Narrative Nature Writing: A half-day workshop with Kathryn Aalto

Good nature writing is not made of good descriptions. It is made of the quality of attention behind them, and attention can be taught.

This half-day workshop moves between the classroom and the living collection, using the arboretum itself as text, teacher and subject. Participants learn to observe as writers do — slowly, precisely, with all the senses — and then to shape what they notice into narrative prose that carries the beauty, complexity and urgency of the natural world. Short readings from writers who have done this brilliantly sit alongside guided time among the trees, writing exercises in the open air, and a closing session in which participants share what they have made.

What participants will do

Learn to see. Observation is a discipline, not a gift. Exercises on the grounds train the eye and ear to catch the particular grey of that bark, the order in which a canopy moves in wind, the detail most visitors walk straight past.

Find a voice. Every writer notices differently. The workshop helps participants balance close description with personal reflection, and discover how much of themselves a piece of nature writing actually needs.

Practise the craft. Sensory language, scene, the shape of a short piece, and an introduction to Kathryn's Eight Pillars of Narrative Nonfiction — a framework for turning real experience into story. Participants leave with two or three short pieces drafted, and a clear sense of how to take them further.

Write as part of an attentive life. Writing outdoors slows the mind. The morning is also an invitation to make observation and writing a lasting, restorative practice.

Who it is for
Beginners and experienced writers alike. Gardeners, walkers, birders, naturalists, and anyone who has stood among trees and wanted to put it into words. No experience required.

What to bring
A notebook and pencil, clothing for the weather, and a willingness to look slowly.

About Kathryn Aalto
Kathryn Aalto is a New York Times bestselling author, garden historian and teacher of narrative nonfiction. Her books include The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh and Writing Wild: Women Poets, Ramblers, and Mavericks Who Shape How We See the Natural World. She is the founder of The Narrative Life®, an international school of narrative nonfiction whose students have won the Nature Chronicles Prize and signed book contracts.