The 2023 Lost Lake Writers Retreat will be held October 5 - 8, 2023, at the Lost Lake Woods Club lodge just north of Lincoln, MI, on Michigan's Sunrise Coast near Lake Huron.
Author-instructors for the event are active, experienced teachers with multiple published works to their credit, as in previous years. Returning are four of our most popular past teachers: novelist Michael Zadoorian, poet Leila Chatti, author and coach Maureen Dunphy, and poet and short-story writer Kelly Fordon.
Leila's latest work, co-authored with Dorianne Laux, "The Mothers: Poems in Conversation & A Conversation," was published in March 2022.
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Kelly Fordon's 2020 short-story collection, "I Have the Answer," follows her suburban characters as they struggle to continue living — and figure out why — after life's trials strike hard. Her "Goodbye Toothless House" poetry collection drew this review: "With their close calls and fatal choices, Kelly Fordon’s unsparing poems will make you catch your breath."
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Maureen Dunphy is the author of three nonfiction books. Her first book, Great Lakes Island Escapes (Wayne State University Press, 2016), a 2017 Michigan Notable Book, was awarded the 2017 Midwest Book Travel Award and the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Travel/Travel Guide Award. Maureen's second book, All About the Great Lakes (Blue River Press, 2020), is juvenile nonfiction. Her third book, Divining, A Memoir in Trees (Wayne State University Press, February 2023), shows how trees can be sites of emotional refuge, sources of intellectual enrichment, and a boon to physical, mental and spiritual health.
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Typical Retreat Schedule
A final schedule for 2023 will come later.
Thursday
3pm – Midnight: Check-in – Pick up room key
8pm – 10pm: Wine, beer & appetizers reception
Friday
7:30am – 9:30am: Breakfast (Sign up for Attendees Reading and Conferences)
9:30am – 9:50am: Intro/orientation – John D. Lamb
10am – 10:45am: Kelly Fordon
11am – 12pm: Leila Chatti
12:15pm – 1:45pm: Lunch
2pm – 2:45pm: Maureen Dunphy
3:00pm – 5:30pm: Conferences & Writing Time (20-minute one-on-ones)
6pm: Dinner on your own
Books on sale from Olivet Books of Alpena
7:30pm – 9:30pm: Readings: Fordon, Chatti, Zadoorian, Dunphy
Saturday
7:30am – 9:30am: Breakfast
10am – 10:45am: Kelly Fordon
11am – 12pm: Michael Zadoorian
12:15pm – 1:45pm: Lunch
2pm – 3pm: Panel talk with Zadoorian, Fordon, Chatti, Dunphy & you
Facilitator: John D. Lamb
3:05pm: Group photo
3:30pm – 5:30pm: Writing Free Time
6pm: Dinner on your own
8pm – 9:30pm: Attendees Reading
Sunday
8:30am – 10am: Brunch
10am – 12pm: New Writing Presentations
2pm: Check out
Thursday
3pm – Midnight: Check-in – Pick up room key
8pm – 10pm: Wine, beer & appetizers reception
Friday
7:30am – 9:30am: Breakfast (Sign up for Attendees Reading and Conferences)
9:30am – 9:50am: Intro/orientation – John D. Lamb
10am – 10:45am: Kelly Fordon
11am – 12pm: Leila Chatti
12:15pm – 1:45pm: Lunch
2pm – 2:45pm: Maureen Dunphy
3:00pm – 5:30pm: Conferences & Writing Time (20-minute one-on-ones)
6pm: Dinner on your own
Books on sale from Olivet Books of Alpena
7:30pm – 9:30pm: Readings: Fordon, Chatti, Zadoorian, Dunphy
Saturday
7:30am – 9:30am: Breakfast
10am – 10:45am: Kelly Fordon
11am – 12pm: Michael Zadoorian
12:15pm – 1:45pm: Lunch
2pm – 3pm: Panel talk with Zadoorian, Fordon, Chatti, Dunphy & you
Facilitator: John D. Lamb
3:05pm: Group photo
3:30pm – 5:30pm: Writing Free Time
6pm: Dinner on your own
8pm – 9:30pm: Attendees Reading
Sunday
8:30am – 10am: Brunch
10am – 12pm: New Writing Presentations
2pm: Check out