Ready! Setting! Go!

Faculty

Shelley Tanaka

Shelley Tanaka is the longtime fiction editor at Groundwood Books, where she has edited more than a dozen Governor General’s Award-winning titles. She is the author of thirty books for young readers and is faculty emerita of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults.

Shelley is also a long-time fan of all things Anne! She has edited Maud: The Life of L.M. Montgomery by Harry Bruce and The Anne of Green Gables Treasury by Carolyn Strom Collins and Christina Wyss Eriksson, and has compiled The Anne of Green Gables Diary. She has also adapted Anne of Green Gables for younger readers and has written a series of twelve essays on life in Anne’s time. 

Gary Schmidt

Author of more than a dozen books for children and young adults, Whale Rock founding faculty member Gary Schmidt is a two-time Newbery Honor and Children’s Choice award winner, and a National Book Award finalist. He has taught at Hamline's MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program and at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI.

Cost, Deposit, & Refunds

This workshop costs $3350 per person ($3275 if you put down a deposit and pay the balance by check or bank transfer.)

Tuition includes:

• Lodging for seven days and six nights in a two-bedroom cottage with a shared bathroom. There are a limited number of upgrades to a private room with a private bathroom in the hall or a private room with a private, ensuite bathroom.

• Entry fees for historic sites

• Breakfast foods for your cabin

• Catered lunch and dinner

  
  * Price does not include transportation to and from the airport, but we will help students coordinate transportation if needed.

There is a $500 non-refundable deposit. Tuition must be paid in full by June 30, 2024. Students who register after June 30, 2024 must pay in full.

• If we do not meet our minimum requirement of 12 students by March 1, 2024, deposits will be refunded. 

• After June 30, students who have paid in full and must withdraw, will only receive a refund if another student takes their place from the waitlist. Refunds will be returned minus $500 deposit and $250 administrative costs. Admin costs may be rolled over to another event.

• LAST MINUTE ILLNESS POLICY: As of 2023, there are no exceptions to our refund policy for students who become ill at the last minute. Students can still get their pages read and schedule one-on-one meetings with faculty at a later date. Students will be given access to recordings of lectures from prior Whale Rock events.

• CANADIAN STUDENTS ONLY: For Canadian students for whom the cost plus exchange is cost prohibitive, please email us for details about some of our subsidies.
  

  PLEASE NOTE: We continue to give tremendous thought to your health and safety as well as the health and safety of our staff and instructors. We have chosen a location with a great deal of outdoor space, but we recognize that it is September. For the safety of our instructors and attendees, everyone will be asked to exercise caution for two weeks prior to our workshop.

Food & Lodging

Allergies, dietary or religious preferences: We will provide catered meals for lunch and dinner each day. We will supply everyone with basic breakfast groceries with which to stock their cabins, such as eggs, yogurt, oatmeal, milk, tea, and coffee. You are responsible for making your own breakfast before our first daily event. We always do our best to provide food for vegans, vegetarians, and gluten-free and dairy-free diets. If you have strict dietary needs, please reach out. 

Our home away from home is the lovely Fairways Cottages, a family-owned complex in Cavendish along PEI's scenic North Shore. 

Students will share multiple cottages on the property for sleeping and writing. Each cottage has two-bedrooms, at least one bathroom, a small living space, and a kitchen. The cottage complex is rustic, and cottages are tiered in terms of amenities. 

Your price is all-inclusive for a private room with a shared bathroom. 

*Some cabins have rooms with two double or twin beds. If you would like to share a cabin with friends to bring your costs down, that is a possibility, but you must take the whole cabin. Please email us to discuss that possibility.

Additional
Logistics
Information

There is very little public transportation in Prince Edward Island nor are there reliable car services or taxis. Students who wish to have the freedom to travel on their own should plan on driving or renting a car. 

Most of our scheduled activities will take place within walking distance of our cottage complex. We may offer optional excursions at an additional price for those who wish to explore more of the island. While each day will have scheduled activities, and we expect you will write in your downtime, if you would like to explore during writing time, we encourage you to rent a car. We will be offer a ride share from the airport at an additional cost as well if there is demand.