Return to the Wild: Craft & Query

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10% off Solstice Special until June 26th! Discount will automatically apply at checkout 🌿 Return to the Wild goes behind the book with the Query Letter Sessions. September 28 - October 2, 2026! This exclusive summit retreat runs like no other. Whether you’re hoping to improve your craft, build your community and confidence, or strengthen your query letter, this retreat is for you! Choose your focus, explore the island where Carly Fortune’s Every Year After was filmed, and make connections that will last a lifetime.

(Scroll to learn more and choose the perfect room!)

10% off Solstice Special until June 26th! Discount will automatically apply at checkout 🌿 Return to the Wild goes behind the book with the Query Letter Sessions. September 28 - October 2, 2026! This exclusive summit retreat runs like no other. Whether you’re hoping to improve your craft, build your community and confidence, or strengthen your query letter, this retreat is for you! Choose your focus, explore the island where Carly Fortune’s Every Year After was filmed, and make connections that will last a lifetime.

(Scroll to learn more and choose the perfect room!)

Return to the Wild

& The Query Letter Sessions

Bowen Island, BRitish Columbia, Canada

September 28 - October 2, 2026

What’s it all About?

A week dedicated solely to the business of your art, your purpose, your dream, in one of the most stunning places in the world. This experience will challenge you to step back from the story you've created and look at it from an agent and editor’s lens. Learn how to pitch your ideas, uncover the real hook in your story, and help shape the course of your professional writing life.

Our days will be spent immersed in our practice, pitching, workshopping, writing, and even a little exploring around our tiny forested island where Every Summer After was filmed. There is also plenty of down time so that you can put your craft & your freedom first. This retreat is punctuated with delicious food for every diet, Return to the Wild’s Nature Walks, and plenty of time for storytelling!

“Take the leap! It’s such an incredible experience being surrounded by like-minded writers who will support you and cheer you on.”

— Julia R

What’s Included.

  • MARINA GREEN

    LITERARY AGENT, EDITOR, & HOST

    By day, Marina is literary agent, previously a Big 5 acquiring editor. Avid supporter of the Oxford Comma and the em dash, Marina is also a freelance editor by night, founder of Marina Edits and Return to the Wild.

    In her free time, you can find Marina with her nose in a book or clicking away at her laptop, chasing new stories and wrangling them into wild submission. When she isn’t immersing herself in story, you can find her with a cup of tea in hand, trying a new yoga asana—never at the same time—or practicing Armenian, the language of her ancestors.

  • Kelsey Evans

    LITERARY AGENT & WRITER

    Kelsey Evans is a publishing professional with a background in communications, marketing, and editing.

    After a decade helming marketing strategy and content development for agencies with major clients like AAA, Dannon, and Target, she transitioned into publishing. She began as an editor, helping writers shape their work through developmental feedback, query critiques, and revision guidance. Later, she moved into agenting, interning with Triada US and Creative Media Agency (CMA), where she gained hands-on experience in manuscript evaluation, submissions, and client development.

    Passionate about championing authors, Kelsey now combines editorial insight with marketing expertise to help writers navigate both craft and career.

  • Surprise Bestselling Author Faculty

    NO SPOILERS HERE! Our Surprise faculty will be announced to enrolled writers shortly before our retreat!

  • Surprise Literary Agent Faculty

    NO SPOILERS HERE!

    Our Third Faculty Member will be revealed anon! Keep your eyes peeled for this incredible human who carries a wealth of knowlegde!

  • Surprise Faculty Author Faculty

    NO SPOILERS HERE! Our Surprise faculty will be announced to enrolled writers shortly before our retreat!

The Workshop Sessions

Our craft workshop & pitch sessions are designed to arm you with the knowledge you need to literally put your best story forward. Get it seen, be heard, and learn to view your art from a professional lens. We’ll also help you build the necessary armour it takes to put yourself and your books out there (gently, of course!). At the end of the week, you’ll leave with a sturdily reconstructed query, pitch, and/or hook.

Daily Itinerary

Accommodation

The 2026 Return to the Wild Retreat will be hosted exclusively at Nectar Retreat Centre

Nectar Yoga Retreat is a healing space that sits on 20 acres of forested land on Bowen Island, just a short twenty-minute ferry ride from Vancouver.

We acknowledge and honour that Nexwlélexwm (Bowen Island) is the ancestral and unceded territory of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nation.

Breathe in. Feel the serenity of the trees, the whispers of the wind, the beauty of unspoiled nature. Breathe out. Let go of the daily grind. The meetings. The screens. Feel life’s chaos give way to a sense of oneness with the world around you, deep in your bones. This is our promise of a deeply healing space for inner connection and outer exploration. This is Nectar.

There are only 10 spots available! Get them before they’re gone!

Sunstone, Jasper, & Opal A-Frame Cottages

Moonstone Cottage

Jade Cottage

Amethyst Cottage

Quartz Cottage (Sold Out)

“The trip ignited my creativity and got this draft moving!”

Kelly K.

More Details