are provided at no cost to the writers-in-residence. The retreat is a working farm, offering organic produce for the writers, and communal dinners each night prepared by in-house chefs.

Hedgebrook's global community of alumnae, more than 1,200 writers from all over the world, include celebrated author Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem

Gloria Marie Steinem is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader of, and media spokeswoman for, the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s...

. Hedgebrook's Creative Advisory Council, helmed by Steinem and poet Carolyn Forché

Carolyn Forché

Carolyn Forché is an American poet, editor, translator, and human rights advocate.-Life:Forché was born in Detroit, Michigan, on April 28, 1950, to Michael Joseph and Louise Nada Blackford Sidlosky. Forché earned a B.A...

, includes: playwright and creator of The Vagina Monologues

The Vagina Monologues

The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the Off Broadway Westside Theatre after a limited run at AFRICA in 1996. Ensler originally starred in the production which was produced by David Stone, Nina Essman, Dan Markley, The Araca Group, Willa Shalit, Mike Skipper...

 Eve Ensler

Eve Ensler

Eve Ensler is an American playwright, performer, feminist and activist, best known for her play The Vagina Monologues.- Personal life :...

, novelists Nassim Assefi, Mary Gordon

Mary Gordon

Mary Catherine Gordon is an American writer and is the McIntosh Professor of English at Barnard College. She is best known for her novels, memoirs and literary criticism...

, Ruth Ozeki

Ruth Ozeki

Ruth Ozeki is a Canadian-American novelist, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. She worked in commercial television and media production for over a decade and made several independent films before turning to writing fiction.-Life:...

 and Sarah Waters

Sarah Waters

Sarah Waters is a British novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society, such as Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.-Childhood:Sarah Waters was born in Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1966....

, poets Naomi Shihab Nye

Naomi Shihab Nye

Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet, songwriter, and novelist. She was born to a Palestinian father and American mother. Although she regards herself as a "wandering poet", she refers to San Antonio as her home.-Career:...

 and Suheir Hammad

Suheir Hammad

Suheir Hammad is a Palestinian-American poet, author and political activist. She was born in Amman, Jordan. Her parents were Palestinian refugees who immigrated along with their daughter to Brooklyn, New York City when she was five years old...

, playwright Ellen McLaughlin

Ellen McLaughlin

Ellen McLaughlin is an American playwright and actor for stage and film. Her plays include Days and Nights Within, A Narrow Bed, Infinity's House, Iphigenia and Other Daughters, Tongue of a Bird, The Trojan Women, Helen, The Persians and Oedipus.Producers include: Actors' Theater of Louisville,...

, memoirist Honor Moore

Honor Moore

Honor Moore is an American writer of poetry, creative nonfiction and plays.She is the author of three collections of poems: Red Shoes, Darling, and Memoir; two works of nonfiction, The White Blackbird and The Bishop's Daughter; and the play Mourning Pictures, which was produced on Broadway and...

, non-fiction writers Pramila Jayapal and Holly Morris

Holly Morris

Holly Morris may refer to:*Holly Morris , author, television producer, and correspondent*Holly Morris , Washington, D.C. television reporter...

, mystery writer Elizabeth George

Elizabeth George

Susan Elizabeth George is an American author of mystery novels set in Great Britain.Eleven of her novels featuring her lead character Inspector Lynley have been adapted for television by the BBC as The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.-Biography:George was born in Warren, Ohio to Robert Edwin and Anne ...

 and solo performer Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones is a Tony- and Obie Award-winning American playwright, actress, and poet.Called "a master of the genre" by The New York Times, Jones has written and performed four multi-character solo shows, including Bridge & Tunnel, which was produced Off-Broadway in 2004 by Oscar-winner Meryl...

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Hedgebrook's Master Classes offer women writers the unique opportunity to study with renowned women writers such as Jane Hamilton

Jane Hamilton

Jane Hamilton is an American novelist.Hamilton lives in Rochester, Wisconsin. She grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, the youngest of five children. She graduated from Carleton College in 1979 as an English major. Her first published works were short stories, "My Own Earth" and "Aunt Marj's Happy...

, Theresa Rebeck

Theresa Rebeck

Theresa Rebeck is an American playwright, television writer and novelist. Her work has appeared on the Broadway and Off-Broadway stage, in film, and on television. Among her awards are the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award.-Biography:...

, Karen Joy Fowler

Karen Joy Fowler

Karen Joy Fowler is an American author of science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. Her work often centers on the nineteenth century, the lives of women, and alienation....

, Victoria Redel

Victoria Redel

Victoria Redel is an American poet and fiction writer who lives in New York City. She is the author of three books of fiction The Border of Truth, Loverboy and Where the Road Bottoms Out and two books of poetry: Swoon and Already the World. She has taught at , and is currently on the faculty of...

, Claire Dederer and Robin Swicord

Robin Swicord

Robin Swicord is an American screenwriter and film director. She wrote the screenplay for the film Memoirs of a Geisha, based on the novel of the same name by Arthur Golden...

. The week-long writing workshops, offered in a variety of genres (fiction, memoir, playwriting, screenwriting, poetry), focus on different aspects of the writer's craft and process.