Storyknife Writers Retreat, a nonprofit founded in 2016 and located in Homer, Alaska, hosts residencies for women writers from Alaska, across the United States, and internationally. Storyknife’s mission is to give women writers the time and space to explore their craft without distraction, seeking especially to elevate the work of women from historically excluded communities. Storyknife hosts over 50 women each year in their beautiful facility overlooking the Aleutian Mountain Range and Cook Inlet. Women writers have two or four weeks to live and work in their own cabin and are provided with gorgeous meals eaten together in the main house.
The Rona Jaffe Foundation (www.ronajaffefoundation.org) will be sponsoring a fellowship each year to be awarded to a promising emerging woman writer exhibiting the highest quality work and the need for a residency opportunity at this particular moment in her literary career. Rona Jaffe Foundation Fellows may apply in any genre. For the purpose of this fellowship, “emerging writers” are defined as those who are as yet unpublished or who are just completing their first book. Writers may be considered if they have a book under contract or have published chapbooks.
The fellowship will underwrite expenses for a four-week residency and provide the fellow with a $1,500 stipend which may be used to cover travel expenses, lost income, child care, or other necessities.
The Rona Jaffe Foundation’s legacy of supporting emerging women writers began in 1995. Their work acknowledges the difficulties some of the most talented women have in overcoming obstacles in finding time to write and gaining attention. For over 27 years, the Rona Jaffe Foundation has supported women writers through their Writers’ Awards program (1995-2020), by sponsoring fellowships held at distinguished cultural and educational nonprofit institutions throughout the country, and supporting vital literary nonprofits. Storyknife Writers Retreat is honored to partner with an organization that has helped so many women build successful writing lives by offering opportunities, encouragement, and financial support.
The Rona Jaffe Foundation Fellow will be awarded starting for the Storyknife Writers Retreat 2025 residency cohort. Applications for residency will open on July 1, 2024. For more information and to apply, see the Storyknife Writers Retreat website.
Storyknife Writers Retreat 