WRITE IN THE FOREST, CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS IN GRIZEDALE FOREST

photo of two participants taken by Geraldine Green February 28th 2015

"Write in the Forest" Creative Writing Workshops with Cumbrian writer Geraldine Green, in The Yan Centre, Grizedale Forest, near Ulverston Cumbria - all welcome! 11am-3pm £25 incl refreshments, please bring own lunch, or use the cafe. Please wear suitable footwear and clothing.

Dates: February 28th, June 6th, September 5th and November 7th.

Next Workshop: June 6th: Myth, Map-making and Transformations

You can read another blog on the February Forest Workshop titled "The Ordination of Trees" here

A few photos I took of a wonderful day spent with a group of writers in The Yan Centre and also in the Forest:

Being shown where the replica of Grizedale Hall will be constructed, using old tree roots! Love it!

Inspired by Luke Duggleby's fine photographic exhibition of Guardians of the Forest: The Aereng Valley, Cambodia

Getting inspiration from the forest and from each other.

It'll be interesting to see the changes in the forest through the seasons, February, June, September and November.

Old tree root, an eco system, home to silver birch saplings, ash, ferns, foxgloves, insects, wild strawberries and lichens.

And back in The Yan, writing from the outdoor session, some fine work was written

It's a great venue, Scandinavian in style, large airy classroom, huge windows so you feel you're outside as well as in, and other rooms to work in, for quiet writing










all photos by Geraldine Green, with permission given by attendees

There were seven of us on the first session, with three apologies, not bad for the first workshop! I gave the group writing prompts and a variety of stimuli. But first we shared a piece of writing that meant something to us. I shared Kathleen Jamie's poem 'The Wishing Tree'. Other poems/prose were Thomas Lux 'Poem in Thanks', John Kinsella 'The Hunt', Mary Oliver 'Sleeping in the Forest' a Kipling poem, John Muir extract, Francis Symons 'God is Green' (Ian Bradley)

The Wishing Tree -- Kathleen Jamie

I stand neither in the wilderness

nor fairyland

but in the fold

of a green hill

the tilt from one parish

into another.

To look at me

through a smirr of rain

is to taste the iron

in your own blood

because I hoard

the common currency

of longing: each wish

each secret assignation.

My limbs lift, scabbed

with greenish coins

I draw into my slow wood

fleur-de-lys, the enthroned Brittania.

Behind me, the land

reaches toward the Atlantic.

And though I’m poisoned

choking on the small change

of human hope,

daily beaten into me

look: I am still alive—

in fact, in bud.

Copyright © 2007 by Kathleen Jamie. Reprinted from Waterlight: Selected Poems with the permission of Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Write in the Forest - a series of four creative writing workshops with local writer Geraldine Green. Drawing on the natural world and forests in particular, these workshops will help inspire your writing and get you back in touch with nature. Workshops will take place in the inspirational Yan Centre and also outdoors - please wear suitable footwear and clothing. £25 per workshop:

Saturdays 11am-3pm

February 28th

June 6th

September 5th

November 7th

Booking essential. Adults £25 for each of the four workshops. Refreshments available. Please bring own lunch or use cafe facilities.

Venue: The Yan, Grizedale Forest

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/theyan

For booking: please email: geraldinegreen[dot]poetry1[at]gmail[dot]com

Visit my website: http://geraldinegreensaltroad.blogspot.co.uk/

With thanks to Sally, Tess, Anthony, Staff at Grizedale Forest and The Forestry Commission. Thanks also to all who came along.