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Oliver-Craig Black Writers' Retreat

For questions about this retreat, contact program lead Andy Verboom at communications@writers.ns.ca

Requests for application assistance (technical, accessibility-related, or financial) must be received by the application deadline.

The Oliver-Craig Black Writers’ Retreat (one week in length) is open to Nova Scotian writers. Each successful applicant is provided with free, shared residence; a $250 honorarium; and the instruction, mentorship, and advice of a distinguished Black or African Nova Scotian author.

This retreat aims to amplify the voices of Black and African Nova Scotian writers, who have been and are marginalized by systemic inequality, not least of all within Canadian publishing.

Held at Jampolis Cottage in Avonport, NS, each retreat offers two emerging or early-career Black or African Nova Scotian writers some of the best elements of a writing residency, a creative writing workshop, and a literary mentorship:

  • One of free, shared residence and groceries at Jampolis Cottage in Avonport, NS
  • An honorarium of $250
  • 5 group workshops led by the mentor
  • 2 one-on-one feedback and advisory sessions with the mentor
  • Written feedback from the mentor on work(s)-in-progress
  • Plenty of unstructured time to focus on writing and to connect with fellow Black and African Nova Scotian writers

The Oliver-Craig Black Writers’ Retreat is a tribute to the friendship between the Oliver and Craig families and is generously funded by the Honourable Don Oliver (CM, ONS, KC) and The Craig Foundation, founded by Joan and Jack Craig.

Meet the Honourable Don Oliver
Joan and Jack Craig, founders of the Craig Foundation
2026 Mentor Chad Lucas

2026 Oliver-Craig Retreat mentor: journalist, columnist, & fiction author Chad Lucas.

Chad Lucas has always loved working with words, as a journalist, communications professional, parenting columnist, and author.

Chad’s debut novel, Thanks a Lot, Universe, won the Ann Connor Brimer Award for Atlantic Canadian Children’s Literature and was named a best middle grade book by the School Library Journal, New York Public Library, and Canadian Children’s Book Centre.

His other titles include Let the Monster Out, a Forest of Reading and Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Award nominee; You Owe Me One, Universe, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection; and The Vanished Ones, released in January, 2025. His short fiction has appeared in Event Magazine, The Dalhousie Review, and the anthology Today I Am: 10 Stories of Belonging.

To be considered for the Oliver-Craig Black Writers’ Retreat, the applying writer must meet the following criteria.

  • You must be Black, African Nova Scotia, and/or African Canadian.
  • You must be a permanent resident of Nova Scotia, meaning that you have lived in Nova Scotia full-time for at least the past twelve (12) months and that you file your personal income taxes in Nova Scotia. (Out-of-province post-secondary students and seasonal residents are ineligible.)
  • You must be an emerging or early-career writer who has not published more than two (2) book-length literary projects, including traditionally published, partner-/hybrid-published, and indie/self-published projects.
  • You must be 19 years of age of older by the current application deadline.

(At this time, we are not accepting applications from participants of past Oliver-Craig Retreats. If you attended the retreat in a previous year, we strongly encourage you to apply instead for a Sponsored Residency at Jampolis Cottage.)

Oliver-Craig Retreat application packages must contain all components listed below and must be submitted by the application deadline. Each application package must be submitted as a single digital document (in .doc or .pdf format) with a file name as follows: [Your Name] – Oliver-Craig Retreat. Incomplete, late, non-digital, or misnamed application packages are ineligible.

A. ‘Cover letter’ up to 1 page in length (single-spaced; in 12-pt Times New Roman or Arial font)

The cover letter is composed of personal responses to the following questions. All questions must be answered within this 1 page, but the length of any particular response is up to you. Start a new paragraph for each response.

  1. Provide an ‘elevator pitch’ for your work(s)-in-progress: identify its/their form (e.g., fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or writing for children/YA) and any relevant genres or sub-genres, and briefly describe its/their narrative and/or themes.
  2. How long have you been actively developing your work-in-progress? How many pages have you drafted? How many pages have been through a revision process?
  3. What specific goals do you hope to achieve during the mentorship? What are your most significant creative challenges with your work-in-progress?
  4. What do you hope to gain from this writers’ retreat?

B. Writing sample from the work(s)-in-progress of 8 to 10 pages (double-spaced for prose; in 12-pt Times New Roman or Arial font)

  • Poetry samples may be single- or double-spaced, as suits your intended presentation. Poetry samples may use other fonts only if typeface is integral to the work-in-progress.
  • You may include a description (of up to one additional double-spaced page) summarizing the work-in-progress from which the sample is excerpted and/or providing necessary context for the excerpt. Include any such description at the beginning of the writing sample.

All applicants will be notified of results within three weeks of the application deadline.

After application packages have been processed to ensure they are complete and eligible, they are shared with an independent peer assessment jury (composed of three professional authors contracted by the WFNS).

All application packages will be assessed based on the following criteria, weighted equally:

  • the merit of the writing sample,
  • the applicant’s commitment to their writing, as determined by the cover letter, and
  • the applicant’s capacity to benefit from the retreat, as determined by the writing sample and cover letter.

If your application is successful, your application package will be shared with the retreat mentor.

Applications are accepted only through the form at the bottom of this page. Please note that completing the application form is the final step in our recommended application checklist:

  1. Ensure your eligibility.
  2. Ensure your application package is complete and correct. In the event of an error, contact WFNS to explain the issue before submitting a revised application package. Unless application assistance is being provided by WFNS staff, no application package or correction can be accepted after the program deadline.
  3. Pay the $20 Sponsored Retreat application fee. This fee covers most but not all of the assessment costs for each application. As such, this fee cannot be refunded under any circumstance, including incomplete, ineligible, or unsuccessful applications. This fee is $15 for those with current WFNS General Membership, which is open to anyone with an interest in creative writing, regardless of writing experience or place of residence.
Pay application fee online

If you are a current General Member, login before checkout to apply your member discount.

To pay fee by phone, call us between 10am and 3pm on weekdays at 902 423 8116 with your credit card details.

To pay fee by mail, send a cheque (payable to “Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia”) post-dated for no later than the application deadline.

  1. Complete and submit the online application form, visible at the bottom of this page when applications are being accepted. After clicking the “Submit application” button, please wait until you see the confirmation message (that your form has been successfully submitted) before exiting this page.

If the application fee presents a barrier, please contact communications@writers.ns.ca before applying. Funds are available to help underwaged writers with application fees.

If you require assistance in completing or submitting an application (whether technical, accessibility-related, or otherwise), please contact communications@writers.ns.ca as early as possible in your application process. Application assistance may extend up to one week after the program deadline, but the initial request for assistance must be received by the deadline.

Applications accepted Jan 15 to Feb 12, 2026

For the 2026 Oliver-Craig Retreat, running August 16 to 22, 2026

Work(s)-in-progress may be in any genres of fiction and nonfiction

Application form

When the below form is successfully submitted, it will be replaced with a confirmation message.

Declarations of eligibility

By applying to participate in the Oliver-Craig Retreat, you make each of the following declarations:

• I am Black and/or African Nova Scotia.
• I am a permanent resident of Nova Scotia, having lived in Nova Scotia full-time for at least the past twelve (12) months.
• I am an emerging or early-career writer who has published no more than two (2) book-length literary projects.
• I am 19 years of age or older.
• My application package and work(s)-in-progress are 100% human-created. No part of my application package or my work(s)-in-progress has been generated or modified by so called "AI," including LLMs (large language models) and other exploitative, copyright-violating algorithmic technologies.

If it is discovered that any of the above declarations is false, your application will be ineligible.
If the name you commonly use or publish under differs from your legal name, please include your legal name in parentheses—i.e., "Common Name (Legal Name)." If you are selected to participate in the retreat, your legal name will be required for honorarium payment.
Must include city/town, province, and postal code.
Drag & Drop Files, Choose Files to Upload
• Your application package must be a single digital file (.doc, .docx, or .pdf format) that contains all components identified in the above section "2. Application package."
• Your application package must use a file name as follows: [Your Name] – Oliver-Craig Retreat.
• Any incomplete, misnamed, or file-unreadable application package may be deemed ineligible.
We recognize that students, the underwaged, and those on fixed incomes may require additional assistance—above the honorarium amount—to defray the expense of travelling to/from Jampolis Cottage. Consideration for this fund will not be divulged to the peer assessment jury and will in no way impact the assessment of your application.
Indicate the method by which you paid the Sponsored Retreat application fee, details of which are given in the above section "4. Application checklist & fee." Fee payment must be sent before you submit your application.
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Experience Levels

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) uses the following terms to describe writers’ experience levels:

  • New writers: those with less than two years’ creative writing experience and/or no short-form publications (e.g., short stories, personal essays, or poems in literary magazines, journals, anthologies, or chapbooks).
  • Emerging writers: those with more than two years’ creative writing experience and/or numerous short-form publications.
  • Early-career authors: those with 1 or 2 book-length publications or the equivalent in book-length and short-form publications.
  • Established authors: those with 3 or 4 book-length publications.
  • Professional authors: those with 5 or more book-length publications.

Please keep in mind that each form of creative writing (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, writing for children, writing for young adults, and others) provides you with a unique set of experiences and skills, so you might consider yourself an ‘established author’ in one form but a ‘new writer’ in another.

Occasionally, WFNS uses the phrase “emerging and established writers/authors” to mean ‘writers and authors of all experience levels.’

The “Recommended experience level” section of each workshop description refers to the above definitions. A workshop’s participants should usually have similar levels of creative writing and / or publication experience. This ensures that each participant gets value from the workshop⁠ and is presented with info, strategies, and skills that suit their experience. 

For “intensive” and “masterclass” workshops, which provide more opportunities for peer-to-peer feedback, the recommended experience level should be followed closely.

For all other workshops, the recommended experience level is just that—a recommendation—and we encourage potential participants to follow their own judgment when registering.

If uncertain about your experience level with respect to any particular workshop, please feel free to contact us at communications@writers.ns.ca