Center for Black Literature's Wild Seeds Retreat for Writers of Color

Wild Seeds Retreat for Writers of Color Returns July 2025 with Prestigious Line-Up of Black Literary Voices

BROOKLYN, NY, UNITED STATES, May 11, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY, is proud to announce that the Wild Seeds Retreat for Writers of Color will return from Sunday, July 20 to Saturday, July 26, 2025, at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, New York.

Now in its next iteration, this tuition-based, weeklong writing retreat offers writers of color a unique opportunity to deepen their craft, build community, and receive personalized mentorship from acclaimed literary voices. Wild Seeds Retreat for Writers of Color Returns July 2025 with
Prestigious Line-Up of Black Literary Voices.

This year’s genre-specific workshop leaders include:
*Ladee Hubbard (Fiction) — award-winning author of The Talented Ribkins and The Rib King
*Phill Branch (Creative Non-Fiction/Memoir) — filmmaker, professor, and acclaimed storyteller
*Wanda Phipps (Poetry) — widely published poet, translator, and literary performer

Applications are open through Monday, June 2, 2025. Tuition is $600, and a limited number of scholarships are available to applicants who submit a written rationale. Participants will engage in daily workshops, one-on-one sessions with facilitators, literary discussions, and creative reflection—all in a peaceful, residential setting designed to foster uninterrupted writing.

“Wild Seeds is more than a retreat—it’s a radical space of creativity, freedom, and cultural care,” says Donna Hill, Executive Director of the Center for Black Literature. “It allows writers to focus on their work while surrounded by community that sees and values them.”

To learn more about the program and its mission or to apply: www.centerforblackliterature.org

Our Background
The Wild Seeds Retreat for Writers of Color (formerly the North Country Institute & Retreat for Writers of Color), began in 2004 as a collaboration with the Center for Black Literature, the English Department at SUNY, Plattsburgh, and the Paden Institute and Retreat for Writers. Today it continues to provide a writing community where established and emerging writers can focus on the craft of writing and create cross-cultural conversations around the literature created by writers of the African diaspora.

Writing fellows have an opportunity to draw upon their experiences as writers in a racialized society; to become knowledgeable about the issues facing other writers of color; and to study with a professional in the genres of fiction, memoir, and poetry.

Recognizing that the Writers Retreat should not be limited to a specific geographical region, the Center renamed the Retreat in honor of Octavia E. Butler, a speculative fiction writer known globally for blending science fiction with African American spiritualism. Butler's writing crossed many boundaries and represented varying diverse voices.

Shay Bohannon
House of Bohannon
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