The Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow

The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow (WCDH) offers residencies, support, and opportunities to writers of all genres, backgrounds, and level of experience without discrimination. A residency at WCDH provides each writer with a quiet, comfortable, writing suite away from the distractions of home, work, family, and life, allowing the writer to focus on their work. We provide space for writers’ group and book club meetings and retreats, book launches and signings, literary readings, and workshops. We partner with other non-profit and business organizations on creative and literary programming. We promote our writers on social media; through monthly virtual readings; our podcast series, “Write Now at the Writers’ Colony;” our "Dairy Hollow Chinwag" interview/reading videos on YouTube and our online literary magazine, “eMerge.”

The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow provides the following.
• Affordability – due to the generous support of our donors, suites are provided at a subsidized rate. Merit-based fellowships and needs-based scholarships are available.
• Flexibility – residencies may be 1 week to 3 months.
• We offer a simple application/acceptance process.
• Our warm hospitality includes incredible food to nurture the creative process.
• WCDH is located in a beautiful, serene setting in walking distance to a charming, arts-focused town offering many options for down time R&R and inspiration.
• Community involvement and writer outreach opportunities are available.
• Controlled isolation or fellowship with other writers to suit each writer’s personal preference.
• WCDH is the only writers’ colony in the US with a dedicated culinary suite to accommodate cookbook writers.

WCDH is housed in two adjacent, well-kept buildings in a wooded setting a picturesque, level, 15-minute walk from downtown Eureka Springs. Providing refreshed, comfortable, and inspiring surroundings while our writers are in residence is imperative to our mission. This supportive atmosphere allows them to be productive, interact with the wider community, stimulate new thinking, and energize creative expression. To that end we are in the process of renovating or refreshing each of our eight writers’ suites.

We have a small, dedicated staff who understand the importance of giving the writers-in-residence space, while also consistently providing warmth and support. Our board of directors is actively engaged. They provide direction, assistance with operations and management, and significant financial support.

The WCDH has been providing residencies to writers for 20 years, hosting more than 1,200 writers from 48 states and 12 countries. These alumni are our most valuable resource, supporting us financially through charitable giving and repeated residencies, serving as readers for our fellowships, hosting at Poetluck and other WCDH events, and recommending WCDH to their peers.

Since opening its doors to writers in 2000, WCDH has hosted over 1,800 writers from 48 states and 14 countries. These writers, both accomplished and novice, working in a wide array of genres, have left a lasting impact on the literary world.

WCDH held a Strategic Planning session on February 27, 2019, with follow up session in February 2020 and July 2021. These sessions reviewed critical success factors: a passionate, well-informed board of directors; knowledgeable, dedicated staff; sustainable funding; and a strong strategy for growth. This strategy includes a shared culture by board and staff; organization apparatus for administration and service delivery; policies and practices for board, staff, and volunteers; and an economic business model.

In celebration of our 20th anniversary, WCDH is raising $300,000 over three years. This funding will be used to expand outreach through fellowships and scholarships, improve marketing efforts, update our writers’ suites, and improve our facilities so we can continue to provide a supportive atmosphere for our writers-in-residence.

WCDH shut down for two months in spring 2020 while we reimagined our programming and developed strict COVID protocols to keep our writers-in-residence and our staff safe.