Who We Are

The Retreat West Team of story lovers!

Amanda Saint

Amanda started Retreat West in 2012 and expanded to include Retreat West Books in 2017. In 2022, she launched the WestWord literary magazine. She has been designing and teaching online courses, and live workshops, for many years and has worked as an editor on hundreds of manuscripts. 

She’s the author of two novels, As If I Were A River (2016) and Remember Tomorrow (2019). Her novella-in-flash, Pressure Drop, is publishing in 2024 and she’s now writing her third novel and an almost complete flash fiction collection. She also writes The Mindful Writer and The Tao of Storytelling on Substack.

Amanda’s stories have been widely published; long/short listed in the Mslexia Flash Fiction Competition, Fish Flash Fiction Prize, Ink Tears Short Story Prize, Cranked Anvil Short Story Competition, Flash 500 and V300; nominated for Best Small Fictions 2023; and won the Editor’s Choice Prize at 101 Words.


Debbi Voisey

Debbi works with Retreat West running Friday Flashing sessions, the Monthly Micro Workshop and providing editorial feedback on stories.

Debbi writes flash fiction, short stories and novels. She had two novellas-in-flash published in 2021 (Only About Love with Fairlight Books, and The 10:25 with Flash:The International Short-Short Story Press). Only About Love received a special mention in the 2022 Saboteur Awards and was shortlisted for the Arnold Bennett Prize 2022.  

Debbi is currently seeking an agent and publisher for her novel, The Reset, which is written in short, flash-like chapters. She is also working on her next novel whilst running creative writing workshops, events, and courses on Zoom, and offering mentorships and guidance for people working on writing projects.


We also have freelance tutors working with us to run courses and host workshops, including:

  • C.M. Taylor
  • Isabel Costello

We have a volunteer reading team that helps Amanda select stories for the competitions. We’re very grateful for the help from:

  • Joanna Campbell
  • Emma Finlayson-Palmer