Applications are now open for the 2026 Tremont Writers Conference! Join a supportive community of writers for five days of craft, connection, and creative renewal in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

• New York Times best-selling author Ron Rash
• Past Kentucky poet laureate and memoirist Crystal Wilkinson
• Playwright and Knoxville, Tennessee, poet laureate Linda Parsons
• Award-winning Cherokee novelist Kelli Jo Ford

Apply to be a part of your chosen cohort: fiction, nonfiction, or poetry—and enjoy the benefits of award-winning author workshop leaders dedicated to focusing on you and your work. Days will be dedicated to learning and writing in small groups with meals and lodging provided; evenings will be focused around community dinners, some off campus, where you’ll enjoy faculty-author readings.

Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont partners with Smokies Life to bring this five-day intensive retreat to a small group of selected writers. Scholarships are available.

Cover image by Valerie Polk.