Exploring the theme of…
METAMORPHOSIS
Reading + Writing Retreat with Lidia Yuknavitch and Janice Lee
April 23 - 25, 2027 near Portland, OR
For the writing-curious as well as the seasoned writer
“When a person undergoes such a drastic transformation, there's simply nothing anyone else can do but sit back and let them get on with it.”
Han Kang, The Vegetarian
What do we shed?
What gets exposed?
What emerges afterward?
Our Metamorphosis retreat is a weekend of reading, writing, conversation, and creative exploration of the stories that change us.
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A Different Writing Workshop
Acclaimed writers & educators, Lidia Yuknavitch and Janice Lee, invite writers to loosen their grip on what writing is “supposed” to be and instead pay attention to what is actually emerging.
This weekend will disrupt the familiar by pulling you toward the body, image, instinct, and the unexpected.
They will guide you to stay with what surfaces, listen for what has energy, and begin to give it shape.
A Book Will Be Our Beginning
We'll read Han Kang’s The Vegetarian as a place to enter, question, and respond to the theme of metamorphosis.
The novel opens a door to conversations about transformation, desire, isolation, rage, and what it means to live differently.
What the Weekend Looks Like
We'll read Han Kang’s The Vegetarian before the retreat and come together for discussion. These won't be traditional classroom-style seminars. We'll explore through questions, personal responses, and the unique perspectives we bring.
BOOK DISCUSSIONS
Lidia Yuknavitch and Janice Lee will lead generative writing sessions designed to open up new ways of approaching your work. Expect prompts, experimentation, conversation, and permission to follow an idea somewhere unexpected.
GENERATIVE WRITING
Yoga and sound bath meditation will offer ways to engage with the themes beyond intellectual discussion, helping us move between body, imagination, memory, and language.
SOMATIC PRACTICES
The weekend will also have unstructured time. Read and write by the fire. Meander the property’s hiking trails. Enjoy the outdoor bathhouse complete with a cedar sauna, cold plunge, and outdoor tubs and showers.
WONDERING & REST
Our Setting
20 ACRES OF NATURAL BEAUTY
We'll gather at a 20 acre, private retreat property about an hour outside Portland, surrounded by old-growth cedar, meadow, and forest. The setting has a cozy cabin vibe: rustic, beautiful, communal, and intentionally removed from everyday life.
OUTDOOR BATHHOUSE
Perched at the edge of the property with sweeping views of the surrounding landscape, the Bathhouse is a serene place to slow down, soak, and reconnect. Enjoy the cedar sauna and cold plunge, spacious soaking tubs and showers, and cozy spaces designed for lingering and unwinding.
ALL MEALS BY PROFESSIONAL CHEF
All meals from Friday dinner through Sunday brunch will be prepared by an onsite professional chef, with time built into the schedule to linger around the table together. Expect nourishing, seasonal meals served family-style, with plenty of time for conversation and connection.
COZY GATHERING SPACES
From the spacious barn to the cozy main house, there are plenty of places to come together, spread out, and settle in. We’ll gather for workshops, meals, writing, and conversation in spaces warmed by wood stoves, filled with art and books, and surrounded by the landscape.
Your Facilitators
Lidia Yuknavitch is the author of the bestselling novels Thrust, The Book of Joan, The Small Backs of Children, and Dora: A Headcase, as well as the critically acclaimed anti-memoir The Chronology of Water (adapted for feature film directed by Kristen Stewart) and a study on war and narrative, Allegories of Violence. Her polyvocal book The Misfit's Manifesto is based on her TED Talk, "On the Beauty of Being a Misfit," now with over 4 million views. She is a three time Oregon Book Award winner, A PNBA recipient, and a grateful writer who has benefited from grants from Poets and Writers, Literary Arts, and The Regional Arts and Culture Council. She is the founder of Corporeal Writing in Portland, Oregon where she collaborates and agitates, and she teaches in the low residency MFA programs at Sierra Nevada University and Goddard. She lives in Oregon near water. She is a very good swimmer.
Janice Lee (she/they) is a queer, Korean American writer, teacher, and spiritual scholar. She is the author of 8 books of fiction, creative nonfiction, & poetry, most recently Imagine a Death (2021), Separation Anxiety (2022), a finalist for the 2023 Oregon Book Award, and A roundtable, unanimous dreamers chime in, a collaborative novel co-authored with Brenda Iijima (2023). An essay (co-authored with Jared Woodland) is featured in the recently released 4K restoration of Sátántangó (dir. Béla Tarr) from Arbelos Films. Lee teaches workshops on inherited trauma, healing and writing, and facilitates guided meditations, especially as a practitioner of Engaged Buddhism (in the tradition of Plum Village and Thich Nhat Hanh). She is an ordained member of the Order of Interbeing and has been given the dharma name, True Meditation Forest. She currently lives in Portland, OR where she has worked alongside Lidia Yuknavitch as the Operational Creative Director at Corporeal Writing and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Portland State University.
Your Overleaf Hosts
For over 20 years, across different cities and different eras of their lives, Meghan & Maggie wandered used bookstores on opposite coasts, traded dog-eared favorites across time zones, and somehow always found their way back to long conversations about the stories that were changing them. Overleaf Retreats grew from that lifelong thread. It’s an invitation to share the magic of reading deeply, creating space for reflection, and connecting with others who love getting lost in a good book.
Meghan balances her love for literary community building with a long-standing passion for environmental advocacy. When she isn't curating retreats, she’s exploring the PNW landscape with her wife and two dogs. She is currently immersing herself in herbalism and botanical study.
Maggie recently welcomed her son and lives with her husband, their cat, and chickens. An avid traveler, she finds fulfillment in exploring new cultures and outdoor adventures. She’s currently chasing the spark of various new crafts.
Prices range from $1,300–$1,900, depending on your lodging selection.
Your registration includes lodging, all meals, facilitated book discussions and generative writing sessions with Lidia Yuknavitch and Janice Lee, yoga, sound bath meditation, and full access to the property’s sauna, cold plunge, and hiking trails.
Ready to Join?
Share your contact information to receive more information on the property, lodging options, and retreat schedule