Heart and Hearth: A Writing Retreat
With Kate Foran, Joyce Hollyday and Lydia Wylie-Kellerman
January 17 - 19, 2025
In the heart of winter, come nurture your spirit at a hearth of warmth and creativity. As we face an increasingly unpredictable winter season, we invite you to take some time apart to reflect, write, and sit within a supportive circle. We will keep a rhythm of solitude and gathering, with space to share with one another what we’re writing, for those who would like to. Writing prompts will be provided for those who want them. No writing experience is required. You are welcome whether you want to take a first step toward putting words on paper or are in the throes of writing the next best-selling novel or book of poetry. There’s sure to be fun and feasting, stories and songs to keep us warm around the fire as well.
Leaders
Kate Foran
Kate Foran is a freelance writer and language arts instructor from Podunk lands now known as East Hartford, CT. For her, writing has been about expression, but also about connection. Whenever she shares a poem with her monthly writing group, she thinks of a saying from Nelson Johnson, one of her mentors who continues to work for racial and economic justice out of the Beloved Community Center in North Carolina: “Our work is building community; everything else is an occasion for it.”
Learn more about Kate Foran
Kate Foran is a freelance writer and language arts instructor from Podunk lands now known as East Hartford, CT. For her, writing has been about expression, but also about connection. Whenever she shares a poem with her monthly writing group, she thinks of a saying from Nelson Johnson, one of her mentors who continues to work for racial and economic justice out of the Beloved Community Center in North Carolina: “Our work is building community; everything else is an occasion for it.”
Learn more about Kate Foran
Joyce Hollyday
Joyce Hollyday is the author of Pillar of Fire, a historical novel based on the witness of the Beguines. She has written several other books on oral history, spirituality, and social witness, including Clothed with the Sun: Biblical Women, Social Justice, and Us, and a memoir titled Turning Toward Home. Joyce has served as an editor of Sojourners magazine, a co-founder and co-pastor of Circle of Mercy in Asheville, N.C., a court advocate for survivors of domestic violence, a chaplain to children with cancer, and a visitor on death row. She is a member of the intentional community at Kirkridge.
Learn more about Joyce Hollyday
Joyce Hollyday is the author of Pillar of Fire, a historical novel based on the witness of the Beguines. She has written several other books on oral history, spirituality, and social witness, including Clothed with the Sun: Biblical Women, Social Justice, and Us, and a memoir titled Turning Toward Home. Joyce has served as an editor of Sojourners magazine, a co-founder and co-pastor of Circle of Mercy in Asheville, N.C., a court advocate for survivors of domestic violence, a chaplain to children with cancer, and a visitor on death row. She is a member of the intentional community at Kirkridge.
Learn more about Joyce Hollyday
Lydia Wylie-Kellerman
Lydia Wylie-Kellermann is a writer, editor, activist, and mother. She is the director of Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center and editor of Geez magazine, which explores the intersection of activism, art, and spirit. She is the editor of The Sandbox Revolution: Raising Kids for a Just World. She lives with her partner and two boys at Kirkridge on Lenape land now known as Bangor, Pennsylvania.
Learn more about Lydia Wylie-Kellerman
Lydia Wylie-Kellermann is a writer, editor, activist, and mother. She is the director of Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center and editor of Geez magazine, which explores the intersection of activism, art, and spirit. She is the editor of The Sandbox Revolution: Raising Kids for a Just World. She lives with her partner and two boys at Kirkridge on Lenape land now known as Bangor, Pennsylvania.
Learn more about Lydia Wylie-Kellerman