Storyknife Writers Retreat offers women a creative space on Cook Inlet

Published 5:30 am Thursday, April 16, 2026

On a bluff overlooking Cook Inlet, where volcanoes rise in the distance, a series of small cabins is perched, welcoming a rotating community of writers.

Here, women from across the country arrive to claim something often missing in their daily lives – uninterrupted creative space. This is Storyknife Writers Retreat.

“The women writers in residence at Storyknife are often pulled in many directions in their daily lives, caring for children and elderly parents, holding down full-time jobs, completing most of the domestic chores at home,” said Director Erin Hollowell. “Storyknife is a place where they can be beholden to no one but their own creative project.”

Since 2016, Storyknife has offered women writers a focused, safe, and dedicated place to create. Every year, between 50 and 54 women are selected from a growing pool of applicants.

Last year, 1,600 women applied for the 50 spots available this year. Writers at all stages of their careers, from those just beginning to those with multiple published books, come to stay in private cabins surrounded by Alaska’s expansive landscape.

“I think that the wide-open spaces of Alaska offer a kind of mental spaciousness that makes experimentation and creation possible,” Hollowell said.

“I also think that writers being outside their usual ‘comfort zones’ frees them up to really dive into their work.”

As one of only two women’s writing retreats in the United States, the other being Hedgebrook in Washington state, Storyknife is designed to support creativity in a space built specifically for women.

“To create, one must feel safe and honored,” she said. “In a woman-only space, that safety and respect for each other’s experiences is most often the default.”

Residency lengths vary from two weeks to four weeks, and writers can choose how much solitude or community they prefer.

Days are spent writing in quiet cabins, with breaks to walk the property, sip coffee from the deck and enjoy the views. Evenings bring the writers together over shared meals in the main house.

Storyknife’s first writer in residence was Kim Steutermann Rogers, who stayed in Storyknife founder Dana Stabenow’s guest cabin.

Today, the retreat includes six cabins where writers live and work, along with a main house that features a kitchen, library, living room and administrative offices.

Trails wind through the grounds and a gazebo offers an additional quiet place to write.

The spaces reflect the community that supports Storyknife. Cabins and shared areas are filled with art by Alaskan women artists. Each cabin includes pottery created by local women, and quilts made by the Kenai Peninsula Quilt Guild add a personal touch.

During their residency, writers may participate in “Live from Storyknife,” a virtual reading event that allows the public to hear what they have been working on.

“Next month we have a writer who will be sharing a podcast with KBBI,” Hollowell said. “Later in the summer, there are a couple of writers who want to teach short workshops. These community events are at the discretion of the writers and there is no expectation that they hold them. They’re here to write. If they choose to do other things, that’s just a bonus.”

Storyknife is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization funded primarily through individual donations, with additional support from grants. Writers pay an application fee, which also helps sustain the program.

This month, the organization is hosting the Founder’s Challenge, during which Dana Stabenow will match all donations made in April up to $25,000.

The retreat’s long-term goals include continuing to support writers, building an endowment and expanding funding to sustain its mission.

“Our definition of success is when a writer comes to Storyknife and can say, ‘I went to Storyknife and my whole life changed,’” Hollowell said.

“There are so many success stories – women who finish their books while they’re here. Women who help each other get agents and published. Women who open doors for members of their cohorts to guest teach or be part of conferences that they run. We’ve had several women win prestigious awards. I think the one that most folks will recognize is Tessa Hulls, who finished her book Feeding Ghosts at Storyknife, and it went on to win the Pulitzer Prize.”

For Hollowell, herself a published poet, the impact of the retreat is reflected not only in major achievements but also in deeply personal moments.

“It’s not all the writers who go on to publish books to critical acclaim; sometimes it’s the writers that just need this space to tell their story,” she said. “Sometimes it’s the woman whose disabled child will age out of agency care, and this is her last time to be away and work on her memoir. Sometimes it’s the woman whose mother and grandmother died of breast cancer and now she’s battling it, and she just needs to write about this legacy and publish so that others feel less alone. When I listen to the women writers talk over breakfast about the work they’re doing, when I listen to the way that they support each other, when I watch how they lift each other up over social media, I know that Storyknife is fulfilling its mission.”

Travel to Homer can be costly, and Storyknife offers a number of stipends and fellowships to help offset expenses. Many of these are funded by individuals or foundations and are often targeted toward specific groups of writers.

More information about applying for a Storyknife residency, including a list of fellowships and travel scholarships, can be found at https://storyknife.org.