Funding

Partial / Stipend

Program dates

TBA

Fellowship•USA · Freeland

Hedgebrook Writer-in-Residence Program

Hedgebrook

Application Deadline

Closed · April 17, 2026

Reopens ~Apr 2027

Official Page

Hedgebrook is a literary non-profit that runs a small farm and retreat on Whidbey Island in Washington State, founded in 1985 by Nancy Nordhoff and open to writers since 1988. Its Writer-in-Residence program hosts women-identified writers, 18 and older, from anywhere in the world for a stay of two or three weeks. Up to six writers are in residence at the same time, each in their own handcrafted cottage; days are spent writing alone and evenings bring everyone to the farmhouse for a shared meal. The cottage, all meals and the residency itself cost the writer nothing, while travel to Whidbey Island is the writer’s own expense. All genres are read — fiction, non-fiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting and television, songwriting — and published and unpublished writers are judged on the same terms. The 2027 season runs from February to December 2027; its application window ran from 17 February to 17 April 2026 and is now closed.

Benefits & funding

  • A private handcrafted cottage for the whole residency, free of charge
  • Chef-prepared meals and snacks daily, with dinner shared in the farmhouse in the evening
  • Two or three weeks of writing time; residencies generally begin on a Thursday and end on a Tuesday
  • The farm, its woodland trails and Double Bluff beach are open to residents throughout the stay
  • Every selected writer is considered for the partner fellowships Hedgebrook works with — McKnight Fellowship Residency (with Artist Communities Alliance), BECU, Carol Shields Prize Foundation, Elizabeth George Foundation and Rona Jaffe Foundation — each awarded on its funder’s own criteria; Hedgebrook publishes no amounts
  • Travel to and from Hedgebrook is not covered and there is no travel stipend
  • Applying costs a fee, charged inside the SlideRoom portal; the amount is not published on the public pages. Up to 50 fee waivers are released per cycle, first come first served, and the 2027 cycle reached that cap

Eligibility

  • Women-identified writers, which Hedgebrook states as inclusive of transgender women and female-identified individuals
  • 18 or older
  • Open to applicants from any country; national and international applicants are both considered
  • Published and unpublished writers, at any stage of a writing career
  • One writer per application; collaborators apply separately
  • The applicant must be available to take up a residency during the season applied for
  • Alumnae of any Hedgebrook program — a previous residency, screenwriting, documentary, playwriting or songwriting — are not eligible for this program
  • No degree, qualification or work-experience requirement

Can you apply?

Worth a closer look

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  • Gender requirement

    Female

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  • Age requirement

    ≥ 18 yrs

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Application process

  1. 1
    Watch the Writer-in-Residence page or join the Hedgebrook mailing list for the opening of a cycle. The 2027 cycle opened on 17 February 2026 and closed on 17 April 2026; the cycle after it has not been announced.
  2. 2
    Choose the single genre the application will be judged in, and prepare an anonymous writing sample to that genre’s specification: 7–10 double-spaced pages for fiction and non-fiction, 7–10 poems up to 20 pages for poetry, 7–10 pages in script format for playwriting, 10–15 pages for screenwriting and television, and lyric sheets with a one-page synopsis plus up to three audio files totalling ten minutes for songwriting. Samples in translation are allowed double the page count.
  3. 3
    Write the artist statement: the ideas driving the work, the project planned for the residency, why that project matters now, why Hedgebrook is the right place for it, and any advocacy or community work.
  4. 4
    Complete the artist information: occupation, the genre applied in and all genres written, up to five publications or productions, up to five awards, residencies held at other artist communities, previous Hedgebrook applications, and the questions on working in solitude and living in a small creative community.
  5. 5
    Remove every name from the headers and footers of the sample. Adjudication is anonymous and readers are assigned by genre.
  6. 6
    Submit through the SlideRoom portal with the application fee before the deadline. A fee waiver has to be requested on the waiver form before the application is submitted, and the 50 waivers per cycle go first come first served.
  7. 7
    Wait for the decision. For the 2027 season, notifications go out through SlideRoom in November 2026 — Hedgebrook times them ahead of the next cycle’s deadline so that writers who were not selected can apply again.

Program timeline

  1. Applications for the 2027 season opened, 8:00 am

    Feb 17, 2026

  2. Application deadline for the 2027 season, 9:00 am

    Apr 17, 2026

  3. November 2026

    Decisions for the 2027 season sent through SlideRoom

  4. February to December 2027

    The 2027 residency season; each writer stays two or three weeks inside it

  5. Next cycle

    not announced. Hedgebrook publishes no opening date for the season after 2027. The 2027 cycle opened in mid-February of the preceding year and was announced on the program page and the mailing list.