Creative Care
RJ Samuel, award-winning novelist and poet, writes on the land at Wild Grace Sanctuary.
Wild Grace Sanctuary's mission names creativity alongside care for animals and land. The Writer in Residence is that part of the mission, lived every day: a writer appointed by the sanctuary's board to write on the land, and to open that work to others.
The residency isn't a school or a workshop. There's no critique and no teaching. It's writing as a practice, done in the company of animals, trees and water, and shared once a month with anyone who wants to write alongside it.
RJ Samuel
Rejini Samuel founded Wild Grace Sanctuary and is its Writer in Residence. Her novels are published under the name RJ Samuel.
Born in Nigeria to Indian parents from Kerala, she trained in medicine in Nigeria and Ireland and spent most of her working life in IT. As RJ Samuel she has published five novels, set in Ireland, India, America and France, including An Outsider Inside, winner of the Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award. Her poetry collection Write You Away followed in 2025, written as songs on the way through heartbreak.
She is also a songwriter, an improviser, and an ordained minister. In residence, she is writing a braided memoir: her own story woven with research into why good work so often goes unreceived.
A novel set in Ireland in the run-up to the 2015 marriage equality referendum.
The Vision Painter series
Honorable Mention, Rainbow Awards 2013
The Vision Painter series
Honorable Mention, Rainbow Awards 2013
Novel
Novel
Finalist, GCLS Ann Bannon Popular Choice and Tee Corinne Cover Design Awards
Poetry, 2025
#2 on Amazon's poetry new releases chart
Earlier, her fiction was shortlisted for the Over the Edge New Writer of the Year (2011) and the Doire Press chapbook competition (2012).
Writers who come to Wild Grace write beside someone who has done the whole journey, more than once: five novels and a poetry collection taken from first draft to publication, and work recognised by readers and peers in the GCLS. That experience is in the room. It isn't taught as a lesson, but it's there to ask about over lunch by the lake.
Once a month the barn opens for a Writing Morning, 10am to 12pm: quiet writing together, with a break by the lake or with the cats. The Wild Grace Jam follows from 1pm until late. Come for one, the other, or both.
Bring whatever you're writing, or nothing yet. There's no critique, no reading aloud, and no experience needed. The Writer in Residence writes alongside you.
Find a seat in the barn. A short welcome and the house rules, and one optional prompt if you want it.
Forty-five minutes of quiet writing, together.
Walk to the lake, or visit the cats in their garden.
A second forty-five minutes. At 11:50, one line each: what I worked on. Nothing more.
The morning closes. Bring your own lunch and stay a while, or head home.
From 1pm until late. Open to everyone, whether you came for the morning or not. Come to play, or come to listen.
Fourth Saturday of each month
Writing Morning 10:00am – 12:00pm
Wild Grace Jam 1:00pm until late
Come for one or both. The Writing Morning and the Jam are separate; register for whichever you're coming to.
Donation-based. Give what you can when you register. Places are limited.
The cats have their own fenced garden, away from the barn. Visiting them is optional.
Getting around: the barn is a short walk across uneven ground. Tell us about any access needs when you register.
Wild Grace Sanctuary is located between Conyers and Lithonia, Georgia, about 30 minutes from Atlanta. The address is sent when you register.
"No critique, no reading aloud. Just a morning to write, with animals and sky nearby."— Wild Grace Sanctuary
Register for the Writing Morning, the Jam, or both.