Writers’ Retreats

Writing Retreat in Taos, New Mexico

Taos has drawn artists and writers for more than a century, and our decision to gather here was deliberate. The high desert light, the long silences, and the deep creative history of the place create conditions that step aside and let your writing breathe. It is a landscape that rewards attention, which is exactly what good writing asks of you. Writers have come to Taos for generations to find precisely this, and the desert has a way of clearing space in a crowded mind.

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Imaginative Storm Writing Retreats

A writing retreat should do more than take you somewhere beautiful. It should take you somewhere new on the page. Imaginative Storm retreats combine the full depth of our method, craft instruction, and one-on-one editorial time with locations chosen because the landscape itself has something to say to a writer.

These are not vacations with a notebook tucked into your bag. They are working retreats, with structured days that move between guided writing, real instruction, and the open hours you need to let new work settle. You write alongside a small group; you read and hear responses, and you have the rare gift of time without the usual interruptions. For many writers, a few days like this do more than months of stolen evenings at home ever could.

Whether you are finishing a memoir, breaking through a creative block, or simply giving your writing the uninterrupted time it deserves, there is a writer’s retreat here for you. Each one is a full creative writing experience in its own right, with its own character, shaped by the location and who gathers there. What they share is the belief that progress needs three things at once: a method to follow, the time to use it, and a place that makes you want to write.

Your retreat leaders, Allegra Huston and James Navé are both accomplished writers and skilled facilitators who create a non-judgemental space where everyone feels safe to create and share.

Memoir Writing Retreat in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia’s rugged coastline has a way of loosening memory. This retreat is specifically for memoir writers with material that needs shaping, stories that need an architecture, and pages that deserve to be finished. With the Atlantic at the edge of everything, the past comes closer. For anyone carrying a story they have been meaning to tell for years, this is a place built to help you finally tell it. If you’ve been holding regret about untold stories, this retreat will relieve and inspire you.

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Private and Group Writing Retreats

Looking for something tailored to your group, organization, or project? Imaginative Storm designs custom private writing retreats for groups of friends or organizational teams. Established writers’ groups looking for fresh inspiration and structure can have an experience that boosts everyone’s writing and the entire group’s energy. Corporate and nonprofit teams can open up new avenues for creativity and innovation through the Imaginative Storm method. When your team needs a shot of fresh thinking, Allegra Huston and James Navé can deliver a day, weekend, or week-long seminar designed to open up your team’s creativity.

You choose the people and the goal, and we shape the experience to fit. It is a meaningful way to mark a milestone, deepen a team, or simply give a group of writers the time and structure to go somewhere together on the page.

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What Makes Our Writers’ Retreats Different

Most writing retreats offer inspiration and a change of scenery, then leave you to your own devices. Imaginative Storm retreats offer those things and something rarer: a method. A trained facilitator guides you through the same disciplined, generative approach that has carried writers all over the world from a blank page to real work, from the first prompt to the last.

That is the difference between coming home with memories of writing and coming home identifying yourself as a writer with a packet of finished writing. Inspiration fades by the time you unpack. A method, and the pages you made with it, come home with you and stay. You leave with new pages, craft you can keep using, and often a clearer shape for the larger project you arrived with. The setting opens you up; the method gives that openness somewhere to go, and the small group keeps you honest. Our 2026 writing retreat dates are filling up now, and because we intentionally keep each retreat small, spots tend to fill quickly.

After the retreat, you can have continued support through the Weekly Writing Circle, our Writing Course, or one of our Writing Workshops.

What Past Retreat Participants Say

The clearest sense of what a retreat can do comes from the writers who have already been on one, and who talk about it for a long time afterward.

  • Marianne Furedi, Taos

    “I loved how we all helped one another expand horizons,  plumb depths, make discoveries and support one another in that process. Really enjoyed Navé’s “improv” time, such fun to observe as well as to try out.”

  • Lyn Rothman, Los Angeles

    “I am without adequate words to express how perfect these last five days have been. You created magic.”

  • Virginia Heffernan, Toronto

    “It was valuable for me to get out of my head and into my heart a little more. I appreciated the small group size and the valuable individual time with Allegra. Many thanks for your wisdom, energy and kindness.”

  • Sheila Fenbert, Michigan

    "Exhilarating! Allegra and Nave are phenomenal facilitators as well as engaging hosts. Whether a beginner or seasoned writer the process is effective, the place enchanting, and the people exceptional. Enjoyed every moment."

  • Alice W. Meadows, Florida

    "Right from the start, I knew this was no ordinary writer’s retreat. Allegra and Nave created a collaborative and safe environment in a short amount of time, by taking us all to our playful selves."

  • CJ S., Minnesota

    "The retreat space was amazing, and the artist visits were stunning. I highly recommend this wonderful experience to anyone wanting to add fuel to their writing, or to start writing like never before!"

  • Marjorie Gell, Grand Rapids, MI

    "I am forever changed. I acquired a fresh perspective, a new way of looking at life’s intricacies. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

  • Rev. Diana V. Gustafson, Santa Fe

    "Our group’s time together was intimate and exciting and I long for more. You two are the Bonnie and Clyde of writing retreats and I expect you’ll shoot up some behemoths of the creative world soon."

  • Marilena R. Stephens, Asheville

    “An awakening, and a game-changer for me. Long-held inhibitions freed themselves almost instantly. The fuel I needed to start this frickin car has been supplied!! The retreat was the perfect balance between structure and writing, and exploring the beauties of Taos."