Program Guidelines & Criteria

Come to the edge of the wilderness to write about wild things. The call of the loon, perhaps. The sound of wind in the pines or the crashing of storm waves. The gold of a North Country sunset, the blooming of a wild rose, the feel of a canoe on the water. Or the very concept of wilderness itself. The themes and inspirations are limitless.

Join N.Y. Times bestselling writer Douglas Wood, author of 40 books, including recent Midwest Book Award winner, A Wild Path, to explore or refine your own writing skills. Discover the  power of description, the magic of metaphor, the simple pleasure of the written word. This retreat/workshop is for anyone from experienced or published authors to those who simply want to find their ‘voice,’ their capacity to communicate. All that is required is a desire to explore the landscape of words, and the inspiration of the natural world.

At the edge of Voyageurs National park, on the very highway of the legendary voyageurs, and atop the great, granite carapace called the Canadian Shield, Mallard Island is singularly positioned for perspective. It was for a half-century the home of wilderness warrior Ernest Oberholtzer. With its rustic dwellings, its deep connections to the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) people, and view of the grand sweep of history, it would be hard to find a place better suited for inspiration, and for writing, than Mallard Island.

So come and find your voice there. Listen to your muse. Finish that short story or novel, that song lyric or poem or essay. Or start the one that’s right out there ahead of you, the one you’ve never quite gotten to. Come and be a Wild Writer.