What makes an environmental writer?
Memories from the mountain: Bread Loaf Environmental Writers' Conference.
Upcoming Workshops and Offerings
Book Club for Writers will discuss Mason Currey’s book Daily Rituals: Women at Work on Sunday, July 30. All paid subscribers are invited to attend book club meetings on Zoom.
Fall workshops will be announced in the newsletter soon!
I was in Vermont last week for the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference. Writers have been ascending this mountain since 1926. I’ve heard tell of the magic of this place, and I was grateful for a chance to feel it myself.
After landing in Burlington, I hopped in a van with a boisterous driver named Elvis, who steered me and a group of other writers up the mountain, telling us about his recent run-in with a skunk. As he wove up the hills at breakneck speeds, my imposter feelings clattered around in my queasy stomach. Would I even fit in at this conference?
I don’t consider myself an “environmental writer,” even though my work often contains environmental-ish things: Florida wetlands, hefty storms, erosion. I wondered if that was enough, if I’d be able to keep up with the other writers, whose work was likely tackling much more important subject matter than my own.
However, it didn’t take much time at Bread Loaf to realize that I fit right in with these environmental writers.
Sure, many of these writers are capable of biting off much more than I could ever chew in my own work, tackling gargantuan topics like climate change and ancestral land. But the overwhelming feeling I got at this conference was a simple one: everyone there was writing about places they cared about.
And I think that’s what makes a writer an environmental writer. Environmental writers like me are enamored with certain places, so much so that we physically can’t stop writing about them.
I’ve been to a lot of conferences and workshops, and I have never met a lovelier group of writers than I did at Bread Loaf. Here’s what sets them apart: they’re fully ambitious, but they’re not overly competitive, and I think that has everything to do with the environmental component of their work.
Here’s what I mean by that: the writers I met at Bread Loaf deeply believe that writing—not just their own, but one other’s—can change the world.
1,200 miles away from my home state, I felt more supported than ever to write about Florida. I’ve returned home with a renewed sense that this is work worth doing.
If you ever have a chance to go to Bread Loaf, oh my goodness, go. It’s the most thoughtfully led writing space I’ve ever entered.
Thank you so much for having me, Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference. I hope I can come back someday.
Bread Loaf History
Robert Frost taught at Bread Loaf for 40 FREAKING YEARS. Here he is on the mountain with Anne Sexton in 1959:
More importantly, though, here’s Toni Morrison reading from Song of Solomon in the Little Theater in 1976:
Notebook Highlights
I filled up a Field Notes memo book during my time on the mountain. Here are some glimmery jotted highlights, totally out of context. Make of them what you will.
“What it means to be…” vs. “what it’s like to be…”
How can we combine writing as an expressive gesture with writing as a communicative gesture?
Record. Sing praise. Excavate. Then turn into language.
You have to evolve into a sturdy, faithful dog.
One’s own rigor is always bullshit.
^ That last one comes from the one and only Pam Houston.
Recommended Books
One of the best parts of attending a writing event is coming home with a long list of book recs! Here are some of the many titles that I can’t wait to dig into.
Book Club for Writers: Sunday, July 30
Does this newsletter have you craving some writing community? Allow me to suggest joining my Book Club for Writers!
We’re meeting on Zoom on Sunday, July 30 at 1PM EST to discuss Daily Rituals: Women at Work in July. If you’re a creative process nerd like me, you’ll love this book, which provides the routines of 143 artists working in different mediums, including writing.
Become a paid newsletter subscriber ($5/month or $40/year) to attend book club meetings on Zoom. Starting with our next meeting, book club recordings will be made available for paid subscribers who can’t make it live.
Paid subscribers also receive 10% off my writing workshops, which will open for enrollment again later this summer. Upgrade to paid by clicking the subscribe button below.
What a lovely summary of your week on the mountain, and great find of that photo of Toni Morrison in the Little Theater! I agree that there's something inspiring about environmental writers and their way of seeing the world. To be working on something bigger than ourselves is perhaps the best motivator to return to the page, day after grueling day! I can't wait to see how the Bread Loaf experience bubbles through your work.
That sounds so lovely! "Fully ambitious but not overly competitive" is so great, and I'm actually feeling a lot of that in the writing community lately. But also: "One’s own rigor is always bullshit" ! Haha, guilty as charged.