All Inclusive* 2- or 4-night Program Starting At:
$436/person - Double Occupancy
$585/person - Single Occupancy
* Includes lodging, meals, program activities and access to optional daily activities and recreational equipment. Learn More about the Great Camp Sagamore experience.
Program Overview
Join a group of like-minded women for a reading and writing retreat. Activities will include writing workshops, reflective paddling, arts-based activities, technical writing, experiential learning, and Adirondack-based readings to contemplate the role of sense of place in nature writing.
Great Camp Sagamore is pleased to offer this workshop in collaboration with the Adirondack Center for Writing of Saranac Lake, an organization dedicated to building a community of reading, writing and listening across the Adirondack region. This weekend is dedicated to the memory of Anne LaBastille, whose passion for the Adirondacks led to her writing the landmark series of "Woodswoman" books documenting her experiences and observations of the natural world. This program is made possible through the Anne LaBastille Estate.
Choose from a two-night or a four-night option. The 4-night program includes an optional guided paddle excursion on “Black Bear Lake” to the site of Anne’s Cabin where participants will share lunch and have time to explore, write, and reflect.
Program Activities
Individual and group mentoring by award winning author Mary Sanders Shartle
Reflective paddle and nature journaling
Responsive sharing of writing among participants
Ample free time to write and explore
Optional paddle excursion to Anne’s property (4-night option)
Program Partner: Adirondack Center for Writing
Program Instructors
Mary Sanders Shartle - Author, Poet
Mary has been running writing workshops in Saratoga County or the Adirondacks since 2002. She has been a leader of the popular Anne LaBastille Women’s Writing Weekend at Great Camp Sagamore since 2019. Her novel, The Truth and Legend of Lily Martindale (2014 SUNY Press) won Indie Fab, IPPY awards among others. She has been published in Hamilton-Stone Review and JMWW. She was selected for the competitive Anne LaBastille Residency. “The Three Poets,” (Shartle, with Marilyn McCabe and Elaine Handley), were three-time winners of the Adirondack Center for Writing Poetry Award. She lives in the foothills of the Adirondacks, where she has convinced Merlin that she is actually a Common Raven.
Leslie Surprenant - Environmental Biologist
Leslie Surprenant is a retired environmental biologist, a professional ski instructor, NYS Licensed Guide, and an instructor for New York’s Becoming an Outdoors Woman. She was a long-time friend of Anne LaBastille, enjoying many camping trips and adventures with her. Leslie was Anne’s estate executor.
Angela Cannon-Crothers
Angela Cannon-Crothers is a naturalist, digger of roots, weaver of wild baskets, and sparker of fires. Her first full length book of poetry, Some Deeper Mystery, will be out with Middle Creek Publishing in 2026. Her poetry, essays and articles have appeared in many regional and national magazines, and literary journals, including Orion, Stone Canoe, The Common, Mountain Home, Bluff & Vine, and others. Her work as a cloud collector was included in A Mile In Her Boots, Women Who Work in the Wilds. When not writing, gardening or hiking waterfalls, she can be found playing in the woods with small packs of children—usually in face paint—as the Forest Schools and Nature Based Learning Coordinator at Cumming Nature Center in Naples, NY.
All Program Sessions
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