Robacker Awarded 2011 Writer’s Residency at Hedgebrook

TACOMA, WA –Tacoma’s Poet Laureate and writer, Tammy Robacker, has just been awarded a 2011 writer’s residency at Hedgebrook.

Hedgebrook, located on Whidbey Island, WA is one of the few retreats in the world exclusively devoted to women writers. Women writers from around the world come to Hedgebrook to take part in a multitude of programs focused on mastering their work. The Writers in Residence program is the core program. With no-cost residencies ranging from two weeks to six weeks they come to write, rejuvenate, and connect with each other.

Having narrowed the original 795 applicants down, the committee awarded only 38 final residencies for 2011. Robacker was one of these select few poets and writers from across the globe. The quality of work from this final group was most impressive and it represents a diversity of cultures and rich life experiences that Hedgebrook welcomes.

Robacker published her first book of poetry, The Vicissitudes, just last year (Pearle Publications). She is currently working on new material, and the time spent at Hedgebrook will afford her the space, privacy and creative surroundings to help her complete a second book—A work which will be thematically focused on the trials and tribulations of the American teenage girl; a subject she never tires of reading or writing about!

Residency applicants are selected based on the quality of their writing and strength of their proposal—not whether they have been published. Hedgebrook is committed to nurturing the individual voice and creating a sense of community amongst writers. This creates a ripple effect, as the connection that begins between writers radiates out to countless readers and audiences who experience their novels, poems, plays, screenplays, graphic novels, memoirs, and more.

The Writers in Residence Program offers women writers the opportunity to unplug from their daily demands in life, to be free from worry about putting food on the table or paying bills, and to find their story and have the peace and time to give it a voice. Repeatedly, writers say they are able to begin, develop, and complete work at Hedgebrook that they would not have done otherwise.

For more information about Hedgebrook, including the Writers in Residence Program and upcoming readings and events, check out the website at: http://www.hedgebrook.org

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