NIP adds Second Week for Bookcamp & Writing Retreat
August Programs for Speculative Fiction Genres
West Bend, Wis.—Writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and related Speculative Fiction genres now have a week of their own to focus on their books-in-progress. In June, the Novel-In-Progress Board of Directors approved holding the first Speculative Fiction NIP Bookcamp workshop and Writing Retreat. The two residential instructional programs will be held on August 1-7, 2021.
The eighth annual NIP All-Genre Bookcamp & Writing Retreat will continue and is scheduled for May 23-29 next year. Registration is open for both the All-Genre and Speculative Fiction NIPs. One fee includes programming, overnight accommodations, and all meals. Enrollments are limited.
The NIP works with the Chicago Writers Association (https://www.chicagowrites.org/), the Off-Campus Writers' Workshop (https://ocwwinfo7333.wildapricot.org/), Winnetka, Ill., and the Wisconsin Writers Association (https://wiwrite.org/). Enrollment discounts are offered to members of those organizations to register for either the May or August programs.
Partial scholarships to attend either Bookcamp are offered on a competitive basis, open to any writer attending a Bookcamp for the first time.
“We have discussed this the past year or so,ˮ said NIP Director Dave Rank. “Since 2014, we have held our residential workshop and retreat in May, Our Bookcamp and the Writing Retreat programs have always been open to writers working in any fiction genre or creative nonfiction. And each year we have enjoyed the company of science fiction and fantasy writers.ˮ
The NIP conducts its residential programs at Cedar Valley UCCI, a 100-acre retreat center in southeast Wisconsin that provides comfortable overnight accommodations, meeting spaces, and meals, Rank explained.
“Our enrollment has grown, and we are nearing capacity at Cedar Valley,ˮ Rank said. “Unfortunately, this yearʼs coronavirus pandemic forced us to cancel our 2020 NIP. Before the cancellation, we were looking at ways to accommodate a full house of writers.ˮ
With that in mind, the NIP director said, it was decided to expand the nonprofit educational organizationʼs programming into two separate weeks with the August sessions designed for writers of Speculative Fiction. Both the May and August NIP instructional staffs are composed of professional authors, editors, and literary agents, providing insight and advice on the writing craft and the business of publishing, Rank said.
For more information on the May All-Genre and August Speculative Fiction NIP Bookcamps and Writing Retreats, go to the website, www.novelbookcamp.org, or contact NIP Director Dave Rank directly via email, director@novelbookcamp.org.
The Bookcamp and Writing Retreat are owned by the Novel-In-Progress Bookcamp & Writing Retreat, Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit corporation registered in the State of Wisconsin.
