THE WITCHES & WARRIORS RETREAT
A program for BIPOC poets and movement workers to learn, write, and dream together.
Taking place every two years, the Witches & Warriors Retreat is one of the only spaces in the country bringing together the radical creativity of poets with the expertise of organizers working on the ground for real, systemic change. The Witches & Warriors Retreat works locally, gathering BIPOC poets and activists/organizers from across the Northeast and Mid Atlantic regions of Turtle Island, as well as two experienced writer-activists who serve as faculty. Activities include writing workshops, discussions, rest and play time, and a culminating event open to the public. Fellows are asked to take what they learn at the retreat back to their communities through a public event or project, seeding new ideas for creative movement-building throughout our region.
Image description: A group of about twenty people of color pose in two rows with their arms around each other at golden hour, in front of a white house.
HISTORY & VISION
Image description: In a clearing among a grove of trees, a group of 20 or so people sit in a circle in metal folding chairs and camping chairs, listening attentively to one who is speaking.
The Witches & Warriors Retreat grew out of conversations following five years of building solidarity between writers and organizers through the annual Brew & Forge Book Fair. In the course of that work, we saw how organizers everywhere are in dire need of restorative spaces to help them dream outside of the day-to-day grind of campaign work. Meanwhile, poets understand how our work can be transformative for communities, and yet often find ourselves siloed in academic spaces and/or struggling to create within an under-resourced field. While poets have been part of every social justice movement of the past century, it is hard to find spaces specifically designed for poets and activists to talk to each other, dream together, and create the powerful works of poetry that will animate the movements to come.
Born from these convictions, the inaugural Witches & Warriors Retreat took place in the summer of 2022, and now is held every two years. Recognizing the particular needs of people of color in these fields, we decided to make it an all-BIPOC space, and we chose to limit our reach geographically to the Northeast in order to encourage future interaction among participants. As this program grows, deepens, and changes to respond to the needs of our communities, we continue to view the Retreat as a vital meeting point and a spark for future collaborations.
Image description: Two Black people sit in chairs wearing masks sit in chairs facing each other, having a conversation inside a naturally lit yurt. Four other BIPOC retreat participants, also wearing masks, sit around them, watching the interaction.
Image description: Two people with brown skin sit at a picnic table outdoors, facing each other, mid-laugh. Before them are papers and a journal covered in writing.
Image description: Three people with deep brown skin look out toward rows of crops on a small farm backed by green hills and a bright blue sky. One has a wide-brimmed straw hat and is gesturing toward the plants.
2026 RETREAT INFO
DATES
Thursday, July 23 to Monday, July 27, 2026. (The next retreat will be held in 2028.)
LOCATION
The Watershed Center, Millerton, NY
ELIGIBILITY
BIPOC poets, organizers, activists, and/or movement workers based in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic US (or native to those lands) who are interested in the intersection of poetry and social justice organizing are welcome to apply. Fellows must be age 16 or older and may be at any level of experience.
ACTIVITIES
Daily workshops taught by faculty and staff
Discussions on the past, present, and future of the interplay between arts and organizing
Presentations of participant work, including a reading open to the community
Collaborative writing sessions
Free time and fun activities, such as swimming, hiking, yoga, games, and karaoke.
COST
There is no fee to attend the Witches & Warriors Retreat! Participants may also receive partial support to cover travel expenses.
ACCESSIBILITY
We provide scent-free toiletries and ask all participants to refrain from using scented products.
The Watershed Center can accommodate a wide variety of dietary restrictions.
The all-gender bathrooms include single-stall bathrooms and showers.
The Watershed Center has several sleeping rooms and bathrooms that are accessible to folks with wheelchairs.
The paths at the center are dirt and packed gravel, and include some steep inclines. There is a golf cart that can be made available for navigating the paths.
We will have cars on site to help shuttle participants to other locations as needed
See the FAQs for COVID protocols and other accessibility questions.
HOW TO APPLY
Applications for this year’s Witches & Warriors Retreat are closed. If you were not able to apply for this cycle, join our newsletter to receive updates on future Witches & Warriors retreats.
INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS
If you applied to the 2026 W&W Retreat and want to review retreat basics, visit our Applicant Info page.
INFO SESSION
We’ll be hosting an info session on Instagram Live (@brewandforge) on Wednesday, Feb 4th at 6pm EST.
MORE QUESTIONS?
Check out our FAQ page or email hello [at] brewandforge.com.
2026 FACULTY
JAMAICA HEOLIMELEIKALANI OSORIO
Dr. Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio is a Kanaka Maoli wahine artist / activist / scholar born and raised in Pālolo Valley, Oʻahu. Jamaica earned her PhD in English (Hawaiian literature) in 2018 from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Currently, Jamaica is an Assistant Professor of Indigenous and Native Hawaiian Politics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. In 2020 her poetry and activism were the subject of an award-winning film, This is the Way we Rise which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2021. In 2022 she was a lead artist and Co-writer of the revolutionary VR Documentary, On the Morning You Wake (To the end of the world), that premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2022 and won the XR experience Jury award at SXSW 2022. She is a proud past Kaiāpuni student, Ford Dissertation (2017) and Post Doctoral (2022) Fellow, and a graduate of Kamehameha, Stanford University (BA) and New York University (MA). She is the author of the award winning book Remembering our Intimacies: Moʻolelo, Aloha ʻĀina, and Ea which was published in 2021 by The University of Minnesota Press. She believes in the power of aloha ʻāina and collective action to pursue liberatory, decolonial, and abolitionist futures of abundance.
Image description: An indigenous person with short, dark hair, looks off to the side. She is wearing a dark gray t-shirt and a necklace with a white pendant.
DANEZ SMITH
Danez Smith is the author of four poetry collections: [insert] boy, Don’t Call Us Dead, Homie, and, most recently, Bluff. They are also the curator of Blues In Stereo: The Early Works of Langston Hughes. For their work, Danez was won the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Minnesota Book Award in Poetry, the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and have been a finalist for the NAACP Image Award in Poetry, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the National Book Award, as well as an array of grants, fellowships, and residencies including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and the Princeton Arts Fellowship. Danez lives in the Twin Cities with their people and teaches at the Randolph College MFA program and the Black Youth Healing Arts Center in St. Paul, MN.
Image description: Danez, a Black person with short hair and nose piercings, is mid-laughter. They are wearing a light salmon-colored t-shirt and a gold chain.
SAMPLE SCHEDULE
Below is an example based on past retreats; actual program schedule may differ.
Thursday
2:00 - 5:00 pm Check In
5:30 - 7:00 pm Dinner & Welcome
7:30 - 9:00 pm Opening Circle
Friday-Sunday
7:30 - 8:00 am Morning Writing (Optional)
8:00 - 9:00 am Breakfast
9:30 - 10:30 am Writing / Community Building
10:45 am - 12:15 pm Workshop
12:15 - 1:15 pm Lunch / Faculty Q&A
1:15 - 4:30 pm Free Time
4:30 - 6:00 pm Group Discussion
6:00 - 7:00 pm Dinner
7:30 - 9:00 pm Evening Activity (including one public event)
Monday
7:30 - 8:00 am Morning Writing (Optional)
8:00 - 9:00 am Breakfast
9:30 - 10:30 am Group Writing
10:30 am - 12:00 pm Closing Circle
12:00 - 1:00 pm Lunch
1:00 - 5:00 pm Check out & depart
Image description: An intergenerational, multiracial group of retreat participants, writing in notebooks outdoors under a tent. In the foreground are a Black woman with short silver hair and glasses and an Asian woman with long black hair.
Image description: A group of people walks away from the camera, through grass towards a clear pond.
PAST RETREAT FELLOWS
2026
Hannah Keziah Agustin, Mariam Bazeed, Kevin Carson, River 瑩瑩 Dandelion, Melaine Ferdinand-King, Leonard C. Jefferson, Hana' Maaiah, Zain-Minkah Murdock, Rachel O'Hanlon-Rodriguez, Irene Vázquez, Deborah Wei
2024
Aishvarya Arora, Tarik Bartel, Rosa Castellano, danialie fertile, Sherrie Anne Hart, Amina Jordan-Mendez, E Morales-Williams, Kenyatta Muzzanni Robles, Bri Ruiz, Sanam Sheriff, tae min suh, Jae H. Tran, Cheyenne Wyzzard-Jones
2022
Sojourner Ahébée, Jamie Grace Alexander, Noa Coffrey-Moore, MacKenzie River Foy, Aarati Kasturirangan, Mon Mohapatra, Precious Chika Musa, Blue Nguyen, Bushra Rehman, Aftan Sethia, tae min suh, Omkari Williams.
SUPPORT THE RETREAT
The Witches & Warriors Retreat is made possible with support from the Markham-Nathan Fund, Resist, the Poetry Foundation, and many individual donors. We aim to make it as accessible to participants as possible by offering the retreat at no cost and supporting fellows with travel funds.
You can help us build a stronger and more creative movement by supporting BIPOC organizers, activists, and socially-engaged poets. Please consider donating below!
Brew & Forge is a fiscally sponsored project of the Peace Development Fund, a 501(c)3 public foundation. If you'd like your contribution to go specifically toward funding the retreat, please write "for Witches & Warriors" under "additional notes."