Planning for 2021 Has Begun
These are interesting times. Originally scheduled for May then rescheduled for the first week of August for safety reasons, the Novel-In-Progress Bookcamp & Writing Retreat has been canceled for 2020.
Dave Rank, NIP director, received word on May 28 that Cedar Valley UCCI, the NIP’s venue for the past six years, would be shut down through Labor Day Sept. 7. Cedar Valley’s parent company, United Church Camps Inc., made that decision because of ongoing concern about the Covid-19 pandemic. “Hearing that announcement, sadly, I decided to make no further effort to hold the NIP this year,” Rank said.
All 2020 staff and writers enrolled in both the Bookcamp workshop and the Writing Retreat programs have been informed. Refunds were offered or the option to be immediately enrolled in the NIP’s scheduled events in 2021. “Most have chosen to roll over their registration to 2021,” Rank said. “Staff have all agreed to work with us again next year.”
Cedar Valley is accepting reservations for 2021, The NIP Director said. “I already have dates reserved for our planned 2021 events. The eighth annual, All-Genre NIP will be held on May 23-29, 2021. And new next year, a Speculative Fiction NIP for writers of SF, Fantasy, Horror, and related genres will be held August 1-7, 2021.”
Final approval from the NIP Board of Directors is needed to move forward with the latter project, Rank explained. “That decision will be made in the next month or so.”
Announcement on staffing for one or both the May and August events will be made this summer.
Visit the NIP’s website, www.novelbookcamp.org, and it’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/NIPBookcamp, for future announcements, as well as the websites of the Chicago Writers Association, Off Campus Writers’ Workshop, and Wisconsin Writers Association. Or contact the NIP director at director@novelbookcamp.com.
The Novel-In-Progress Bookcamp & Writing Retreat, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational corporation registered in Wisconsin, providing services for writers. It is assisted through cooperative arrangements with the Chicago Writers Association, the Off Campus Writers Workshop, and the Wisconsin Writers Association.
