Nature writing weekend workshop with NZ author and teacher Deborah Shepard

About the event

​At no time in history has nature writing seemed more important and pertinent than now, poised as we are in the midst of a climate crisis. Yet each day as we navigate the welter of alarming reports in the media it is easy to feel a rising sense of helplessness. What can I really do, on my own, to avert a catastrophe?  On this workshop the focus will be on redirecting our anxieties into paying deep attention to the wonder of Nature, discovering what it can teach us and how we in turn can contribute to the discussion by paying tribute, through creative expression, to its majesty and power.

Join author and experienced writing tutor Deborah Shepard on her writing residency at the historic Karekare Homestead, for a weekend of nature writing in a remarkable location on the margins between the Waitakere Ranges and the Tasman sea. Writing in the homestead and outdoors you will have an opportunity to develop your writing skills and sharpen your powers of observation and analysis through a range of writing exercises, group discussion, and the study of nature texts.

Event includes
Writing exercises on:

• Your personal relationship with nature beginning with your earliest memory of engaging with nature and its majestic power
• Immersive writing on the beach at Karekare and from a higher location in the dunes
• A close encounter with nature
• Exploring, understanding and respecting the wild: reflecting on what we can learn from the natural world and considering how we can contribute to the discussion through our writing

An introduction to the nature writing genre:

• Group study of a selection of some of the most inspiring examples of nature writing
• A reading programme based on a selected bibliography of the nature writing genre

Sharing our experiences through writing:

• An opportunity to share your writing with a community of writers united in the act of reflecting on the importance of the natural world

An opportunity to deepen your appreciation of nature through a writing project:

• This course may provide a starting point for your own writing project or be the stimulus and encouragement you need for a work in progress

This workshop is suitable for all comers who feel passionate about the natural world. We all have the capacity to write from our personal experience on the subjects that matter to us. On Deborah’s courses you are introduced to techniques and triggers that help strengthen and develop your writing voice.

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