Writing Water

Class description

Do you love water and Nature and enjoy expressing your feelings, memories, experiences, hopes and concerns for them through writing? If so, these sessions are for you! “Writing Water” is brought to you by River Hope, a local grassroots movement which aims to nurture community relationships focused on the water bodies and the biodiversity of water ecosystems of Stratford-on-Avon District. For more information, visit https://riverhope.org.uk This series of creative writing classes will explore our feelings, memories and experiences of the different states of water, water bodies near and far, and all the life forms that live in, on and around water. We will celebrate water’s role in our lives, landscapes and societies. We will play with myth, legend and metaphor. We will meet and engage with the biodiversity of water bodies. We will consider what water and Nature are telling us in these times. Our sessions will use the Amherst Writers and Artists method described in Pat Schneider’s book “Writing alone and with others” (Oxford University Press, 2003) Classes are open to all. Come along and enjoy writing in a stimulating, relaxed and supportive environment. Please bring your own notebook and pen. If you have any special needs, please make us aware before the course by emailing: riverhopeinfo@gmail.com Sessions: Six sessions on Tuesday mornings, from 10:30am – 1pm Dates: 16, 23, 30 September and 7, 14, 21 October Fee: £15 per session Facilitator: Mary Manandhar (PhD) is an anthropologist, community engagement facilitator and qualitative researcher, all roles that involve storytelling, case studies, and listening to and amplifying voices. She has been writing creatively for pleasure, personal growth and wellbeing since adolescence and is an Alumna of the Oxford University Creative Writing Summer School (2009). While living in the west of Ireland in the 2000’s, she was an active member of a local Amherst Writer’s group, and helped coordinate and produce “Mid-life Slices: an anthology of writing and art by women in mid-life from Northwest Ireland” (2012) which raised funds for the Sligo Cancer Support Centre. She is part of global online Writers Abroad community and has published prose and poetry pieces in their anthologies, including Foreign and Far Away (2013) and Kaleidoscope (2015). Mary is the convenor and facilitator of River Hope after initiating the movement in October 2024. She can be contacted by email: riverhopeinfo@gmail.com