Rebecca Dykes Writers is committed to ending gender-based violence

one word at a time.

In collaboration with the Highlights Foundation and other organizations, our retreats, workshops, and scholarships support the creativity and wellness of writers who are telling stories about violence against women and girls for young readers.

2025 Retreat

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2025 Retreat 〰️

Our 2025 retreat is up on the Highlights website and people are already signing up!!! We are so thrilled to bring Aida Salazar onto the team and to have Azra moving into faculty (What?! Get ready, y’all!) along with the RDW core team of Yvonne, Heather, and Bethany. Jane will be there, too! 💙

“Shame must change sides.”

Gisèle Pelicot_Credit Aline Dessine

Rebecca Dykes Writers stands with Gisèle Pelicot and her fight to end shame for survivors of gender-based violence. Her bravery and fearless vulnerability is an honor to witness.

 
 

News! Jane receives Elizabeth Emblem from King Charles on Becky’s behalf

Current and Past Faculty

Our 2024 retreat at the Highlights Foundation was an incredible experience, filled with nourishment, healing, and deep insights. Thank you to everyone who brought their full selves to this experience and the support of Highlights and Jane Houng that allowed so many writers to receive a scholarship!

Our first retreat in 2022 at Highlights Foundation for writers working on stories about VAWG for young readers is the foundation for all the work we do. Thank you to all who supported us as we embarked on this healing journey!

We are so proud of Bethany Walker, a Rebecca Dykes Writer and retreat participant, social worker, and child trauma specialist whose incredibly tender and supportive book about trauma for young readers is a must-read!

And, lucky us, Bethany was on faculty for our April 2024 retreat!

This book is perfect for libraries, teachers, parents, therapists, doctors’ offices…you name it. With its gorgeous illustrations and effective way of discussing trauma without doing harm, Lena & the Dragon is a perfect example of the kind of work we are supporting writers to create.

Congrats, Bethany!

The Scholarship

2022 was the inaugural year of the Rebecca Dykes Writers Scholarship to End Femicide.

Each year, one writer will be chosen to attend our workshop for free. This includes all travel fees, room and board. Our focus is on stories told for children and teens about violence against women and girls, particularly femicide. If this is you, and you have a story to tell, click below to learn more. Marginalized writers and writers with financial need, are especially encouraged to apply. Note: US-based writers only.

The Workshop

A safe space with experienced teachers and helping professionals to explore and tell your story about violence against women and girls in collaboration with the Highlights Foundation, a beautiful space and organization devoted to nurturing writers for children.

Our four-day workshop invites writers who are creating work for children and teens - all genres and experience levels are welcome. This trauma-informed work dives deep into the challenges of working on this subject matter for young audiences and providing mental health support for writers working with difficult material.

Our Inspiration

In her poem Ode to Lebanon, Rebecca Dykes began her expression of hope for the country she would one day be murdered in with these words: I came here with a blank sheet - of your history, culture and your people who I was yet to meet…

Her mother, children’s writer Jane Houng, founded Rebecca Dykes Writers in the hope of using story to protect women and girls. In addition to her work with writers, Jane works in Lebanon and around the world to support communities of vulnerable women. Click below to learn more.

 

Me too.

-Rebecca Dykes

Posted to her Facebook page on October 16, 2016 - exactly two months before her murder