Siem Reap
Story Sanctuary
Writing Retreat

A Writing Retreat in Siem Reap, Cambodia

10–22 August 2027 | 12 nights | A small community of 12 writers

Join us in Siem Reap

Join Dr Betty O’Neill for the Siem Reap Story Sanctuary Writing Retreat in the heart of Siem Reap, Cambodia. At the charming Rambutan Resort, reserved exclusively for our group, you’ll have dedicated writing time, individual mentoring and optional workshops, with space to explore the temples of Angkor and Cambodia’s food, arts and traditions. Seven days devoted to writing sit within a longer stay, allowing time to settle in, regain your creative focus and make meaningful progress on the project that matters most to you.

For more information or to express your interest, email Betty.ONeill@uts.edu.au

Discover Siem Reap

There are places that invite us to slow down, look differently and imagine more. Siem Reap is one of them.

Gateway to the temples of Angkor, Siem Reap is also a lively centre for Cambodian arts. Ancient stories told through intricate temple carvings sit alongside living traditions of dance, music and craftsmanship. A tree-shaded river winds through the town, markets bustle, and pagodas offer glimpses of Buddhist daily life.

Here, there is time to immerse yourself in the writing project that matters most to you: to think, explore and experiment, receive individual mentoring, and make real progress.

Every writer will have dedicated one-to-one time with Betty to discuss their project, explore possibilities and identify practical next steps.

And time, too, to encounter Cambodia’s landscapes, people, food, history and traditions, and discover how a new place might expand your perspective and influence your writing.

Our private sanctuary in Siem Reap is designed to nourish both the writer and the writing.

Just imagine

Waking each morning knowing that there is time for you and your writing.

A leisurely breakfast. A short morning gathering to spark ideas and set intentions. Then hours to concentrate on your project beside the pool, under a shady tree, in your own room or wherever you do your best work.

There will be individual mentoring when you need a different perspective on your work, optional workshops when you want fresh inspiration, and other writers nearby when you want company. Workshops will respond to participants’ interests and needs but may include narrative structure, life writing, building narrative tension, writing through the senses and creativity for writers.

Beyond our Siem Reap Story Sanctuary lies a town full of life and rich cultural narratives, with the extraordinary temples and landscapes of Angkor within reach.

What makes our Siem Reap writing retreat different

Great writing retreats create space. Siem Reap offers something more: a place that invites curiosity.

During our time together, there will be opportunities to step away from the page and experience some of the places, people and traditions of Cambodia, then return to our writing refreshed.

You won’t be hurried from temple to temple. Nor will every hour be programmed. We want to preserve the spaciousness that writers need while making the most of being somewhere remarkable.

Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia reflected in a pond beneath a blue sky with palm trees
Group dining at an open-air tropical restaurant, with a server carrying food and plates of grilled dishes on the table.
Woman wearing glasses writes in a notebook while seated in a wicker chair.
Tourist seated on ancient stone steps overlooking a historic temple courtyard and ruins
Two women talking inside a traditional wooden tobacco house labeled “Rumah Tembakau,” with papers and notebooks.
Sunlit stone walkway through a lush forest, with puddles reflecting the trees and historic ruins in the background.
Smiling elderly woman with white hair sitting in a wicker chair behind an HP laptop at home
Ancient Bayon temple gate with carved stone faces surrounded by jungle in Angkor, Cambodia
Group of friends raising glasses during an outdoor dinner at dusk
Four Buddhist monks in orange robes walking through ancient stone temple ruins in a forest

The rhythm of our twelve days

Our planned itinerary combines time to arrive and explore with seven days devoted to writing.

10 August Arrive in Siem Reap. Airport transfer, settle in, rest and unwind. Casual dinner.

11 August Leisurely breakfast, neighbourhood walk before our 11am Retreat Opening, writing time and Welcome Dinner.

12 August Our first taste of Angkor - Angkor Wat sunrise and Angkor Archaeological Park excursion, lunch, free afternoon and an evening at Phare Circus.

13–19 August Seven-day Story Sanctuary writing retreat - creative warm-ups, spacious writing time, individual mentoring, optional writing craft workshops and a morning market experience, evening dance performance, NGO-run restaurant for dinner woven through the week.

20 August Floating village excursion.

21 August Temple countryside tour or a completely free day, followed by our farewell dinner.

22 August Breakfast and departures.

A Typical Day

  • Breakfast together, followed by a short creative warm-up and intention-setting.

  • Protected writing time, individual mentoring and plenty of freedom to settle into a sustainable creative practice.

  • Optional workshops, then check-ins and conversations.

  • Some evenings will be ours to share; others will be entirely free.

Testimonials

“Thank you so very much for a fabulous week. My writers’ group at home are all envious - as they should be! The exercises you led us through really opened my creativity faucet and I intend to keep twisting the tap-handle in the right direction”

Jo Callaghan, 2025 Retreat

“I haven’t felt so enlivened by being part of a group for a long time. Betty, you are a consummate teacher, and I really appreciated the very careful planning (with flexibility!) that went in to every day. I learned so much.  My heartfelt THANKS.  I’ll certainly keep going.

Meg C. July 2025 Retreat

Betty holds the writing workshops with experience, wisdom and knowhow that draws the best from people and brings new learning edges. She also offers invaluable one-on-one reading and consultation. The week offers the delights of good teaching, beautiful accommodation, solo time and group feasting. What’s not to love?

Julie P. February 2026 Retreat

What’s included

What’s not included

  • 12 nights in a private bedroom with ensuite

  • Daily breakfast

  • Dedicated writing time and spaces

  • High-speed WiFi

  • Morning creative sessions

  • Optional afternoon writing workshops

  • Individual mentoring

  • Regular group check-ins

  • Welcome and farewell gatherings

  • Angkor Wat and temples excursion, excluding the Angkor Temple Pass

  • Phare Cambodian Circus, a social enterprise honouring Khmer culture

  • Pre-retreat Zoom gathering

  • Airport transfers

  • Airfares, passport costs and visa fees

  • Travel and health insurance, which is mandatory

  • Alcohol

  • Angkor Temple Pass

  • Additional activities, treatments and meals not listed as included

Ancient Angkor temple ruins covered in moss and engulfed by tree roots and tropical foliage
Children paddling a wooden boat past traditional stilt houses and floating water plants
Ancient stone temple ruins with carved towers, guardian statues, and a central entrance surrounded by trees
Vendor holding a woven basket of golden steamed bread rolls over a large steaming pot filled with more rolls
Four Buddhist monks in orange robes walking through ancient stone temple ruins in a forest
Vietnamese platter with banana-leaf dishes, grilled pork, spring rolls, vegetables, and dipping sauce
Tourists pass beneath the Bayon Temple gate at Angkor Thom in Cambodia, featuring a giant carved stone face surrounded by jungle.

Beyond the page experiences

From the temples of Angkor at first light to encounters with Cambodian food, arts and contemporary life, we’ll occasionally step away from our writing to experience the place around us.

A morning market visit offers a chance to notice the details of daily life. Dance and circus performances open windows onto Cambodian storytelling, while excursions beyond town invite us to look more closely at the landscape and the lives it sustains.

These experiences are opportunities to replenish the imagination, awaken the senses and return to the page seeing differently.

Testimonial

What a wonderful creative and cultural experience! The welcome ceremony by a local elder, opportunities to attend a Kecak (Fire dance) performance and to visit a nearby puppet and mask museum gave us a lovely glimpse into Balinese culture. It is always a joy to learn and practise in a community of writers and Betty’s workshops enabled us to deepen our creativity and develop our craft.  The real gift, however, is her ability to listen and ask questions. I left this 7-day retreat with much greater clarity and confidence in my project.  

Jeannie M. Bali February 2026 Retreat

Vietnamese platter with grilled pork, spring rolls, stir-fried vegetables, banana-leaf dishes, and dipping sauce
Smiling older woman wearing glasses and a colorful floral blouse, holding a book in a wicker chair beside a bookshelf.
Two women sit in wicker chairs having a conversation, each holding a notebook and pen.
Busy Cambodian street with motorcycles, a red tuk-tuk, colorful shopfronts, and ornate colonial-style buildings under a blue sky
Three women smiling at a restaurant table surrounded by tropical plants and marigold flowers.
Visitors exploring an intricately carved, moss-covered Khmer temple ruin surrounded by jungle
Elderly woman and young girl preparing food inside a rustic bamboo-and-wood home, with children and an adult in the background.
Two older adults share papers at a wooden table inside a rustic wooden restaurant, with a water bottle in the foreground.
Overhead view of people sharing a Vietnamese meal with grilled fish, rice, soup, salad, watermelon, dipping sauce, and lime on a patterned tablecloth.
Two Buddhist monks in orange robes at an ancient Khmer temple, framed by stone columns and ornate temple towers.

Who is this retreat for?

This retreat is for writers who crave something increasingly difficult to find in everyday life: the opportunity to immerse themselves in a creative project long enough to make meaningful progress.

You may be an experienced writer or relatively new to writing. What matters is that you have a story, idea or project you’d like to spend time with and that you’re open to sharing the experience with a small, supportive community of other writers.

You might come because you’ve stalled on a manuscript; life keeps interrupting your writing; you need distance to see a project differently; you want guidance without enrolling in a formal course; or you simply want to give yourself permission to take your writing seriously.

Your Writing Mentor

What you could take home

By the end of one of Betty’s retreats, writers regularly leave with greater clarity, renewed confidence and significant progress on their manuscript or writing project.

Smiling older woman with long white hair wearing a white collared shirt outdoors

Dr Betty O’Neill
Learn more about Betty and her approach to working with writers.

Testimonial

“The retreat was a timely catalyst to reconnect with my project after months of stagnation. Within a day of joining the retreat, I felt my ‘writing mojo’ resurfacing”

Annie Stewart, 2024 Retreat

Could this be your next writing adventure


A private sanctuary in Siem Reap. Time and space to write. A small community of writers, with the extraordinary world of Angkor within reach.

We’re currently finalising the details for the Siem Reap Story Sanctuary Writing Retreat. If you’d like to express your interest, receive further information as it becomes available, or simply ask a question, I’d love to hear from you.

Email Betty.ONeill@uts.edu.au.