Sundress Academy for the Arts Announces Writing Retreat for Survival and Healing

October 4–05, 2025 @ The Birdhouse

Knoxville, TN: The Sundress Academy for the Arts is hosting its fifth generative writing retreat celebrating survival and healing on October 4-5, 2025. This two-day retreat for sexual assault survivors will be held at The Birdhouse in Knoxville, Tennessee,and will be a safe space for creativity, generative writing exercises, discussions on ways to write trauma, advice on publishing, and more.

The event is open to writers of all backgrounds and experiences and provide an opportunity to work with many talented poets and writers from around the country including Jezmina Von Thiele, LySaundra Campbell, Bell McEntire, Dena Igusti, and Michelle Guerrero Henry.

Session topics include the following:

• • Accessing and Exploring the Inner Child
  • Declarations of Existence
  • Writing the Hard Stuff: A Focus on the Fragment, Memory and Self-Care
  • Magic and Trauma Through the Lens of Culture and Lore
  • Journaling for Pleasure, Journaling for Reclamation

The weekend event runs from 10 a.m., on Saturday through 4 p.m., on Sunday and includes group instruction, a reading by workshop leaders, an open mic, writing suppliesand meals. Writers need to provide their own overnight accommodations and ground transportation.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Poetry Foundation, all fees for selected applicants will be waived. Theyrequire a small, refundable deposit to hold a space.

Category: Workshop