Anne LaBastille Memorial Writers Residency

Two weeks, indoor and outdoor writing spaces, fireside hangouts, paddling, hiking, forest bathing, and family-style meals at a spacious lakeside lodge in the heart of the Adirondack forest. 

Application Period: April 15 – May 19, 2024
Residency Dates: September 22 – October 6, 2024
Notification: July 2024

Applications can be submitted through our Submittable Page

The Adirondack Center for Writing offers a free, two-week residency annually in autumn to poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers at a lodge on Twitchell Lake in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains. Six residents will be chosen: three from the Adirondack region (aka “The North Country”… see FAQ below for specifics) and three from anywhere in the world. Quality of written submissions is the primary consideration when accepting applications.

The residency is generously provided by the estate of Anne LaBastille, who wrote books capturing challenges of the region, including Woodswoman and Beyond Black Bear Lake from her cabin on Twitchell Lake. During the residency, writers will paddle to the site of her property and explore the lake with locals.

The Lodge at Twitchell Lake provides an abundance of physical space, and each resident has their own bedroom and bathroom. There are plenty of writing spaces in and around the property. Internet access is available, but limited (email ✔️; Zoom ❌). Most cell phones will not work (a landline is available).

Fee: There is a $30 application fee. There is no cost to attend the residency.

Application Requirements

1. Cover Letter: In the space provided in Submittable (no attachments), include a brief, third-person bio and a work plan detailing your goals for this residency.
2. Writing Sample: Please send up to 10 pages of your best writing in the genre you will working in at the residency. Prose: 10 pages max. Poetry: 10 poems max. NOTE: Make sure your name does not show up anywhere in your writing sample. Writing samples that include your name will not be considered. Quality of written submissions will be our primary consideration when accepting applications.
3. Application Fee: $30. Your application fee ensures that the residency can remain free to selected residents.

We do not accept printed applications. Contact info@adirondackcenterforwriting.org or 518-354-1261 with any questions.

What Previous Residents Have To Say

M.L. Martin ’22

I’ve never quite been able to write productively for every single day of the residency, but this was the case at the Anne LaBastille Residency. I’m still a little bit in awe of what I was able to accomplish there. I wrote new poems and over 7,000 words of new prose, which for a poet like me, is quite a lot.

I tend to be quite introverted and open up slowly in most situations, but I have to say, I felt a special kinship with everyone there. My theory is that we were all simply so happy to be there, surrounded by the natural treasures of the Adirondacks—the changing foliage on the mountains across the lake, the bounty of fresh, rain-cleansed air, the peaceful, placid lake—that our exuberance of place permeated into our collective mood of gratitude and fellowship. I believe we all left feeling as if we had gotten to know and respect each other as writers and humans, and I hope that carries on after our time there as well.

Kayaking across Lake Twitchell with a few other fellows on a beautiful day in early October, surrounded by the changing foliage, then softly paddling past a loon, before disembarking to see what remains of Anne LaBastille’s actual cabin site, and thinking about the legacy that she has left—of bringing writers, especially female-identifying writers, in close contact with the splendors of the Adirondack wilderness— this was a poignant moment for me, and a memory that I hope will stick with me for a lifetime.

Emily Weitzman ’20
I have been thinking about how meaningful this residency already is and will be to me, specifically because of this feeling of community. You have clearly built community for so many through the organization and starting this residency has brought the opportunity for building community to those of us that get to do it — I’m so grateful.

Noah Stetzer ’17
If you’re lucky, you sometimes encounter a place that stays with you long after you leave. The wooden rooms and the furniture, the lake views through the windows and the way the sun hit the pines out back–Twitchell Lodge surrounded by the Adirondack woods shifting from summer into winter is a place I will never forget. But the people I was with while at Twitchell Lodge have also left a mark on me. The residency invites fellows from both inside and outside of the Adirondack area. They also choose writers of various disciplines: poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. And so there are always more to learn from every writer: their ways of writing, their experiences from back home, their stories behind the stories they were writing.

Along with the memorable writers I met were our hosts Nathalie Thill and Baylee Annis from the Adirondack Center for Writing. Because they are writers and storytellers themselves, Nathalie and Baylee seemed to know in their bones how to make the residency run in such a way that brought out the best in every single day.

Read the rest of the article in LOCALadk on page 60

At the Lodge

Meals are served family-style in the lodge, with lots of common spaces for evening group discussions as well as private spaces for quiet writing and reflection during the day. Residents are offered single rooms with private baths. There are no desks in individual rooms, but plenty of private and collaborative work space throughout the residence. Residents are encouraged to take full use of the hiking and paddling of the local area.

This residency exists to provide space, time and an inspiring landscape for residents to work on their writing projects. With no cell phone coverage, these two weeks are a chance to unplug and connect with other writers, and to tap into the creative self. Yes, there is wi-fi, but it is not high-speed (email works fine; video calls are spotty). There are landline phones in the lodge.