Four writers in residence in nature
We are very pleased to share with you the end of project Zine.
The Black Nature in Residence Zine is here. As promised at our recent showcase event, the Zine with a selection of creations from the four writers in residence is free to flick through online as well as to download from here now.
We hope you enjoy it.
We’ve just complete our first reading/ presentation of our residency as hosted by identity on tyne with Northumberland National Park Authority.
The writers did not disappoint. They were spectacular in their writings, and creations, in their honesty and emotions.
Sure a rare and unique event, which we know the audience appreciated.
As the next steps within the Black Nature in Residence Showcase, please feast your eyes on the virtual Black Nature in Residence Exhibition.
Enjoy.
A recipe for happiness
An autumn sun ( morning).
A little mist draped over purple mountains.
Birds singing from orange bracken.
Strong black coffee taken in my traveling home.
A pen moving across the painted page.
My heart in the right place –
– the centre of me.
Autumn is my season.
You’ll find me taking up more space in the landscape as I easy into the season.
This time, with the changing colours and temperatures, is my time to shine.
My time to expand.
So it makes sense to be working on pulling together my final creations for my residency with Northumberland National Park.
In all honesty, I feel as if I’m just beginning. Just scratching the surface.
I’m thinking I’m going to stay in residence indefinitely. Just take up the space.
Claim the space as my own. Just like when I venture out into nature and connect with her as kin.
As my birthright.
As we near the end of our residencies, it gives us great pleasure to share with you an event planned to mark the occasion.
Thursday 28 October, 6.30-8.00pm, there will be a live reading/ presentation/conversation about our time in residence on Zoom.
We made sure we stayed safe during our time working with our respective partners, and that’s not going to change at the end.
Come along to a virtual evening of words and voices and shares as we explore the highs and lows of our experiences of being Black and Brown and People of Colour in and writing about nature.
After this live virtual event, an online exhibition will go live on this website, showcasing our visual creations in residence.
And keep checking back, as come the end of November, the Black Nature in Residence Zine will be launched here too, presenting our creations.
You can grab a ticket for the final event here.
Like a goddess, she sits gracefully on her throne.
Boasting her curvy green body and delicate terrains.
She sits still, tall, and whole;
unfazed by the natural elements or the violation of the land around her.
Armed with graceful presence and self-trust,
Knowing she can weather all storms.
Just listen, watch and be still, when with the Lady;
lean into her wisdom,
to awaken the goddess within you;
mother nature has it all.
This week saw me finally meeting Patrick Norris from Footsteps in Northumberland to walk across the Pilgrim’s Way, a pathway that only becomes available when the tide is out, to reach Holy Island. This is a nature reserve rich in resources for rare and special wildlife. It was such an amazing walk, as we set off at 5.30 across to the island. getting over there, in the rain and wind at times, we were getting by the howlings from a gathering go grey seals hauled out onto the sand flats. They were grey, but also mottled white, and black and brown, and had such a way of moving across the sand. Patrick called it ‘garlumphing’. And to hear them sing. Their haunting cries carried to us within the wind, in harmony with the wind. It was like the sound when there’s a window left ajar and the wind comes inside. Like a draught coming inside. After a picnic on the island, for the way back, we saw the setting sun. It was all about the light.
Just as we stepped off the causeway, as dusk was starting to settle in for the night, out from the long grass, flying low across the tarmac to the banks of seaweed on the other side, was a beige-tawny, wide wing span of the curlew. The curlew, featured within the Northumberland National Park’s logo; this was my first sighting of the bird. It was a wonderful way to end the evening with it’s evocative ‘curlee-curlee’ call sending us off home.
Black Nature in Residence 