SCBWI Germany&Austria held the first retreat after the 2024 Europolitan Conference last month – and it was a full-on success!

We went back to Gasthof Altes Casino, a family-owned hotel in Fulda, Germany. We had been at that venue for a retreat once before (in 2022 if I remember correctly) and knew the area, the location, and the fantastic food they serve.

This time, attendees could choose between two options: Thursday to Sunday, or Friday to Sunday. In the end, we had six people opting for the longer stay, and 6 more joining the group on Friday.

We had a serviced conference room for our group that was large enough for everyone getting their own desk. The agenda was pretty straightforward: bring your project & work focused and in silence without having to stress about chores, cooking, or any other daily-drag issues.

On Saturday, we added after-dinner peer feedback rounds, split into PB/Illu and MG/YA groups. Everybody agreed to come back next year, so I will do my best to make that happen! It definitely is a huge boost in creative energy and such a joy to meet and work with fellow kidlit creators.

I worked on my submission for the Searchlight Award 2026 (Because if you don’t enter into competitions, you can get chosen, right?) and then took the rest of the time to draft my folk-horror project in more detail. The limited time and scope of the retreat was perfect for that and I had so much fun tackling this new project – and not having to feel bad for setting revision for Senex Born aside for a weekend.