| Welcome to this newsletter in which I’ll share free (or at least good value) opportunities I’ve found for nature writers, recommend nature writing blogs and books, suggest nature-writing tips/prompts, and more… |
This month’s updates:
- new listing The Barn Owl Trust is running a Wildlife Poetry Competition (entry £5 per poem) on the subject of Inspirational Nature with a closing date of 29th July 2022.
- still open The 2022 Moth Nature Writing Prize (entry 15 euros) is open for entries until 15th September 2022. Time to start writing for this one…
- weekly Five Words International Poetry Competition (entry 5 euros) might be worth considering if you’re inspired by writing under pressure. Five new words are posted each week to include and some of the combinations (eg. speck spill lover over silver) could definitely inspire nature themes.
- ongoing No list of writing competitions can be entirely comprehensive but I like to keep an eye on this one – compiled by Neon Books.
- I launched my Nature-Writing Hours series of workshops a couple of weeks ago and the first four sessions were lots of fun and resulted in lovely things like this anthology of nature writing and photos. Each workshop in the series takes place on a Friday evening and is then repeated the following morning. Tickets are flexibly priced and you can find them at the links below. At the next one we’ll be talking about the benefits and ethical issues of including dialogue in nature writing.
| First session | Duplicate session |
| LAST CHANCE Fri 17th Jun 7-8pm – Voices for nature | LAST CHANCE Sat 18th Jun – Voices for nature |
| Sat 9th Jul 11am-12pm – Nature diaries with pizzazz | Sun 10th Jul 6-7pm – Nature diaries with pizzazz |
| Fri 29th Jul 7-8pm – Perfecting pitches | Sat 30th Jul 11am-12pm – Perfecting pitches |
This month’s Who to Read or Follow recommendations:
- This month I’ll be reading I belong here by Anita Sethi, once again for the nature-writing book club I go to and I’m really looking forward to it.
- Hey Twitter users, I’d recommend following the unfeasibly nice writer and botanist Leif Bersweden for his upbeat and inspiring tweets. His new book, Where the Wild Flowers Grow, is out on the 23rd June, and I’m sure it will be great.
This month’s Nature-writing tips and prompts:
Stuck for nature-writing inspiration? Don’t be put off by rainy days. It gives you a different perspective on the natural world going about its business.
Add to your knowledge of the nature around you… what plants and wildlife are living in or near water where you live? From the pond in your local park, to river banks, learn to recognise the aquatic and marginal specialists like water crowfoot, common rush as well as common ducks, geese and other water birds.
And… please send me anything you’d like to be included in next month’s newsletter.
| Recordings of writing workshops I’ve led can be found here on my Youtube channel and you can read anthologies from my nature-writing residency partnered with the London Wildlife Trust here on their blog. My proudly self-published activity book Thumbnail Nature Journal is available to buy here… |
Freelance Nature Writer 