This holiday season, help Longleaf Writers Conference and our nonprofit Longleaf Educational Services make the move down the road to Grayton Beach!

After fourteen happy years in Seaside, we knew we were outgrowing our spaces. We are ecstatic to announce that starting in 2026, we will be located two miles down the Emerald Coast in Grayton Beach! Not everything will be easy and this move does mean that we will have some serious reductions in nonprofit grant money and other donations from our local business partners. Growth and movement sometimes cost money, and luckily we are able to ensure a flawless move for the 2026 conference and retreat.

That said, we are reaching out to you, from our volunteer directors and from our volunteer board members, for help with the financial overhead that is a part of running such a wonderful and well-received weeklong event.

What we will use your donations for:

1. shoring up and expanding our scholarship and fellowship financial aid programs for teachers, veterans, locals, and under-represented groups.

2. ensuring our "Writers In The Classroom" program continues unabated. We have reached over 1500 HS and grade-school students over the past ten years, and we hope to continue this free program.

3. maintaining our staff and paying administrative fees as well as accountants and all those other financial difficulties we face as a nonprofit.

4. maintaining the level of housing for guests, faculty, staff, and financial aid recipients.

5. FINDING THE FINANCIAL BACKING THAT ALL OTHER MAJOR CONFERENCES ENJOY. Most have multi-million dollar endowments that allow them to expand without thought to costs. CONTACT US DIRECTLY IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CREATE A TITLED ENDOWED POSITION! See our details and donation guidelines here

Press Release: In November 2025, the Longleaf Writers Conference & Retreat will begin a transition from its previous location to the beach town of Grayton Beach, Florida, about two miles down the road from Seaside. We are excited about the potential for Grayton Beach as our new home for 2026, as we have held numerous events there over the thirteen year history of Longleaf and we feel the vibe and culture of Grayton better suits our unique low-key writing retreat experience. While this minor change in location will alter our normal Longleaf offerings at Assembly Hall, most things will remain the same and we hope to secure a new central space soon. No matter what happens, we will bring the same level of award-winning authors of poets as faculty and through our scholar and fellow programs, and we will have access to the same white sand and blue water in Grayton, and all of our key relationships with Sundog Bookstore and the Cultural Arts Alliance and Bud and Alleys and St. Joes Community Foundation (and many more) will remain the same. This shift is necessitated simply by the recent changes in usage rules the Seaside Institute has announced for some of our main properties, and that has made it too hard to remain in Seaside. We will miss those spaces and we will miss the strong bonds we’ve created with business and families in Seaside.

We will retain most of our current local partnerships as well as forging new relationships with Grayton business and organizations. There will be some changes to our traditional events, but mostly just in terms of locations. We will still have all the normal components in place, including our workshops, seminars, agent consultations, and readings.

The focal point of Longleaf - our Writers in the Classroom educational outreach initiative, where we send talented young writers into local schools for small group writing instruction, also remains the same. As our number of fully-funded Scholar and Fellow positions continues to rise, we will bring more writers into under-served communities than ever before.

Our visitors will continue to enjoy beautiful beach-house accommodations, access to amazing beaches, and a relaxed schedule that allows for plenty of time for reading, writing, and contemplation. And we will continue to offer morning yoga on the beach, bicycles for transportation and exploring, evening social events, and a bonfire party on the beach.

We wanted to appraise our guests of these minor changes in the spirit of transparency, and we are confident that our new home will be an appealing new chapter in the ongoing story of the Longleaf Writers Conference & Retreat.

Here’s how your generosity can make a difference:

I chose Longleaf Educational Services because I believe in the power of education to transform lives. This holiday, let’s celebrate by spreading joy and making a meaningful impact in our community. Thank you for your support!

Seth, Carrie, Leona, Emily, Matt, Jonathan, and all the members of the Longleaf community!