Join us at
Fall Writing Camp
Full for 2026
email to get
on waitlist
with authors
annie hartnett, clare beams,
tessa fontaine & special guest vanessa lillie!
october 8-12, 2026
The writing getaway you’ve been waiting for
There’s a certain kind of artistic magic that arises when writers join in community to think, talk, play, and cheer one another on. It’s a magic our writing group - The Finishers - has found with each other - it has changed all our writing lives in profound ways - and now we want to spread the magic to you.
This five-day, four-night generative retreat in gorgeous New Hampshire will offer a mix of craft lectures, writing prompts, one-on-one faculty and agent chats, and restorative writing time.
craft talks
Daily intensive craft talks with connected writing prompts from our award-winning faculty. Potential topics: characterization, imagination, revision, interiority, research, and more.
one-on-one faculty meeting
An individual meeting with faculty to discuss your most pressing writing questions and challenges. Plus open access to all faculty all retreat.
agent meeting & critique
A rare opportunity for a low pressure, 1-on-1 meeting with an agent who will read and critique your query letter and first five pages.
group activities
Dance parties, happy hours, open mics, campfires and more. Join a group of truly genuine, friendly writers for a weekend with all the summer camp vibes.
writing time
Built-in writing blocks each morning and flexibility in the afternoons. You choose when you write, take a class, read, take a walk in the woods or a nap in your peaceful room.
We’ll pull back the veil on the unnecessarily mysterious publishing industry and share our industry insights, along with talks and presentations from our visiting agents.
business of writing talks
Bonus: 1 month free membership in the
Accountability Workshop!*
*offer good for first time members only
The Resort
Purity Springs is nestled between New Hampshire’s White Mountains and Lakes Region, and the pristine lake is perfect for fishing, canoeing or kayaking, or keep the relaxation more chill at the indoor pool and hot tub. All meals will be provided at the resort. Each participant will have a private room with either a lake or garden view.
The Faculty
Annie, Clare, Tessa and Rufi are The Finishers, a writing group of devoted artists, teachers, and accountability buddies. (You can read more about us here.) Collectively, we have eleven books with major publishers, two books with small presses, an Apple TV show, quite a few awards, six children, two MFA programs where we teach, and four sets of nice teeth.
*Note that Rufi won’t be teaching at 2026 camp, but Vanessa Lillie will be!
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Clare Beams’s new novel, The Garden, was published by Doubleday in April of 2024. It has been longlisted for the 2024 Joyce Carol Oates/New Literary Project Prize and featured on anticipated lists at LitHub and Bookshop.org. Her novel The Illness Lesson, published in February of 2020 by Doubleday, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. It was named a best book of 2020 by Esquire and Bustle and a best book of February by Time, O Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly. Her story collection, We Show What We Have Learned, was published by Lookout Books in 2016; it won the Bard Fiction Prize, was longlisted for the Story Prize, and was a Kirkus Best Debut of 2016, as well as a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award. Her short fiction appears in One Story,n+1,Ecotone, Conjunctions, The Common, Kenyon Review,Hayden’s Ferry Review, Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and has received special mention in The Pushcart Prize and twice in The Best American Short Stories. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, MacDowell, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation, and was a finalist for the 2023 Joyce Carol Oates/New Literary Project Prize. Clare lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and two daughters and currently teaches in the Randolph MFA program.
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Rufi Thorpe received her MFA from the University of Virginia in 2009. She is the author of four novels, The Girls from Corona Del Mar, Dear Fang, With Love, and The Knockout Queen, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award. Her newest Book, Margo's Got Money Troubles, is currently in production for Apple TV. She lives in California with her husband and two sons.
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Annie Hartnett is the author of novels RABBIT CAKE (Tin House Books, 2017) and UNLIKELY ANIMALS (Ballantine/Random House, 2022).
Unlikely Animals was listed as one of the best books of 2022 by the Washington Post and BookRiot. It was the winner of the 2023 Julia Ward Howe prize for fiction, and was longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. It was the April 2022 book club selection for Good Housekeeping magazine and Amerie’s Book club. It received starred reviews from Booklist and Bookpage, and was an April Indie Next pick.
Rabbit Cake was listed as one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2017, was a finalist for the New England Book Award, an Indies Introduce and an Indie Next Pick, and was long-listed for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. It received starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus, and Library Journal, and was People magazine's Book of the Week. It is currently under option with Amazon Studios (more on that here!).
Annie has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Sewanee Writers' Conference, and the Associates of the Boston Public Library. She holds degrees from the MFA program at the University of Alabama, Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English, and Hamilton College. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and dog.
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Vanessa Lillie is the USA Today bestselling author of seven thriller novels, including BLOOD SISTERS, which launched a new series centered on the stories of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which was a Target Book Club pick and GMA Book Club Buzz Pick, as well as a best mystery of the year from the Washington Post among others. The sequel, THE BONE THIEF, released in October focusing on the Narragansett Nation, was also a USA Today bestseller, named to best-of lists from Washington Post, Elle Magazine, LA Times and featured on CBS New York Club Calvi, NBC Boston HUB TODAY and The Strand’s Mystery of the Month pick. Her other Rhode Island-set bestselling thrillers are Little Voices, For the Best and she’s the creator and coauthor of the # 1 Audible Charts bestseller and International Thriller Writers award nominated, Young Rich Widows series, set in Providence, RI where she lives with her husband, son and pugapoo, Violet. Originally from Miami, Oklahoma, she is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and proudly Two-Spirit.
Vanessa wrote a weekly column for the Providence Journal about her experiences during the
the pandemic and has contributed to the Boston Globe, Refinery29, CrimeReads, WBUR, and
Cowboys & Indians Magazine. She hosts an Instagram Live show, ‘Twas the Night Before Book Launch, where she chats with authors the night before their book is out in the world. She is a board member of the Indigenous-led Tomaquag Museum, sharing history and resiliency of the tribes of Southern New England.
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Tessa Fontaine is the author of THE ELECTRIC WOMAN: A MEMOIR IN DEATH-DEFYING ACTS, a New York Times Editors' Choice; Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick, and best book of the year by Southern Living, Refinery29, Amazon Editors', and The New York Post.
THE RED GROVE, her debut novel, was named a best book by Amazon Editors’ and People Magazine, and is currently longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize.
Other writing can be found in Outside, The New York Times, Glamour, AGNI, The Believer, People, LitHub, Creative Nonfiction, and more. Raised outside San Francisco, Tessa is a former professor and has taught in jails and prisons. She co-founded and teaches the Accountability Workshops with writer and pal Annie Hartnett, and lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband, daughter, goofy dog and sassy cat.
“This was one of the best investments I've made in myself as a writer. The amount I learned was beyond expectation, and leaving surrounded by a creative community that will support me and my project for the future is the best feeling ever. I found my people at Writing Camp.”
-Camper
“Do yourself a favor and sign up NOW. If I had not attended writing camp, I feel sure that I would have continued to struggle with the same challenges with my manuscript over and over. Instead, I now have clarity, improved skills, and the tools to keep myself accountable. Not only was this enormously beneficial from a craft perspective, but it was also the most fun ever.”
-Camper
“Writing Camp was the most fun way I could imagine to connect with writers and agents and to work on building a writing community. Everyone, especially the faculty, was open-hearted and generous. I felt cheered on to go home and do the hard work.”
-Camper
Sample Schedule
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Writing Time
One-on-one meetings with faculty and agents
Optional activities: yoga, hike, book store field trip
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Lunch
Business of writing talk
Craft talk with corresponding writing prompt
Writing time
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Happy Hour & social time
Dinner
Faculty readings
Open mics
Campfire & S’mores
BFF Dance party
Program Cost: $3,750
Sold out for 2026! But contact us to get on the waitlist!!
Includes:
All meals
Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
Four nights and five days of lodging in a private resort room
Craft classes from four award-winning authors
Business of writing talks from major agents
One-on-one faculty and agent meetings
Campfires, open mics, memories forever
Does not include:
Flights/travel. Airport options:
Portland, ME (1 hr 15 mins)
Boston, MA (2 hrs 15 mins)
Manchester-Boston Regional (1 hr 45 mins)
Rental Cars
Purity Springs Resort is beautifully rural, so there is no public transportation
We will connect those interested in carpooling
a note regarding cost
Need to pay in installments? No problem. Just get in touch and we’ll work with ya.
Also, we hope to establish camp scholarships for deserving writers in the future. In the meantime, we encourage you to apply for funding, such as travel grants through academic institutions, state arts councils (Massachusetts has a good one); and other artistic organizations (start with Artists Community Alliance, Poets + Writers, Writers Chronicle, The Authors Guild, Profellow.com).
Fall Writing Camp Application
To join the fun, fill out the application below.
Then, we’ll be in touch soon with info to make payment.
xo Mwah.
FAQS
Can I share a room?
Yes. If you want to bring your writing BFF or partner and share a room, the cost per person is $3,500.
What genres of writing are accepted?
All genres! Our craft lectures will be geared toward fiction and nonfiction writers, but anyone may attend.
How many people attend?
40 max.
Accessibility information:
Purity Springs is an old resort/summer camp/ski lodge, and, as such, it has some challenging terrain and some inaccessible buildings. There are bedrooms available that can be accessed without any stairs, and we hold all classes, meetings, readings and gatherings in a ski lodge accessible by ramp without stairs, although it is a fairly long walk through the building. The dining hall is accessible by driving up to a sliding door where there is flat ground outside the entrance. There is an elevator to the pool, and a pool-side chair lift to get into the pool. Please be in touch with us or the resort directly so we can best communicate the challenges of the resort. We will do the best we can to make any accommodations possible.
Will alcohol be served?
Each evening, we will serve complimentary wine, beer, and non-alcoholic drinks during a happy hour, with dinner, and/or at a post-dinner reception.
What’s your cancellation policy?
We have a strict cancellation policy because our vendors have no-refund policies. Refunds will not be offered unless we have another participant ready to take your place. Refunds will not be given if you must leave writing camp while it’s underway, but we will certainly make efforts to help you participate virtually if you do have to leave before the retreat has ended.
Email tgfontaine [at] gmail.com for other questions.