over four weeks
6.30 – 8.30pm on Wednesdays
8 – 29 April
at 8a Tivey Street, Newstead
this is a wheelchair accessible venue
New Nature Writing for starting out nature writers
Participants will aim to each produce a piece of writing (such as creative non-fiction, fiction, poetry, memoir, travel writing) approximately 1,000 to 3,000 words, or multiple shorter pieces as suited. We will workshop some pieces, (read and provide feedback to writing peers), aiming to strengthen our writing voice. Each participant is encouraged to develop a regular writing practice throughout the program.
Each week the two-hour workshop will include 4 main activities:
1) Discussing a topic/theme of Nature Writing:
a) History and styles of Nature Writing – Writing in the Anthropocene, responding to Climate Change,
b) Writing on/about/with Indigenous Country
c) Observations, senses and emotions in Nature Writing
d) Writing WITH Non-human Animals, Forests, Water, Atmospheres etc
2) Discussing a current nature writing reading.
3) Short writing exercises on the weekly theme – writing prompts and activities will develop the participants’ topic.
4) Workshopping drafts of participant’s work.
Note this is the introductory level program. In Spring 2026 a four-week program will be offered for those who have completed these beginning-writer’s workshops, covering new topics in more depth.
Deborah’s writing is fuelled by her belief that humans are seeking new relationships with the natural world in the context of climate change. Deborah relishes teaching the art of writing stories that reflect human and non-human responses to global warming.
Deborah Wardle has fiction and non-fiction stories published in peer-reviewed articles in Australian and international journals including Meninscus, Mosaic, Fusion. Animal Studies Journal and Meanjin.
Her book, Subterranean Imaginaries and Groundwater Narratives (Routledge, 2024) is a hybrid scholarly/creative work based on her PhD thesis. Deborah’s story ‘Groundwater’ appears in Ground: Best Australian Nature Writing (2024).
Deborah is an experienced teacher of Creative Writing and Literature at RMIT & University of Melbourne.