Writing in the company of other women: exceeding the boundaries

In academic life, writing for publication is a significant responsibility. It can also be a rewarding private pleasure. This article reports on the effects of attending week‐long writing retreats for a group of academic women in Aotearoa New Zealand. The residential retreats have been held twice a year since 1997, and attract women from different institutions, disciplines and at different stages in their careers. Through examining data gathered by open‐ended questionnaires, the author explores the effects of attending the retreats on the participants’ academic writing productivity and pleasure, and on their sense of themselves as academics and writers.