Boston Flora

Tag: The Heart of Story

  • Fridays, July 24 and July 31, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Writing in the Garden

    Rich in sensory experience, a garden is an especially inspiring place in which to write. In this two-hour workshop, to be held twice on July 24 and 31, from 10 – noon, participants will visit two gardens at Tower Hill and write spontaneously in response to prompts inspired by the surroundings. Both aspiring and experienced writers are welcome.

    Instructor Jane Roy Brown is an award-winning writer, editor, and landscape historian who lives in Conway, Massachusetts. Jane works part-time as director of educational outreach at the Library of American Landscape History, a nonprofit organization based in Amherst, Massachusetts, which publishes books, produces films, and organizes exhibitions about American landscape history. Her workshop series, The Heart of Story: Writing Stories of Our Lives, focuses on how to write memoir.

    With Susan Haltom, Jane is co-author of One Writer’s Garden: Eudora Welty’s Home Place (University Press of Mississippi, September 2011), which won the 2012 Eudora Welty Award. Jane also wrote Drawing Lessons, a history of the Conway School of Landscape Design (CSLD via lulu.com, November 2011, work for hire).
    Her articles on travel, gardens, and landscape architecture have appeared in numerous periodicals, including Architectural Record, the Boston Globe travel section, The Christian Science Monitor, Garden Design, Harvard Magazine, and Preservation. She is a contributing editor for Landscape Architecture, the magazine of the American Society of Landscape Architects. She received a 2008 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Gold Award from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation. She edited the 2003 Journal of the New England Garden History Society and worked in various editorial staff positions at AMC Outdoors, the magazine of the Appalachian Mountain Club, from 1995 to 2004, where she received a 2004 national Gold Award from the Society of National Association Publishers.  After earning a B.A. at Middlebury College, Jane completed the certificate program in landscape-design history at Radcliffe Seminars (now the Landscape Institute at Boston Architectural College). As her final project, she documented the history of the 1926 Jens Jensen landscape at Skylands, the former summer home of Edsel and Eleanor Ford in Seal Harbor, Maine.

    Tower Hill member price is $20 per session, nonmembers $35 per session.  Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Thursdays, July 23 – August 6, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Garden Writing Workshop: The Heart of Story

    The writer Eudora Welty found her garden to be a wellspring of sensory experience that nourished her writing. She observed that when stimulated by fragrance, the sounds of insects and birds and the colors and textures of plants, our minds take flight, and stories and memories bubble to the surface. Writing in a garden provides an opportunity to tap this rich inspiration, whether the topic is the garden itself, a personal memory or a story born of the imagination. In this series taking place on three consecutive Thursdays, July 23 – August 6, participants will visit different garden spaces at Berkshire Botanical Garden and write spontaneously in response to prompts—verbal or visual cues provided by the workshop lead- er—inspired by the natural surroundings. Writers will hone their abilities to observe, stay focused and respond from their hearts. This workshop is designed to be a safe, guided experience for aspiring and experienced writers alike. Participants can enroll in one, two or all three of the sessions. Each session will focus on a different topic: (1) Memoir and Garden Memories; (2) Establishing Sense of Place; (3) Writing with All Your Senses.  BBG Members $135; Nonmembers $145. Register online at www.berkshirebotanical.org. What to bring: Come prepared to spend two hours outdoors, including moderate walking. For example, the instructor usually carries a small tote or backpack containing a notebook, pen or pencil, water bottle, light rain jacket or umbrella, sunhat, sunscreen and bug repellent. In inclement weather, the workshop will take place indoors.

    Instructor Jane Roy Brown is an award-winning writer, editor and workshop leader who lives in Conway, MA. In January 2012, Jane founded “The Heart of Story: Writing Stories of Our Lives,” a suite of workshops designed to facilitate memoir writing for adults at all levels of experience. Jane is coauthor of One Writer’s Garden: Eudora Welty’s Home Place (University Press of Mississippi, 2011), the winner of the 2012 Eudora Welty Book Award. Her writing has appeared in numerous periodicals, including The Christian Science Monitor, Garden Design, Horticulture and Preservation. She is a contributing editor for Landscape Architecture, the national magazine of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and was a regular contributor to the Boston Globe travel section from 2001–2013.