Hedgebrook is a rural retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island, 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. Hedgebrook's Creative Advisory Council, helmed by Steinem and poet Carolyn Forché, includes: playwright and creator of The Vagina Monologues Eve Ensler, novelists Nassim Assefi, Mary Gordon, Ruth Ozeki and Sarah Waters, poets Naomi Shihab Nye and Suheir Hammad, playwright Ellen McLaughlin, memoirist Honor Moore, non-fiction writers Pramila Jayapal and Holly Morris, mystery writer Elizabeth George and solo performer Sarah Jones.
Hedgebrook's Master Classes offer women writers the unique opportunity to study with renowned women writers such as Jane Hamilton, Theresa Rebeck, Karen Joy Fowler, Victoria Redel, Claire Dederer and Robin Swicord. 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.