How do your conceptions of the natural world influence your writing? Can looking at ‘nature’ in different ways unlock fresh approaches and new patterns of thinking?

In the magnificent setting of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, author Jennifer Mills will lead you through a series of exercises that playfully challenge you to write with the natural world. We will use observation and curiosity to help us think about character, relationships and story structure, to bring detail to life and to make connections with the past and the future. We’ll look at some of the ways to approach writing with the natural world in crisis, including emotion, tension, and the problem of scale. We will identify the creative ecosystems that support us as writers, and some of the ways we can care for them.

Participants will:

Consider the ways your writing is changed by concepts of nature
Use the tools of observation and curiosity to enhance your imagination
Draw from the natural world to craft details, relationships and story structures
Look at some ways to approach the big challenges of writing with nature in crisis: emotion, tension, and the problem of scale
Identify and care for your own creative ecosystem

This workshop is suitable for writers of all backgrounds and levels.

Event supported by Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium and Green Adelaide.

About Jennifer Mills

Jennifer Mills is an author, editor and critic based on Kaurna Yerta. Her latest novel, The Airways (2021), was longlisted for the Miles Franklin award and shortlisted for an Aurealis Award for Horror. Dyschronia (2018) was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin, Aurealis (for Science Fiction), and Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. In 2022 she was Artist in Residence at Vitalstatistix and she is currently a Director of the Australian Society of Authors.