Whidbey Island Retreat Inspired Native Hawaiian Author's New Novel

T Kira Madden, a Native Hawaiian author and assistant professor of Creative Writing and Indigenous Literatures, released her novel "Whidbey" on March 10, with the Langley-based writing retreat Hedgebrook credited as part of the book's inspiration.

Hedgebrook, situated not far from Langley on the south end of Whidbey Island, operates as a women's writing center running public events, residencies, retreats, and online classes. Madden's residency there seeded the work that became her new novel, a direct line from the island's creative infrastructure to a finished, published book.

The connection is not unusual for Whidbey Island, which has quietly accumulated one of the more concentrated literary communities in Washington state. At least seven writers of various genres have lived or currently live on the island, according to The Seattle Times. Mystery writer Elizabeth George set her first young adult novel on Whidbey Island and lived in Langley for years. More recently, a local Whidbey writers group has been publishing anthologies, and in 2024 the group produced a travel guidebook to the island now available at several island bookstores.

Two of the island's towns, Coupeville and Langley, have earned designation as Washington Creative Districts, and both sit a quick ferry ride from Port Townsend, itself a recognized writing destination. The island's character lends itself to the work: rolling farmland, ocean vistas, wooded groves, and small-town cafés that provide the kind of quiet that longer projects require. An artsy sensibility runs through the independently owned shops, restaurants, and lodgings across the island.

Hedgebrook continues to run programming for writers who cannot make it to Whidbey in person. The center offers online memoir and fiction classes accessible from anywhere, a broadening of its reach beyond the residency model that drew Madden to the island in the first place.

For those who do make the ferry crossing, the Whidbey Scenic Byway runs north along a two-lane road toward Fort Casey Historical State Park, where the sprawling grounds include decommissioned military batteries and a lighthouse that The Seattle Times describes as "an only-in-Washington setting."

Madden's novel adds a new chapter to a literary tradition that Whidbey Island has been building, largely out of the spotlight, for decades.