August 16-23
w/Guest Fellows: Marisa Renee Lee & Krishan Trotman

Join an intimate group of exceptional writers on a life-changing residency in Greece.
Applications Now Open

Join us for a life-changing week in the verdant escape of Halkidiki Greece. In the company of 9 select writers and a distinguished guest mentor, you will refine your work, hone your craft, and develop your voice.

Engaging with new genres and perspectives, you will be challenged to push the boundaries of your storytelling. Whether you are working on a novel, memoir, play, musical, collection of poems, screenplay, pilot, or other genre-bending pursuit, this is an opportunity to propel your progress alongside a group of exceptional peers.

 

The Retreat

Stretch your technical capacity and harness the power of long-lasting community

Write, collaborate, and workshop with a group of exceptional writers from across the globe. Rosemary’s House was founded with the mission of providing writers with the environment, expertise, and community to develop their work.

Engaging in intimate group workshops and receiving individualized mentor feedback, you’ll be invited to identify and confront the holes in your writing. Each cohort is curated to ensure that there is a diversity of strengths and expertise so that all participants accelerate their growth. While you will only formally workshop your writing with the writers in your cohort, you will be able to engage with the writers in the other cohort during non-workshop hours. Writing does not have to be a lonely enterprise. Benefit from a community of committed peers and take yourself seriously by devoting time and space to your craft.

 

Find inspiration, ground your creative process, and build a career

Resting in a location that the ancients used to call “phlegra” or “land of fire”, Rosemary’s House lives in communion with a place where thinkers, like Aristotle and Alexander the Great, have inflamed precedent, kindled ideas, and passed the torch.

Taking an applied approach to learning about world-building, sensory motif, time scale, and character, we lead excursions to thought-provoking environments like local archeological sites and islands.

 

What You’ll Learn

Each week-long retreat is designed to balance collaboration and individual exploration. Invited writers will submit an excerpt of their work for critique ahead of the residency. Most mornings, each cohort will convene for a multi-genre workshop, under the supervision of the guest fellow in residence. The schedule will also feature a formal “fellow’s chat” and Q&A, optional genre-based seminars and writing exercises, and ample time for writing.


You will refine your ability to give feedback and, in doing so, advance your capacity to critique your work. Advancing your understanding of dialogue, plot, structure, world-building, character, and narrative, you will expand your toolkit and leave with an inspiring community of collaborators to serve you throughout your career. After attending a Rosemary’s House residency, you will have life-long access to the RH alumni community.

Developing Craft

  • How do I make my writing more immediate?

  • Is my crutch plot, landscape, or character?

  • What is the heart of my story?

Building Community

  • How do I work with writers across genres?

  • How do I build the stamina to finish a long-form project?

  • What audience will my work appeal to?

    Finding Professional Direction

  • How can I work towards making a living in writing?

  • How do I move towards publication?

  • How do I write something that has trans-media potential?

The Fellows

 

Photography by David Needleman

Cohort One: Led by Marisa Renee Lee

Marisa Renee Lee is a called-upon grief advocate, entrepreneur, and bestselling author of the award-winning book Grief is Love, Living with Loss.

Deemed "the friend we all wish we had in times of need" by Elaine Welteroth, Marisa is able to utilize research-based advice and wisdom to help others navigate the complicated and challenging emotions we face when experiencing loss, offering unique insights for women and Black communities.

In addition to her work in the grief space, Lee is a Former Deputy Director of Private Sector Engagement and a Senior Advisor on the Domestic Policy Council under President Obama and the Founder and CEO of Beacon Advisors, a mission-driven consulting firm focused on strategic planning and partnerships, change management, and coaching and advisory services for leaders.

She is a rabble-rouser of social healing: former managing director of My Brother's Keeper Alliance; co-founder of the digital platform Supportal; and founder of The Pink Agenda, a national organization dedicated to raising money for breast cancer care, research, and awareness.

Lee regularly contributes to Elle, Vogue, The Atlantic, MSNBC, and CNN and serves as an expert for Ritual's well-being app. She is a graduate of Harvard College, an avid home cook and a Green Bay Packers fan. Lee lives in upstate New York with her husband, Matt, son Bennett, and their dog, Sadie.

 

Photography by Nicole Mayhorn

Cohort Two: Led by Krishan Trotman

Krishan Trotman is the Vice-President, Publisher of Legacy Lit. She joined Hachette Books in 2016. In 2020 she launched Legacy Lit, an imprint dedicated to books that give voice to issues, authors, and communities that have been marginalized, underserved, and overlooked. This includes BIPOC authors, all women, and any group that they believe deserves a spotlight. The imprint is committed to promoting equality, equity, and inclusion for all people. The books are bold, mission-driven commercial works. Social justice and empowerment are Trotman’s passion. She likes to work with authors who are candid, bold, and, in their own unique way, not afraid to shake things up.

Her authors have included a range of award-winning and New York Times bestsellers, including congressman John Lewis’ Across That Bridge; journalist Stephanie Land’s Maid; MSNBC political analyst Malcolm Nance’s The Plot to Destroy Democracy; New York Times columnist Lindy West’s The Witches Are Coming and Shit Actually; UFC’s Mixed Martial Artist Paige VanZant’s Rise; Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad’s Proud; radio and TV host Zerlina Maxwell’s The End of White Politics; TV personality Ed Gordon’s Conversations in Black; journalist Talia Lavin’s Culture Warlords; Vanity Fair writer Nancy Jo Sales’ memoir Nothing Personal; BRAVO’s Million Dollar Listing star Ryan Serhant’s Sell It Like Serhant and Big Money Energy; Morning Joe’s co-host Mika Brzezinski’s Earn It! and Comeback Careers; The Today Show’s cohost Al Roker’s You Look So Much Better in Person; and empowerment coach Gina DeVee’s The Audacity to Be Queen, to name a few.

She is the co-author of the Queens of the Resistance series and she has been featured in New York Times, Essence Magazine, New York Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, Salon, Shondaland, Cheddar TV, MSN, CSPAN, and more.

Info & Lodging

 

Dates:
August 16-23, 2024 (arrival on the 16th and departure on the 23rd)

Address:
Rosemary’s House
Nitiki, Sithonia
Greece

Location / Travel:
Rosemary’s House is located on Halkidiki’s second peninsula, Sithonia. It rests between the villages of Nikiti and Marmaras, perched on a cliff that overlooks the Aegean Sea. We provide complimentary airport transfer from the local airport Thessaloniki (SKG). The journey is about one hour by car.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or need assistance.

Lodging:
While Rosemary’s House, its common spaces, private pool, and private beach are open to all attending writers, we house the majority of our writers in accommodations in neighboring hotels and houses. All accommodation options are within walking distance of the main house, and we additionally operate a shuttle bus that is available to all writers throughout the day. Fresh linen and clean bedding are provided in each room at the beginning of the retreat. Attending writers can opt for various tiers of housing and privacy, which are detailed here.

 Meals:
Acclaimed local chefs and taverns cater all meals, providing a hearty Mediterranean diet of freshly-caught fish, regionally sourced vegetables, and locally-pressed wine. Attendees will have access to a plentiful garden on the premises, as well as daily access to the breakfast buffet at the neighboring five-star hotel Athena Pallas. We work with our partners to ensure that we can accommodate dietary restrictions and allergies and provide all participants with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Vaccination:
To ensure everyone’s safety and well-being, we ask that participants have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 when attending the retreat.  If you are not fully vaccinated at the time of the retreat, we require proof of a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours of the retreat start date.

 

Pricing & Application

 

Your admission includes full access to the retreat, all guest workshops, group excursions, airport transfers (SKG), 6 nights/7 days of beautiful accommodation, and full catering, which includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We have a team of acclaimed local chefs who will be preparing our beautiful, nutritious cuisine. It does not include the cost of your flight. Our standard admission rates include shared lodging, but you can upgrade to a private room. Our private options are detailed here.

Our early-bird rate is available to attendees who apply up to two months before the start date of the retreat. As our admissions are rolling, we can’t guarantee that spots will remain available, so we encourage you to apply at your earliest convenience. With only 10 spaces available in each cohort, our process is selective, and we’re looking for motivated and talented writers who are ready to harness the opportunity that this experience provides. We look forward to receiving your application.

Early bird tuition: €3995

Standard tuition: €4995