From the Farmhouse Table: January 2025
Thank you
2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and yes, 2024, have each been, in their own unique ways, a lot. Demanding, infuriating, exhausting. Too much. So why did I step into 2025 feeling balanced? It has to be the gratitude.
I am so grateful.
For my family and dear friends who are like bonus family. For my colleagues and consultants. And for the generous donors who give to Hedgebrook so women writers have space and time and care to create the stories only they can.
Our year-end campaign raised over $133,000. I am thankful for every donor and every dollar. As a 501(c)3, Hedgebrook is dependent on charitable donations to keep our doors open and fill our cottages with writers from February through December. Your gifts allow us to retain the remarkable staff who cook farm-to-table meals, maintain the 50 acre farm and garden, organize meaningful programs that engage writers and readers in the Pacific Northwest and around the world, and keep our proud, powerful alumnae connected.
Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to ensure that more than 80 women-identified writers get to experience Hedgebrook for themselves each year. Their time on the land translates into books published, films screened, plays performed, songs sung. As members of the widest possible audience, we all benefit from your gift, their originality and the words they share.
In her poem, “Spelling,” Margaret Atwood wrote that a word after a word after a word is power. I am grateful for that power. And for those who believe in it.
It's not too late to donate to Hedgebrook. It never is.
This place, and the defiant idea it is built upon, gives sanctuary to women’s voices. In 2025, that is more radical and necessary than ever.
In gratitude,
Kimberly A.C. Wilson, Executive Director, Hedgebrook
In Memoriam
As we wrap up 2024 and enter the new year, we want to be sure and honor and remember our community members who have passed. We are grateful for their contributions and care and find comfort knowing that their work and service lives on.
Dorothy Allison
April 11, 1949 - November 6, 2024
Dorothy was a Hedgebrook alumna, instructor and Creative Advisory Council member.
She wrote the bestselling novel, "Bastard Out of Carolina" among others and challenged readers and writers alike.
Check out this 2019 interview on Literary Hub: Dorothy Allison on the Necessity of Making Readers Uncomfortable.
Edie Clark
December 10, 1948 — July 7, 2024
Edie was a prolific and award-winning writer. Her essays appeared in Yankee Magazine, The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, Northeast magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, Hope magazine and Reader’s Digest. She also wrote seven books.
"As she once described her writing, 'I didn't want to pass myself off as an expert gardener, so I hoped my readers would accept me simply as a lover of the miracles of the earth and a teller of stories.'" Read her full obituary here.
Virginia Hardy
December 7, 1927 - June 25, 2024
Virginia first came to Hedgebrook in 2000 and had a lifelong love affair with writing.
Her obituary explained, "She herself was a gifted writer. Twice invited as one of six women to participate in the Hedgebrook Writer’s retreat on Whidbey Island in Washington, an experience Virginia cherished, she wrote “The First Half” of her memoir when she was 83, and “The Second Half” when she was 89. Written with her trademark sense of humor and wit, her memoir and the stories it contains, are a gift to every generation of her family." Read her full obituary here.
Anne Huggins
January 8, 1947 - July 17, 2024
Anne was a beloved chef at Hedgebrook for many years and grounded herself in community and joy in showing up for others.
Her obituary in the South Whidbey Record shared a poem that she chose as a farewell:
There are things you do because they feel right & they make no sense and they make no money & it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other & to eat each other’s cooking & say it was good. – Brian Andreas
Read her full obituary here.
Judith Tannenbaum
February 13, 1947 - December 5, 2019
In August of last year, alumna Lisa Schlesinger reached out to let us know of this book honoring fellow alumna, Judith Tannenbaum. They met at Hedgebrook and Lisa described Judith as "an amazing writer and presence."
A recent PEN America article highlights Judith's important work and profound impact. Read it here.