Human=Nature: Entanglements, writers’ workshops through the seasons
“What a treat! I enjoyed every single second of it - a wonderful group of people, a gorgeous setting and how beautifully led it was” - Sophie, participant Summer Workshop
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Note: our Spring and Summer workshops are available now as self-study packs (workshops that you work through at your own pace; see below).
WH Auden wrote that ‘a culture is no better than its woods.’ Join JLM Morton on the Autumn Equinox (and Winter solstice"!) for a very special workshop at Sladebank Woods on the edge of Stroud town, a thin place that leans into the trouble where urban life meets the wild with all of its human and more-than-human detritus.
An old ash tree in Sladebank Woods.
Sladebank is a Key Wildlife Site which occupies a semi-rural / semi-urban edgeland, sandwiched between a housing estate, farmland and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is a fascinating site to explore, exchange and reflect on the profound connections that bind humans/nature and how this might inspire our writing.
In this workshop, we will explore the concept of entanglements - the idea that humans and nature are intricately interwoven, shaping one another’s lives in ways both visible and unseen. Through a combination of readings, interactive discussions, experiential activities, and reflective exercises, participants in the workshops will seed new writing and have the opportunity to share work for feedback with others in the group after the sessions.
Some key topics we’ll consider include:
· Interconnected ecologies
· Care and connection
· Living and thriving together
This workshop series offers a unique space for a deeper appreciation of our interconnected nature and is open to writers working at any level and in any form.
Workshops are timed to take place around the spring equinox, summer solstice, autumn equinox and winter solstice. We warmly invite you to attend all of the sessions or dip in on an individual session basis (see below for booking). Please note that spaces are limited.
This workshop series is part of JLM Morton’s residency at Sladebank Woods in 2024.
Dates
10.30am – 1.30pm Sunday 17th March - now a downloadable self study pack available for the Spring Equinox, 19th March!
10.30am – 1.30pm Sunday 23rd June
10.30am – 1.30pm Sunday 22nd September
10.30am – 1.30pm Sunday 15th December
Cost
£30 per workshop
£22.50 for a self study pack. Please note that when you purchase a self-study pack it may take up to 24 hours to receive the pack as this is currently sent manually.
There are two pay what you can spaces available for each workshop and for the full series, on a first come first served basis. Please apply for a spot here.
Tutor: JLM Morton
JLM Morton is co-Director of Dialect. She’s a writer and poet whose work explores rural experience and belonging, ancestry, place and practices of care, repair and solidarity across human and other-than-human worlds. Winner of the Laurie Lee, Geoffrey Dearmer, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust Poetry and International Dylan Thomas Day prizes, her work is published widely including in The Poetry Review, The Rialto, Magma, Poetry Birmingham, Places of Poetry, Sunday Telegraph and recently in Living With Water (Manchester University Press, 2023). In 2023 she was longlisted for the Nan Shepherd Prize. Her first full poetry collection Red Handed is forthcoming with Broken Sleep Books (2024). Find her online at: jlmmorton.com
Image: Gabriel Kelemen
