Island Scribe

Island Scribe Caribbean writing retreats curated for women of colour writers by author Simone Dalton. Let your writing feel like a retreat.

Island Scribe is a home for writers seeking rest, reflection, and reconnection. We create soulful spaces where Black women writers and creatives can return to their stories—and to themselves. From immersive Caribbean writing retreats to intimate virtual circles and workshops, each experience invites you to slow down, listen inward, and write from a place of trust and renewal. Founded by award-winn

ing writer and creative coach Simone Dalton, Island Scribe weaves community, craft, and care into every offering. Whether you’re rediscovering your voice or deepening your practice, you’ll find a space here that honours both your words and your well-being.

Registration for Rise & Write: July 5–11 is open.July asks something different of us.Not urgency.Not certainty.Just a wi...
01/06/2026

Registration for Rise & Write: July 5–11 is open.

July asks something different of us.

Not urgency.
Not certainty.
Just a willingness to notice.

Rise & Write returns this summer with a new theme: Discovery.

For seven mornings, we’ll gather at first light to listen for what is stirring beneath the surface. The image that won’t let go. The question that keeps tapping. The idea waiting for a little room to breathe.

This is not about arriving with answers.

It is about meeting the page before the day hardens around you.
It is about following the thread.
It is about trusting what reveals itself when you return.

Your registration includes access to The Portal, our pop-up community space for keeping the practice warm between seasons.

If something in you has been quietly waiting to be found, come.

Let discovery lead.

Register now at islandscriberetreats.com/rise-and-write. Link in bio.

One of my favourite things to witness in Rise & Write is when a writer stops trying to force herself into someone else’s...
29/05/2026

One of my favourite things to witness in Rise & Write is when a writer stops trying to force herself into someone else’s idea of process…

…and starts finding her own.

This season, one writer described “spending time” with her character instead of trying to muscle through conventional character development.

She spoke about it as a kind of knowing.

That language stayed with me.

Because so much of writing is not about doing it the “right” way.

It’s about finding the way that lets you hear yourself more clearly.

If you want a space where experimentation is welcomed, July’s Rise & Write is open now.

Link in bio.

Creative renewal sounds lovely.But what does it actually mean?Sometimes it means noticing that the writing has started t...
28/05/2026

Creative renewal sounds lovely.

But what does it actually mean?

Sometimes it means noticing that the writing has started to feel like one more task.

Sometimes it means admitting your ideas are still there, but quieter than they used to be.

Sometimes it means giving yourself enough space to ask:

What still has heat?
What feels depleted?
What wants my attention now?

Renewal is not about disappearing from your life.
It’s about hearing yourself inside it again.

That’s the kind of space we’re creating for our Barbados writing retreat.

A place to write, reflect, and return to what is still alive in your work.

Explore the retreat through the link in bio.

27/05/2026

If your writing has been waiting for more room, this is your invitation.

Between Sea and Story is our April 2027 writing retreat in Barbados, created for writers who are ready to rest, reconnect with their voice, and return to the page with more clarity, courage, and care.

For seven days and six nights, we’ll gather in Bathsheba at ECO Lifestyle + Lodge for morning writing rituals, spacious self-directed writing time, nourishing local food, island experiences, reflection, community, and the kind of creative restoration that lingers long after you return home.

This is not a workshop in a pretty place.

It’s a retreat designed to help you remember the writer you already are.

Early bird pricing is available until July 22. Register before then to save $500.

📍 Bathsheba, Barbados
📅 April 18 - 24, 2027
🔗 Link in bio to explore the full retreat invitation

Sometimes the writing goes quiet.Not because the desire is gone.Not because the story has disappeared.But because life h...
26/05/2026

Sometimes the writing goes quiet.

Not because the desire is gone.
Not because the story has disappeared.

But because life has gotten loud.

Tasks. Roles. Expectations. The pressure to produce something meaningful before you’ve had the space to hear yourself clearly.

Creative renewal is not a luxury phrase.

It is the practice of creating enough room to notice what still has heat.

Our Barbados retreat is designed as a space to listen again.

To write, reflect, and return to what is still alive in your work.

Explore the retreat through the link in bio.

25/05/2026

🌴 Registration is open — join us for Between Sea and Story

Registration is now open for Between Sea and Story: The Island Scribe Barbados Writing Retreat, April 18 – 24, 2027. Six nights of writing, rest, and reconnection

If you’ve been craving time to reconnect with your voice, this is your invitation to join a circle of women writers on the island’s tranquil east coast.

🌿 The Place: The sea at your doorstep, light spilling into your writing space, and the gentle rhythm of ECO Lifestyle + Lodge inviting stillness and clarity.

📝 The Experience: Intentional guided sessions, mentoring, and self-directed time to nurture flow and confidence.

🥑 The Nourishment: 6 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 6 dinners highlighting local cuisine and a full-day island tour — because creativity thrives in community and care.

Early special: Save $500 USD when you register by July 22.

Deposit: A non-refundable $1,000 USD deposit holds your place, with payment plans available.

Questions about the retreat? → Book a 15-minute “Ask Me Anything” call. Link in bio.

Questions about travel? → Contact our travel partner, Wassermann Travel, through the registration page.

📍 Barbados is calling — a week of writing and renewal awaits.

✍🏽 Register Now - see link in bio.

P.S. Spots are limited — and the early-bird offer ends July 22.

22/05/2026

There are writing spaces that help you get words on the page.

And then there are writing spaces that help you feel more like yourself while you’re there.

What moved me about this reflection was not just that Dianah spoke about community, but how she named the quality of it: nurturing, healing, rare.

That matters.

Because for many writers, especially Black and racialized women, the question is not only, *Will this help me write?*

It’s also, *Will I feel held here? Will I feel safe enough to hear myself?*

That is part of what Rise & Write is built to offer.

✨ July 5–11

Registration is open. Link in bio.

21/05/2026

Sometimes the way back to the page begins with a song.

A rhythm.

A memory.

A feeling the body still knows.

This is one of the ways I return to writing, and part of what Karen Choi of Balm and I will be exploring at Soul Care Sunday: Rise & Write.

Sunday, May 24, 2026
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Pluto, 60 Sumach St., Toronto

Tickets on Luma.

19/05/2026

Music can become a doorway.

Into memory.

Into feeling.

Into the body.

Into the page.

At Soul Care Sunday: Rise & Write, Karen Choi of Balm and I will guide a morning of movement, breath, voice, sound, and writing as a way to return to ourselves.

Sunday, May 24, 2026

10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Pluto, 60 Sumach St., Toronto

Tickets on Luma.

15/05/2026

What changes when you begin with curiosity instead of pressure?

A lot, actually.

Curiosity softens the grip of perfectionism.

It makes room for experimentation.

It helps writers move through block, comparison, and self-judgement without turning the page into another place to prove something.

In Rise & Write, curiosity is not just a theme we admire from a distance.

It becomes a real way into the work.

Less performance.

More exploration.

Come write with us this July and see what curiosity opens. Link in bio.

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Kintamani
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