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boyden residency

Application Instructions for The Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency for 2025 (Application deadline extended to March 15.)

Click here for a printable version.

Read and follow carefully. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Send three copies of each of the following three items:

1. A brief resume. (Three copies.)
2. A writing sample of up to 20 double-spaced pages of prose or 10 single-spaced pages of poetry. Twelve-point type, margins at least one inch. (Three copies.)
3. A letter of up to 600 words stating why this residency appeals to you and what experiences suit you for it. (Three copies.)


Couples or partners who are both writers may apply with the work of one or the work of both. If both, resumes for both should be submitted, and the writing sample should consist of up to 15 double-spaced pages of prose or 7 single-spaced pages of poetry per person. The letter may be jointly written, or each partner may write his or her own. These applications will be ranked at the level of the stronger, in the judgment of PEN Northwest, of the two writers.

If you apply with an excerpt from a longer work such as a novel or memoir, attach to each copy of the manuscript a brief note about the work as a whole.

If you wish to apply in more than one genre (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, childrens/young adult literature, screenwriting/playwriting, graphic literature), you must make separate applications.

You may cite a specific writing project you would like to undertake at Dutch Henry, but you are not required to do so. It is assumed that you will write. What you write is between you and the river.

Resume or letter should include your phone number and email address if you have one.

In addition to three copies each of resume, writing sample, and letter(s), applications must include these two additional items:

1. An application fee of thirty dollars (fifty dollars for two-person applications), check or money order payable to PEN Northwest.
2. A standard-size stamped, self-addressed envelope for notification of application results. Do not include an SASE for application materials, which will not be returned.


International applicants may send application materials electronically as docx or pdf files. Fee must be mailed as U.S. cash or a check drawn on a U.S. bank. No money orders.

Send completed applications to:

John Daniel
Boyden Residency
23030 W. Sheffler Road
Elmira, OR 97437


Applications must be postmarked between January 1, 2024 and March 15, 2024. (Dates inclusive.) Early or late applications will not be considered. Notification will occur by early June, 2024.

No information is available by telephone. Brief questions may be communicated via email by clicking .