In July, the Highlights Foundation hosted the 4-day Black Voices Retreat, an in-community retreat for Black storytellers.  With a loosely structured environment, in-community retreats are designed to offer creatives time and space to engage in writing, illustrating, and exploring. 

Recently, illustrator Morgan Lau and author Laila Sabreen – both Highlights Foundation scholarship recipients – reflected on their experiences at the retreat.

Morgan’s Experience

Author and illustrator Morgan Lau (a 2024 scholarship recipient with support from Hawthornden Foundation) had previously taken the online Crash Course in Children’s Publishing via a scholarship award in 2023.  This year’s award allowed her to attend an on-campus retreat, finding inspiration from her fellow creators.

“The pandemic and becoming a new mother were major transitions in my life. All of my craft development had been online, and an in-person retreat was not on my radar. The scholarship was a significant uplift for me as an illustrator. I worked on improving my writing, and getting the scholarship was very validating for me to continue creating stories in the hopes of one day getting published.”   

This retreat was especially impactful, due to the in-community experience. Lau says:  

“Being in-community gave me time to be still and to listen to myself. By being still, I focused on what I truly love. I love creating fun characters that are representative of mixed-race children like my own. This life journey can be hard sometimes, and I want to inspire kids to keep going even when things may feel hard now. Just keep going. You may surprise yourself.” 

About Morgan 

Originally from southern Virgina, Morgan is now a proud resident of Pennsylvania, where she maintains a backyard garden, practices sustainable living, and keeps up with growing toddlers. When she is not fulfilling snack requests and prepping crafts, Morgan paints and writes stories inspired by her family’s multicultural traditions and nature.

Laila’s Experience

Author Laila Sabreen was awarded the Patricia Lee Gauch Scholarship, and relished the opportunity to focus on her craft. Laila says:  

“The scholarship gave me the opportunity to step away from the busyness of my day-to-day and prioritize my creativity. I was able to recharge my creative well by being surrounded by nature and so many wonderful individuals.” 

Since the retreat, Laila has incorporated the retreat model into her work. “I re-learned the importance of creating time and space for my writing and to pour into myself creatively,” she says.

Overall, the experience left her feeling “recommitted” to her mission of telling stories that center Black Muslim teens.