2024 Oregon Writers' Residencies and Retreats

Oregon’s unusual, dramatic landscapes and weather provide an excellent backdrop for writers’ residencies and retreats. Here’s a list of retreats and residencies where you can give your undivided attention to your novel, memoir, short story collection, or poetry during a quiet escape that could last a week or more than a month.

2024 Oregon Writers’ Residencies and Retreats

The following list includes DIY or self-directed residencies and retreats, artist residencies with a stipend but application required, and writers-in-residence opportunities with a stipend, free private working space. For a WIR opportunity, you’re often expected to meet some expectations in turn, such as chores, teaching children or adults, or attending reception.

Remember, you don’t have to be already published to apply at many (or most) of these residencies. The residencies are open to writers from a varieties of genres, publishing histories, and other aspects. Two residencies specifically welcome parent writers.

Oregon Coast Writing Retreats and Residencies

The spectacular Oregon Coast is a writer’s destination getaway, providing solitude and natural beauty along with basic amenities. Opportunities below often take place over the “low season” of fall, winter, and early spring—perfect for storm-watching and giant waves. Some residencies are more DIY, while others are organized. 

Artist Residency program: Wheeler on the Bay Lodge
Wheeler, Oregon
Stay in one of Oregon’s last 1940’s motor court-style motels on the North Oregon Coast, some with private decks, hot tubs, and bay views. Find 10 individual rooms and space to work with others at this Nehalem Bay Artist Residency Program. Winter dates only.

Colony House Writers Weeks and Writers Weekends: Oregon Writers Colony
Rockaway Beach, Oregon
Inside the handsome, three-story log home built in 1936 (by the same family who built Timberline Lodge) and known as “Colonyhouse,” writers gather for Colony House Writers Weeks and Writers Weekends. Membership required. Four bedrooms and two full bathrooms; each participant has a private room. The kitchen, bathrooms, and living room are shared.  

Sitka Residencies: Sitka Center for Art and Ecology
Lincoln City, Oregon
On the central Oregon coast in a grove of Sitka trees, artists of all types (including poets, journalists and writers) attend fall, winter, and spring Sitka Residencies. Private residences offer spaces for living, sleeping, kitchen and bathrooms, along with studios for some.  One ADA cabin is also available. Residency is free; some offer stipends.

Starry Night Inn Artist Residency, Starry Night Inn
Seaside, Oregon
Enjoy deeply discounted winter rates (around $80/night) via the Starry Night Inn Artist Residency, at this six-room Oregon Coast Victorian hotel. The rooms are simple, while the some cabins include a microwave, mini fridge, dishes, and kitchen table—so you can write, and write, and write.

The Writer’s Guild, North Coast Writers’ Residency
Willapa Bay, Washington and Astoria, Oregon
This creative writer-in-residence program offers a week for quiet work, along with daily lunch. It doesn’t take place in Oregon, but in beautiful nearby Willapa Bay, in Washington State. Then, AVA Gallery in Astoria, Oregon (near the Oregon-Washington border) offers space for a reading and reception of the resident’s work. Open to writers of short stories, plays, memoir, novels, nonfiction, screenplays and hybrid formats. $250 stipend available.  

Central Oregon Writing Residencies and Retreats

Three residencies and artist-in-residence opportunities take place in and near Sisters, Oregon, about two hours southeast of Portland in the Cascade Mountains. Sisters is a a small, Western-feel town is remote, but still near amenities in Bend, Oregon about 40 minutes away. Be aware that many take place in winter, when you might need a vehicle that can deal with heavy snow. 

Caldera Artists in Residence (AIR), Caldera Arts Center
Sisters, Oregon
Immerse yourself in writing for 2- and 3 ½-week 2024 residencies alongside four other artists near Blue Lake, Oregon. Each artist receives an artist stipend, along with private lodging with a bathroom and kitchenette, studio or workspace. The Caldera program prioritizes artists who are BIPOC (residency program aims to have 90% artists of color) and/or parents seeking a residency, and also advance “cultural and social change through work.” 

Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts & Agriculture Residencies
Sisters, Oregon 
At this working Central Oregon ranch, three residents at a time stay for 2- to 4-week residencies in a private room with communal kitchen, dining, and laundry areas. A ranch building offers a studio space for artists of all types on the 260-acre property. For 2024, the residency theme centers on transitions and migrations.

Playa Residencies
Summer Lake, Oregon
In very rural Oregon, Playa offers a variety of artist residencies in the midst of beauty. Awarded residencies range from 12 to 26 days, while self-directed residencies range from 4 to 10 nights. The awarded residencies prioritize those who are “developing projects at the nexus of art and science.” Six cabins for residencies, equipped with a kitchen, and a place to work (artist studio or a cabin desk area).

Suttle Lodge Artist Residency, Suttle Lodge & Boathouse
Sisters, Oregon 
Enjoy two winter weeks in a cabin for a writer-in-residence stay, in the Central Oregon Deschutes woods near Sisters and Bend. Limited cell and wifi means you’ll have plenty of quiet, uninterrupted time to finish that novel or series of short stories. This Oregon lodge also offers a $200 stipend for use at the onsite restaurant. 

Portland Area Writing Retreats and Residencies

Portland-area writing residencies are competitive, offering stipends and excellent accommodations in a popular city exclusively for creative writers. 

Tin House Residencies
Portland, Oregon 
Special one-week- to-month-long Tin House residencies for those completing a first book, a “next book” (for the already published), and those working on a full-length manuscript. One month is exclusively set aside for parent writer residencies—and in summer, when school’s out. Competitive, with just two Portland studio apartments available for each month, each 900 SF with full kitchen, bathroom, living space with an office. One apartment is accessible. Open to those working on a novel, short stories, poetry, translation, graphic novels and nonfiction. Residents can meet with Tin House Books editors and small gatherings with literary community members. $1200 stipend, too.

Carolyn Moore Writing Residency, PCC Sylvania 
Tigard, Oregon
Stipend: $400/week
Residency terms run from 3 to 8 weeks at the rural log cabin known as Carolyn Moore Writers House. This residency encourages emerging writers to work, while giving back—visiting classes, giving readings, and hosting creative writing students for small groups. A weekly stipend of $400 is included, as well.

Other Oregon Retreats and Residencies

While most residencies are along the Oregon coast and in the Cascade mountains, Southern and Eastern Oregon’s sprawling landscape provides a few more surprises. 

The Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency, PEN Northwest
Southwestern Oregon
One of the more unusual Oregon writing residency programs, this opportunity provides a back-to-the-land experience best for those already a bit handy and self-reliant. Stay between six months to a year in an extremely rural backcountry Oregon cabin. Must have 4-wheel drive, and an hour a day for light repair tasks. You’ll also receive a $5,000 stipend for your entire stay. 

Fishtrap Writer in Residence Program
Enterprise, Oregon 
This Writer-in-Residence program runs from 6-8 weeks in spring and includes lodging, a stipend and travel allowance. You’ll stay in rural Northeast Oregon while also teaching classes, and an autumn adult workshop.