A Week of Creativity, Exploration, and Renewal
On O‘ahu's North Shore. All writers and artists welcome.
The Retreat
In the Hawaiian language, Mokulē‘ia means “a place of abundance.” The mission of Camp Mokulē‘ia is to offer a sacred place for reflection, gathering, and play. The mission of the retreat is to welcome writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, and memoir and to foster an exchange in two directions—between islanders and visitors, published writers and budding writers, Native Hawaiian artistry and mainstream publishing. We are dedicated to providing rich resources for artists at the lowest possible cost.
Register here.
We believe a sacred spot like this will inspire us to explore other places—whether in the heart, in memory, or in the moment. With the Wai‘anae Mountains at our back and the open ocean at our front, we break bread with colleagues, gather in daily workshops, salute the sun in yoga, write in the shade of ironwood trees, and wander along the pristine beach.
We offer sessions in art, music, and crafts to inspire and enhance our literary endeavors. We are also committed to reflecting the culture and values of Hawai‘i and providing an experience different from the typical tourist visit.
The retreat is high-level and professional—but also low-key and tuned in to art and beauty. Workshops encourage creative exploration and include readings, exercises, and feedback. We don't group writers by experience, but rather see each artist as on a personal path of discovery and mastery. Open writing time allows for diving deeper as well as polishing.
As always, our instructors are all professional writers with many publication credits. We offer personal guidance and top-flight editing as part of the workshops. We also try to respond to particular needs of each writer.
Saturday workshops in November and April allow island writers to join us for one day only.
Additional activities
Extra programs offer a chance to learn about the essence of Hawai‘i from writers, chanters, musicians, and other cultural legends. These programs are open to family and companions as well as members of the local community.
This year's programs include music with Kaipo Asing. A virtuoso performer who has played with many of Hawai‘i's greats Kaipo and trio plays what is often referred to as “the Territorial style.” In the strains of their renditions of beloved classics, you will hear traces of jazz, swing, and even country, as well as echoes of the icons of yesteryear: Alfred Apaka, Jerry Byrd, David “Feet” Rogers, and Gabby Pahinui. They will serenade us and accompany hula dancers in the crowd. The musicians have been regulars at many of Honolulu’s famous rooms, like The Halekulani’s Room without a Key and the Waikīkī Marriott’s Moana Terrace.
Other optional activities include yoga, hikes, swimming, turtle spotting, endless beachcombing and organized visits to special sites.
Faculty in 2025
Our writing instructors are writers with many publishing credits to their names as well as serious teaching chops. Full bios and descriptions of their workshops are below. The 2025 faculty includes:
Constance Hale (director & instructor in the craft of writing)
Allison Francis (poetry)
Donald Carreira Ching (fiction)
Grant Faulkner (flash fiction & essays)
Susan Ito (memoir)
Tamara Leiokanoe Moan (images in art and words)
Zoe FitzGerald Carter (songwriting)
Kaipo Asing (music)
Malcolm Ryder (composition/decomposition)
Writer-in-residence 2025
We welcome longtime journalist, editor, and author Karin Evans, who is currently working on a book of poetry for an MFA with a concentration in Tang Dynasty women poets. Karin will share her many years of experience with us and, as a bonus, lead us in morning Qi Gong.
Linda Watanabe McFerrin, Constance Hale, and Zoe FitzGerald Carter at Camp Mokulē‘ia
Registration and Costs
For the April retreat, all rooms are in the Camp Lodge. Rooms with ocean views are sold out, there are still two rooms with a garden view. It's also possible to rent a room on AirBnb nearby and come at the day rate.
Writers check in Monday afternoon, checking out Sunday by noon. All meals are included in the rates for attendees staying at the Camp. Day rates are available for those who do not wish lodging. (Individual meals for guests can be arranged.)
RATES FOR APRIL
The rate for workshops, lodging (private room), activities, and all meals: $2,000 SOLD OUT
The rate for workshops, lodging (shared room with one other), activities, all meals: $ 1,400
The rate for a nonwriting companion, activities, all meals: $ 1,000
The day rate, including all meals and activities, is $ 1,000
Island writers unable to attend all week are invited to join us for one day only, on Saturday April 26. Generative writing workshops in the morning, as well as a workshops on composition, polishing your prose, and manuscript mastery in the afternoon. The Saturday-only rate, which includes all three workshops and lunch: $120.
Limited scholarships are available; please do not hesitate to email Connie (connie [at] sinandsyntax.com) to inquire. And if you are able and willing to contribute to scholarships, please let us know. We need your kokua.
Registration is now open and will close by April 15. For our cancellation policy, please see below.
2025 Faculty bios and sessions
Constance Hale (director)
Connie writes children’s books, adult’s books, essays, profiles, and, every now and then, a poem. She is the author of Sin and Syntax, and she curates sinandsyntax.com, a place “for those who love wicked good prose.” Connie has been an editor at the Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Examiner, Wired, and Health, and she coaches writers tackling their first (or fifth) books. She was born and grew up in Waialua, which makes this retreat a happy overlay of the personal and the professional. Her children’s book ‘Iwalani’s Tree is set in Mokulē‘ia. Connie will teach two sessions.
Finding Your Voice
What is voice? Is it the confidence to say what you want to say? Or is it how you say it? And does a writer have one voice, or many? We'll explore these questions and give you ideas on shaping the way your come across on the page.
Manuscript Masterclass
A chance for writers with full manuscripts to get feedback from master teachers. Coordinated by Connie.
Grant Faulkner
Grant is the author of All the Comfort Sin Can Provide, a collection of short stories, and two collections of 100-word stories: Fissures and Nothing Short of 100. He also published three books on writing: The Art of Brevity; Pep Talks for Writers, and Brave the Page. A “flash novel” is coming out in September 2025 with the University of New Mexico Press. Grant’s pieces have appeared in dozens of literary magazines, including Tin House, The Southwest Review, and The Gettysburg Review, and he has been anthologized in collections by Norton, among other publishers. His essays on creativity have been published in The New York Times, Poets & Writers, Lit Hub, Writer’s Digest, and The Writer.
The Art of Brevity: Big stories in small spaces
In flash fiction and first-person essays, the whole is a part, and the part is a whole. The form forces the writer to question each word, to reckon with Flaubert’s mot juste, and move a story by hints and implications. What’s left out of a story is often more important than what’s included. The workshop will focus on distilling stories into their essence, Grant Faulkner will discuss how a different type of creativity emerges within a hard compositional limit. You’ll read and write short fiction and nonfiction and write stories and essays from six words to 1,000. You’ll leave this class with a portfolio of flash pieces. Writers of all genres are welcome.
Susan Ito
Susan Ito is the author of the memoir, I Would Meet You Anywhere, published by the Ohio State University Press. She co-edited the literary anthology A Ghost At Heart’s Edge: Stories & Poems of Adoption. Her work has appeared in The Writer, Hyphen, Literary Mama, Catapult, Hyphen,The Bellevue Literary Review, Agni, Guernica, and elsewhere. She has been awarded residencies at the MacDowell Colony, The Mesa Refuge, Hedgebrook, and Blue Mountain Center. Her theatrical adaption of Untold, stories of reproductive stigma, was produced at Brava Theater. She teaches at the Mills College campus of Northeastern University.
Embracing Your Story
Every human has a story, or many stories, worth telling, but many of us don’t believe in our ability to tell them. This workshop unpacks the two parts of that sentence. First, we don’t have to be celebrities and we don’t have to have experienced wild drama or deep trauma for our stories to be compelling, worthy, and valuable. And second, all of us have within us the capacity to craft a story to make it compelling, memorable and meaningful. Our primary focus in this workshop will be memoir, but novelists, essayists, and poets are also welcome to come and dig deep. Daily exercises are designed to inspire new projects, or build on something you’ve already begun.
Tamara Leiokanoe Moan
Tamara earned a BFA in graphic design in 1985 from the University of Washington and received an MA in literature and creative writing from the University of Hawai‛i. Tamara’s journalism has been published in Hana Hou, Island Scene, Generations Hawaii, American Artist, The Artist’s Magazine, and Pastel Artist. Her poetry and creative non-fiction have appeared in Bamboo Ridge and Hawaii Pacific Review. She lives and works in Kailua and exhibits regularly in Hawai‛i; you can find her artwork at www.tamaramoan.com and www.fineartassociates.com.
Resolution
This art-focused session will explore the theme of resolution—pulling an idea into focus, bringing a draft to completion, or resolving a problematic element. We'll begin with quick writing exercises then move to translating our thoughts into a visual book form. No "art" skills required—just bring your imagination!
Zoe FItzGerald Carter
Zoe is an author, journalist and songwriter who has played in numerous Bay Area bands. She’s released two albums of original music (Waiting for the Earthquake and Waterlines) and has a third out this spring (Before the Machine). You can find her on Spotify or on her website. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School and has written for numerous national magazines (The New York Times, Newsweek, Vogue). In 2010, she published an award-winning memoir, Imperfect Endings (Simon & Schuster).
Songlines: Turning Life into Lyrics
This workshop is for anyone interested in exploring songwriting in a fun, inclusive gathering over two afternoons. Whether you’re a listener, a living room performer, or a pro, this class is for you—there are NO prerequisites. We’ll listen to some music, discuss the songwriting form—what is a hook? what is the purpose of a chorus?—and write a song together, which we’ll perform as a group on the last day of camp. Do you have instruments that are easy to transport? Bring them for impromptu jams in the evening.
Saturday Bonus Beats 2025
Donald Carreira Ching
Donald Carreira Ching
Donald Carreira Ching
Born and raised in Kahaluʻu, Donald will lead a fiction workshop on Saturday (as well as a bonus workshop on Tuesday called "Experiments with Truth in Fiction and Memoir"). His poetry and fiction have appeared in publications such as StoryQuarterly, Every Day Fiction, and RHINO. His debut novel, Between Sky and Sea: A Family's Struggle,
Born and raised in Kahaluʻu, Donald will lead a fiction workshop on Saturday (as well as a bonus workshop on Tuesday called "Experiments with Truth in Fiction and Memoir"). His poetry and fiction have appeared in publications such as StoryQuarterly, Every Day Fiction, and RHINO. His debut novel, Between Sky and Sea: A Family's Struggle, was published by Bamboo Ridge Press. In 2018, he received the Elliot Cades Award for Literature, and in 2021 and 2022, he was a finalist in the Rick DeMarinis Short Story Contest.
Malcolm Ryder
Donald Carreira Ching
Donald Carreira Ching
One of Princeton University’s first graduates in Photography, Malcolm has been a working artist, commercial photographer, art teacher, and arts writer, on the East and West coasts for decades. He runs an international artists collaborative creating arts exhibitions online and offline. Now based in Oakland, California, Malcolm’s solo and
One of Princeton University’s first graduates in Photography, Malcolm has been a working artist, commercial photographer, art teacher, and arts writer, on the East and West coasts for decades. He runs an international artists collaborative creating arts exhibitions online and offline. Now based in Oakland, California, Malcolm’s solo and collaborative work is found at www.malcolmryder.com. He will teach "The Wall & the Word: Letting Images and text spark each other."
Allison E. Francis
Donald Carreira Ching
Allison E. Francis
Allison E. Francis is an Associate Professor of English at Chaminade College. She will lead a poetry workshop on Saturday, exploring a terrifying and beautiful term: ephemerality. To be ephemeral is to exist for one day only, whether that existence be through power, favor, popularity, or a brief life-span. How does ephemerality enter int
Allison E. Francis is an Associate Professor of English at Chaminade College. She will lead a poetry workshop on Saturday, exploring a terrifying and beautiful term: ephemerality. To be ephemeral is to exist for one day only, whether that existence be through power, favor, popularity, or a brief life-span. How does ephemerality enter into our creative lives and affect our mind, body and spirit? We will wander the coastline in search of the ephemeral and then write poems individually. Finally, we will join the circle again to share our creations.
———SATURDAY BONUS BEATS 2025———
We are offering an additional day of workshops on Saturday. All participants in the weeklong retreat may attend. Island writers may register for Saturday only, for $120, which includes snacks and lunch. There will be various writing workshops in the morning and afternoon.
Specifics:
10-12
Generative writing workshops--fiction, nonfiction, poetry
(a chance to follow writing prompts, generating and sharing poetry or stories)
12-1
Lunch and a reading from our faculty
(and time to swim, walk on the beach, or just chill)
1:30 to 3 workshop with Malcolm Ryder
(letting art and words work together to inspire magic)
3:30 to 5 workshop with Grant Faulkner
(polishing your prose)
1:30 to 5 Manuscript masterclass--various instructors; open to those whose submit a MS in advance
You can register here.
REsources
Celebrating our successes
The writing life is hard. It takes painstaking work and dealing with the pain of rejection. So it's important to take stock of successes and to celebrate them.
Russell Rowland has published his memoir, Be a Man, exploring how his upbringing as a fourth-generation Montanan shaped his approach to death, alcoholism, domestic violence, and general failure. Rowland notes how hard it is to escape a dynamic created by history and media depictions of the frontier. As Russell's retreat instructor (and fellow Montanan) Bridget Quinn says, "The dudes cosplaying cowboys in our political and cultural arenas have got it all wrong—and it's dangerous, especially for men & boys. We all need these healing & hopeful stories of tonic masculinity."
Tamara Leiokanoe Moan is looking forward to seeing two poems and an essay in the Fall 2025 issue of Bamboo Ridge. Two of the three pieces were born at O‘ahu Writers Retreats.
Mary Weatherford exhibited paintings in January 2024 at Gagosian in New York City that were inspired by the 2023 retreat and a visit to Kaua‘i. The show was called Sea and Space.
Angela Nishimoto published a a literary romance, Isabella's Daughter, with Pueo Press.
Ken Guidroz (see below) worked on Letters to My Son in Prison at the 2021 retreat. The memoir covers the hope and heartbreak of parenting, marriage, and faith as Guidroz sees all three of his sons struggle with substance abuse, and one of them serve time for vehicular manslaughter. It won the 2023 Book of the Year/Nonfiction from the American Writing Awards.
Arielle Taitano Lowe attended several early retreats, before heading to UH-Manoa to get a PhD. And to write her first book of poetry! Ocean Mother is the first full-length poetry book to be written and published by a Chamoru woman born and raised in Guåhan (Guam). It pubbed in Spring 2024 and is published by the University of Guam Press in partnership with NYU Press.
Joan Steidinger has participated in many retreats and worked on two books while here. Her 2020 book, Stand up and Shout Out: Women's Fight for Equal Pay, Equal Right, and Equal Opportunities in Sports won a bronze medal in the Sports and Recreation category in the Foreword Reviews contest, among other accolades..
Sara Ackerman had three unpublished novels, and was working on a fourth, when she attended the retreat in 2013, 2014 & 2015. In 2017, her historical novel Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers was picked up by Mira/Harper Collins. Today she is a USA Today bestselling author with more books that we can track. The Codebreaker's Secret earned a starred review from Booklist, the American Library Association's review journal. Sara chalks up her success to attending writers retreats and conferences, as well as a whole lot of patience and perseverance.
The whys and wherefores of a retreat
Artists often need to get away from the world to create sublime things. That's exactly what a retreat is for. The write-minded podcast invited Connie Hale to talk with novelist Ellen Sussman about insights, definitions, and parameters for retreats. You might create your own, find something far-flung and exotic, or sign up for the writing retreat’s bigger cousin, the writers’ conference.
Testimonials
What a great opportunity to focus on the craft, be stimulated by fellow, impassioned writers, get input from quality teachers, eat together, and hole-up in my cozy room at night to put all my thoughts onto paper. Also, to get a taste of island culture and island food, enjoy a non-touristy part of the island (yes!), walk the volcanic, large-crystaled sands of the North Shore, snorkel the warm waters and see sea turtles, and the iconic North Shore . Connie is a one-of-a-kind host, making more people feel welcome than any other human could, and offering the keenest of writerly insight.
—Ken Guidroz, author of Letters to My Son in Prison (2023)
When I first attended, I wasn’t even sure if I could call myself a writer. But through the workshops, the quiet writing hours, and the encouragement of this community, I found my voice—and more importantly, the confidence to use it. This retreat isn’t just about writing. It’s about becoming.
—Christina Fang, author of HEARTQUAKE, on Substack
Talk style, talk story, talk shop
I invite you to visit www.sinandsyntax.com for posts on stylish writing, updates on the world of publishing, suggested readings, essays on the writing life, and suggestions on classes and conferences. Noodle around!
"My thoughts on breaking in," shares ideas about launching a writing career.
“Secrets for Sinful Prose” gives you grammar tips.
“News, Reviews, and Interviews” gives links to articles and podcasts.
"Total Risk, Freedom, Discipline" gives you insight into my writing process.
"Resources to get you started" is chockfull of ideas about how to join—or form—a writing community.
Be in touch
Lots of information about Camp Mokulē‘ia is available on the Camp's website.
All cancellation requests must be made in writing - no exceptions. Because the retreat sells out each year, and because it is hard to fill slots at the last minute, we do stick to a strict cancellation policy:
--If you cancel before March 21, you will receive a full refund minus a $150 administration fee.
--If you cancel between March 21 and April 7, you will receive a refund of 50 percent.
--If you cancel after April 7, there is no refund, but Connie will work with full enrollees to provide two to three hours hours of private instruction or coaching.
--if you registered for Saturday only, the low price of the ticket is actually less than our administrative costs. But we will refund 50 percent of the fee for those who cancel before April 7.
For participants, we can provide an FAQ about the stunning location on O‘ahu's North Shore as well as some travel advice. However, we have our hands full, so we cannot be personal travel agents. Please avail yourselves of a good guidebook or the site of the O‘ahu Visitors Bureau.
Please write connie [at] sinandsyntax.com for information or to get on our mailing list.
As we say in Hawai‘i, a hui hou! (See you soon!)
