Tidal Writing Retreat

The JCU Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing partners with NAFA to offer this four-day intensive-style retreat from Oct 4-7 2026. We invite writers, researchers, and creative practitioners, students and members of the public--from beginning writers to emerging and established creatives--to immerse themselves in place-based storytelling. Blending ethnographic methods with creative writing, Tidal Writing is designed to slow you down, sharpen your observation, and deepen your relationship to landscape, community, and story.

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What You’ll Do

Over four nights, participants work in rhythm with the island’s tides, light, weather, and daily life.

• Participate in daily craft-focused, expert-led workshops (approx. 5 hours of contact time per day)
• Walk, write, and observe with intention
• Develop field notes and sensory logs
• Engage in guided conversations and encounters
• Experiment with creative and ethnographic writing techniques
• Develop a short piece grounded in place

General Daily Structure

Morning: Fieldwork
Guided observation exercises, sit spots, and walking practices

Midday: Workshops
Craft sessions on voice, structure, and ethnographic methods

Afternoon: Encounters
Independent exploration, "in conversation" style workshops, and writing time

Evening: Reflection
Group discussions, readings, and optional sharing

Who will be leading the workshops?

Manisha Anjali: Manisha Anjaliwas born in Suva, Fiji. She spends her time between Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. She is the founder of Neptune, a research and documentation platform for dreams, visions and hallucinations. Naag Mountain, published in 2024 by Giramondo, is her debut book of poetry.

Dr Lucy Christopher: Lucy is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing .An award-winner writer for young people, Lucy’s research interests centre on creative writing, with specific focus on writing for young people, empathy, psychology, place, and ecocriticism. Lucy has taught in many countries and for many organisations, including residential tutoring for Arvon Writing Centres, Ty Newydd Writing Centre and for Loutro Writers. She established Mexican Writing Retreats; luxury creative writing courses run in the central highlands of Mexico. She frequently visits schools to talk about her work for young people.

Dr Paul Hardisty: On top of his impressive contributions to science and research, Paul is also a prolific crime writer and writer of place. The first four novels in his Claymore Straker series, The Abrupt Physics of Dying, The Evolution of Fear, Reconciliation for the Dead and Absolution all received great critical acclaim and The Abrupt Physics of Dying was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and Telegraph Thriller of the Year. Paul is a sailor, a private pilot, keen outdoorsman, conservation volunteer, and lives in Western Australia. His reef-based book, informed by his tenure as CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, In Hot Water: Inside the Battle to save the Great Barrier Reef was published by Simon & Schuster in 2024.

Dr Rachel Hennessy: Rachel is the award-winning author of five novels: The Quakers (2008), The Heaven I Swallowed (2013), River Stone (2019), Mountain Arrow (2020) and City Knife (2023). She is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Melbourneand leads a national research group in climate fiction.

Dr Mia Francesca-Jones: Roderick Centre Postdoctoral Fellow in Creative Writing, Mia is a writer, researcher and producer from far north Queensland, currently based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her doctoral thesis explored the impact of climate crisis on women's lives, selves, and identities in eco-autobiographical writing and was awarded cum laude. Her scholarly research has been published in TEXT, Life Writing, and Critical Approaches to the Australian Blue Humanities(Routledge), and her creative writing has been widely published in literary journals and online. She has undertaken residencies at The Sydney Powerhouse Museum and Abbotsford Convent, and been awarded several prestigious fellowships, including the Mick Dark Flagship Fellowship for Outstanding Environmental Writing (Varuna National Writers House) and the Jennifer Strauss Fellowship for Humanities (Australian Graduate Women).

Associate Professor Victoria Kuttainen: Victoria Kuttainen is an Associate Professor in the College of Arts, Society and Education at James Cook University in the field of English and Writing and Head of the Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing. Victoria is an active researcher in three key areas: the literary and cultural history of colonial modernity and the Pacific; scholarship of teaching and learning, with a focus on regional students, regional higher education, and the Bachelor of Arts; and creative writing.

Dr Rose Michael: After a successful career in publishing, Rose leads the publishing, writing and editing program at RMIT. Rose's first novel The Asking Game, was a runner-up for the Vogel and received an Aurealis honourable mention. An early extract from her second, The Art of Navigation, was shortlisted for a Conjure award and published in Review of Australian Fiction. She has published 'spec fic' in Island, Griffith Review, Meanjin,Best Australian Stories and 'spec crit' in The Conversation, Sydney Review of Books and Reading Like an Australian Writer. Her recent novel, Else, featuring a future shaped by climate catastrophe was published by Spineless Wonders in 2025.

Registrations close September 1.