A residential, short course in environmental writing and literature - April 24-28, 2023. The course will be led by Gretchen Henderson at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, Virginia and is designed as a compliment to Oak Spring’s “Reading the Landscape” course (not a prerequisite).
Purpose: The purpose of this course is for participants to gain experience in what is often referred to as “nature writing” or “environmental literature.” Land, place, nature, environment, wilderness: what words tend to describe the natural world? This course will deepen their understandings of landscape through language. Participants will read to hone their writing, and write to “read” the landscape, attuning attentions toward both land and language. Against the backdrop of the climate crisis, what narrative, poetic, and representational strategies expand or limit our perceptions of “nature”? How do personal and cultural histories and professional practices influence our ways of “seeing” (or not seeing) environments and interdependent inhabitants? In addition to reading, writing, and field practices, participants will keep an active notebook where process becomes part of the product. Both experienced and emerging writers are welcome.
Topics will include: how to keep a writing field guide, vocabularies of landscape, expanding categories of “nature” and “environmental” writing, natural-cultural histories, embodied knowledges, ecotones of voice, (dis)placed perceptions, narrative timescales, interdisciplinary research methods, among other topics. Special focus will be given to forms of nonfiction around “nature writing” and “environmental writing,” from scientific to personal essays, with exposure to other genres and art forms to gain techniques and hone craft.
Eligibility: This field course is ideally suited to professionals from a wide range of backgrounds who wish to hone their skills of communication beyond professional “jargon” to write for a general audience. It also is suited to those who wish to read more deeply and broadly.
Humanists, artists, scientists, social scientists, educators, and advanced students across disciplines are all welcome, whether experienced or emerging writers. We hope that participants will find varied applications for the material to share what they gain from the program. Participants should come with a sense of curiosity, and be ready to read and write actively in the process of understanding landscapes, to learn alongside peers in group seminars, to share and listen while actively contemplating the surrounding landscape.
About OSGF: The Oak Spring Garden Foundation (OSGF) is a philanthropic foundation based at the former primary estate of the late Paul and Rachel Mellon, who were major philanthropists in the U.S. of the arts, humanities, and sciences in the second half of the twentieth century. OSGF is located in the northern Virginia Piedmont and Blue Ridge Mountains region (ca. one-hour drive from Washington, D.C.). Led by Sir Peter Crane, the Foundation’s inaugural President, OSGF provides short courses and supports residencies for artists and scholars. Its celebrated Library comprises rare books, manuscripts and works of art relating to horticulture, landscape design, botany and natural history. It is becoming a new center of stimulation of all things botanical, from fundamental research in plant evolution and conservation, to horticultural and plant conservation practice, to the history and art of plants gardens and landscapes.
Instructor: Gretchen E. Henderson writes across environmental humanities, arts, and sciences. Her fifth book, Life in the Tar Seeps: A Spiraling Ecology from a Dying Sea (forthcoming Trinity University Press), has been seeping across intermedia tributaries including Ecotone (Notable in Best American Essays 2020), Mining the West (in collaboration with the Utah Museum of Fine Arts), Scholarly Texts (with the Holt-Smithson Foundation), and coauthored articles including Nature Sustainability and Conservation Biology (in collaboration with the Luc Hoffmann Institute/World Wildlife Fund). Her recent awards include a 2022 Fellowship at the Women’s International Studies Center in Santa Fe, 2020-2022 Faculty Fellowship at the Humanities Institute at The University of Texas at Austin, 2018-2019 Annie Clark Tanner Fellowship in Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah, and 2019 writer-in-residence in nature writing at the Jan Michalski Foundation for Writing and Literature in Switzerland. She has taught at UT-Austin, Georgetown University, University of Utah, MIT, Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, and other writing programs and community settings. Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Gretchen currently is a Senior Lecturer at UT-Austin and lives in the biodiverse Sonoran Desert.
Guest instructors for this course will also include members of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation's Library, Garden and Biocultural Conservation Farm teams, including Sir Peter Crane.
Accommodation and Travel Information: Participants will be accommodated with all meals and private lodging on site at Oak Spring. They will need to bring proper clothing for being in the field (a suggested list will be provided after acceptance) as well as materials for writing.
Participants are responsible for arranging their own travel to the Washington, D.C. area. If flying, please book flights to Dulles International Airport. International applicants are welcome, but fluency in English is necessary. Closer to the start date, our Programs team will assist with coordinating travel arrangements to the Oak Spring Garden Foundation site, as necessary.
Dates and Duration: The course runs for four (4) days with participants arriving on Monday, April 24, 2023 and ending on Friday, April 28, 2023.
Course Fee: $750 (includes course content and all meals and accommodations) Scholarships available
Selection Process: Application review will be done by Gretchen Henderson and OSGF staff.
Application Deadline: Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:00PM EST. Applications will be informed if they have been accepted by Thursday, December 15, 2022.