Orion Environmental Writers’ Workshop
June 15-20, 2025
The Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York

Join a community of writers, improve your craft, and reimagine how you think about nature. Guided by award-winning instructors, the Orion Environmental Writers’ Workshop provides an intimate space to connect with writers, artists, and editors, spark creativity, and renew, illuminate, and deepen your relationship with place. This week-long workshop is cosponsored by the Omega Center for Sustainable Living.

Whether your passion is nonfiction, fiction, or poetry, the Orion Environmental Writers’ Workshop is a creative laboratory for anyone seeking to reflect their environments through their work. The course features breakout sessions dedicated to intensive craft practice, faculty readings and lectures, student readings, and panels on publishing.

Workshops seats will be limited in size so that each participant receives individualized attention, feedback, and focused time with faculty members and Orion editors to discuss whatever is on their minds. Throughout the week, literary agents and editors will stop by for panels and conversations to answer questions and offer advice on bringing out your work in the publishing world.

2025 Facutly

This year's faculty includes: Hannah Dela Cruz Abrams (nonfiction), Alison Hawthorne Deming (nonfiction), Sabrina Imbler (nonfiction), Michael Kleber-Diggs (nonfiction/poetry), Chris La Tray (nonfiction or mixed genre), Joe Wilkins (fiction, or fiction/nonfiction mix), and Felicia Zamora (poetry).

HOW TO APPLY
We will read applications February 1 - May 1.
Workshops will be offered in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, and some classes may be a mix of two genres. Please submit a cover letter and sample of your work through Submittable. For prose, please send up to a 1,500 word writing sample; for poetry, send up to six pages of poetry.

Acceptances will be made on a rolling basis and applicants will be notified whether they have been admitted within a few of weeks of applying. We recommend applying early!

Note that a variety of housing options at different price points are available at the Omega Institute. Those who apply earlier will be able to choose their housing sooner. Some housing options may sell out faster than others.

Some financial aid is available but in limited numbers. Please reach out if you’d like to discuss, and/or include a statement of need in your cover letter. **NOTE: The deadline for scholarship consideration is March 1st.**

For more information on this year's faculty and FAQs look here.

Still have questions related to Orion workshops? Contact us.

LOGISTICS
Travel: The Omega Institute is located in Rhinebeck, New York, with access to major airports and public transportation. Orion will also set up a public rideshare board for those students who might wish to coordinate. 

Tuition and Board: Tuition is $1200 ($1100 early bird rate if you register by March 15th). Additional room and board fees vary based on your choice of accommodation and range from $495-1500.

When successful applicants call Omega, they will be given various housing options for their 5-day stay, including private cabins, dorm rooms, and tent space. Fees are all-inclusive and include three meals a day, optional daily classes in yoga, meditation, and tai chi, and access to amenities like tennis courts, a basketball court, walking trails, boating on the lake, the Ram Dass Library, the Sanctuary for meditation and an Omega Art Bag with art supplies for drawing or painting. The campus also offers a Wellness Center with massage and other services for an additional cost.
 

Meals: The Omega Institute offers local, organic, sustainable, nutrient-dense, artisanal, and whole-food meals, and is able to accommodate a variety of tastes, dietary needs, and food allergies.