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Great Mountain Forest (GMF) is hosting its first annual Nature Writing Retreat at the historic Yale Camp in Falls Village, CT. The literary and nature-themed escape, which will be held August 7th through 9th in Falls Village, CT, invites writers of all levels to visit the rustic lodge to draw inspiration from the serenity of its woodland trails and the talent of its acclaimed writers.

The three-day retreat reflects on the legacy of American writer Hal Borland who was a nature columnist for The New York Times from 1937 until his death in 1978. His work, which was rooted in this landscape, explores how wilderness shapes language, hones craft, and strengthens the ability for close observation and environmental understanding.

“I challenge anyone to stand on a hilltop and fail to see a new expanse not only around him, but in him, too,” wrote Hal Borland. In this spirit, the inaugural retreat welcomes writers to do just that as they celebrate writing, conservation, and the relationship between people and forests.

The writing retreat includes journaling and campfire conversation, a guided nature walk, workshops, and a closing reflection.

Set within GMF’s 6,400-acre forestland that spans from Falls Village to Norfolk and New Canaan, the retreat features six workshops led by nationally recognized authors, poets, and environmental experts. Participants will engage in field observation, writing, and discussion focused on description, ecological literacy, eco-poetry, and nature-based storytelling.

They list of accomplished writers leading the workshops includes Sean Prentiss, the award-winning author of Finding Abbey: The Search for Edward Abbey and his Hidden Desert Grave, which won the National Outdoor Book Award. Prentiss is also a co-author of nature and anthology textbooks.

Author and musician Eiren Caffall grew up surrounded by the trees, mountains, and ponds of Great Barrington. Her writing on loss and nature, oceans and extinction has appeared in The Writer’s Digest, The Orion, Guernica, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Literary Hub, and beyond. Accolades include receiving a 2023 Whiting Award in Creative Nonfiction and a Social Justice News Nexus fellowship.

Finally, Todd Davis will also lead workshops. He is the author of eight full-length collections of poetry, including Ditch Memory: New and Selected Poems, and a limited-edition chapbook, Household of Water, Moon, and Snow. More than 400 of his poems have appeared in magazines, and have won the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, the Chautauqua Editor’s Prize, and the Midwest Book Award, among others.

Attendees will engage in field observation, writing, and discussion focused on description, ecological literacy, eco-poetry, and nature-based storytelling

The Program & Workshops
The program includes journaling and campfire conversation on Friday followed by a guided nature walk and workshops on Saturday, and a closing reflection on Sunday.

“There are few uses of a forest more sustainable than serving as inspiration. Hosting writers and artists is a great way to explore and provide this use of our forests. This new program demonstrates how Great Mountain Forest can be an antidote to the challenges facing our world. The retreat brings people together, builds community in the forest, gets participants outside and off their screens, and uses nature sustainably to heal and inspire minds and souls,” said Michael Zafros, Executive Director, GMF.

The workshops include:

• Seeing with a Writer’s Eye-Todd Davis: Conveying your impressions of and responses to nature
• Your Personal Involvement with Nature- Eiren Caffall: Writing through personal connection to nature
• Creating place and character in nature writing-Sean Prentiss: using fiction- and non-fiction tools
• Ecopoetics-Evelyn Reilly: Poems of our changing climate
• The Endless Forest: The Southern Berkshires – Kateri Kosek: Integrating histories of humans and nature
• Ecology and the Environment – Eileen Fielding: write with science and conservation in mind

Some more details: Enrollment is limited, with an optional post-retreat online anthology of participant work. Meals will be provided by Chef Stawitz of GMF’s catering. The fee for the retreat is $435 and includes all meals and the full experience of three of the six sessions, the presentation on Hal Borland, guided nature walks, the luncheon with a talk about publishing work, led by Meghan McPhaul of Northern Woodlands Magazine, journaling workshops, and other conversational sessions. There’s also a culminating luncheon session about the evocative and the ephemeral in nature writing.

Yale Camp is located at 209 Chattleton Road in Falls Village. July 24, 2026 is the deadline for enrollment. Optional lodging for two nights is offered in Yale Camp’s rustic cabins. These lodging areas are bunk style, with shared male and female bathrooms. They are equipped with electricity, but do not have air conditioning. Lodgers must bring their own bedding and sleeping bags.

The retreat is made possible in part with support from H. Bruce McEver, Roshy and Dalton Dwyer, and Housatonic Heritage. The Nature Writing Retreat is curated by Tom Shachtman. For more information or to register, visit greatmountainforest.org/writing-retreat-2026/

A leader in forest stewardship, GMF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, demonstrates how sustainable management can protect biodiversity and support ecosystems. By serving as a hub for education and research, it promotes the benefits of sustainable management so that communities across New England can derive educational, economic, and recreational and health benefits from their forests.