A Year's Sustenance for Writers | Online and In-residence with Craigardan
Led By: Kate Moses, author and literary mentor
Grow your book project to its fullest flowering in Bookgardan's year-long program of intense one-on-one literary mentorship and online group workshops, bracketed by two fall retreats with an intimate community of fellow writers.
THE PROGRAM
Bookgardan is a 12-month, low-residency program designed for writers of literary fiction and creative nonfiction book projects who want guidance and support to develop and finish their manuscripts. Participants will devote a year to writing their books in community with a small, supportive group of equally dedicated writers, nurtured from start to finish by acclaimed author and literary mentor Kate Moses. The Bookgardan year opens and closes with week-long fall retreat intensives with Craigardan. A seasoned teacher and editor, Kate will provide writers with the structure and guidance required to cultivate and nourish their manuscripts, with the goal of bringing projects to fruition by program's end. Throughout the year, writers will make monthly submissions of pages and receive individual conference feedback, online craft lessons and workshop discussion, ongoing mentorship, and opportunities for connection with like-minded artists sharing in an often solitary endeavor. Bookgardan culminates twelve months later— again in the richness of autumn—with a second Craigardan retreat focused on revision, fellowship, and celebration.
LEARN MORE
Bookgardan is ideal for writers who are working on long-form narrative book projects, whether literary fiction (novel, novella, or short stories), memoir, creative nonfiction topics, or hybrids of those forms, and think they would benefit from a seasoned professional’s perspective, ongoing guidance, and mentorship, and the support and creative energy of an engaged group of peers. LEARN MORE about Bookgardan HERE.
PROGRAM TUITION $10,900 includes:
The 12-month, 2021-2022 program, with payment options available
Two, 7 night retreats at Craigardan, with lodging in a private cabin/shared bath; all meals; group yoga instruction; transportation to/from local train station or airport, access to all Craigardan programs, staff, and ongoing support.
For Optional pre-Bookgardan Manuscript Reading:
$5/page or 2¢/word
(Note: a full manuscript reading & assessment at the end of the year’s program is included in the Program Tuition; a pre-Bookgardan reading fee is for participants who wish to have a full or partial work-in-progress read prior to the start of the program)
If your application is approved, a $500 non-refundable deposit, minus the $50 application fee, will be due with your registration. The balance of program fees may be paid by installment payment plans.
FELLOWSHIPS
Every year we award one Fellowship for enrollment in Bookgardan to a writer who is accepted into the program and could not otherwise attend due to financial constraints. The Fellowship covers 25% of program costs and a preliminary Manuscript Reading of 200 pages (if needed). To be eligible, you must be accepted into the program and a single mother; or Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, or identify as a Person of Color; Disabled; or identify as LGBTQIA+.
HOW TO APPLY TO BOOKGARDAN:
Click APPLY NOW below
Fill out the application form and hit “SUBMIT” below when you’re done.
After submitting your application form, email a short 1–2-page summary description of your book project and a writing sample of 10–15 double-spaced pages to: muses@birdsandmuses.com with the subject line: (Your Name) Bookgardan Application. See below for more details on the writing sample.
Pay a $50 application fee (The application fee is waived for writers who are applying for the Bookgardan Fellowship.)
Applicants are accepted on a rolling basis and the program fills up quickly. Accepted applicants must submit a nonrefundable $500 deposit (minus the $50 application fee) to hold their spot. The remaining balance will be due in one, two, four, or ten installments, the first due by October 1.
Writing Sample Format: MS Word or PDF format; double-spaced; 12-pt standard font (such as Times New Roman) and 1" page margins. Please include your name and the genre of the writing sample on the first page.
NOTE: The $50 application fee is to ensure that applications are submitted with a serious intention to enroll, equal to the time and consideration we give to each application. We take our applicants and their works seriously and regret turning away talented writers for lack of space. The application fee is to deter applicants who are less than sincerely interested in attending the program. The $50 application fee will be returned to applicants not accepted. Applicants who are accepted and enroll will be credited $50 toward their deposit due upon enrollment.
Maximum 6 participants
Beginning Workshop at Craigardan: Monday October 11, 2021 - Monday, October 18, 2021
Ending Workshop: TBD Fall 2022
FOR MORE DETAILS AND TO APPLY:
Kate is the author of the internationally acclaimed Wintering: A Novel of Sylvia Plath, published in sixteen languages, and Cakewalk: A Memoir, chosen by National Public Radio as one of their favorite memoirs of 2010. Recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for Best Fiction by an American Woman, an American Book Award, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, a Prix des Lectrices de Elle, and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Headlands Center for the Arts, Karuna, and The Lighthouse Works. Kate is also co-editor of two bestselling anthologies of essays on motherhood, Mothers Who Think: Tales of Real-Life Parenthood and Because I Said So: 33 Mothers Write About Children, Sex, Men, Aging, Faith, Race & Themselves. A founding senior editor and staff writer of Salon, former literary director of Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco, and former senior acquisitions editor of North Point Press, Kate has taught writers at two dozen universities in the U.S. and U.K.; through Birds & Muses she works with writers in the U.S., Canada, the Middle East, several European and African nations, and New Zealand. Learn more about Kate's books and mentoring at katemoses.com and birdsandmuses.com.