SUNDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2023 | 10am-1.00pm

WITNESSING LANDSCAPE - with Sally Piper

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

In this 3-hour masterclass writers take a deep dive into their connections with the natural world

In her book Humanity’s Moment: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope (Black Inc, 2022), Australian climate scientist, academic and writer Dr Jöelle Gergis says of the role of art and storytelling in relation to the climate crisis: 

They [art and storytelling] allow us to have an emotional connection with other humans and the rest of the natural world. They help us feel something, which might trigger a personal experience that leads to broader cultural change in our communities. 

And American climate scientist Richard C. J. Somerville says this of the shift back to our greater care for the environment:

…it won’t be managed by a single silver bullet but silver buckshot, the large number of worthwhile efforts that all need to take place.

With this 3-hour masterclass, Sally Piper will assist writers to re-imagine their relationship with the natural world and to guide them in new ways to think and write about those relationships so they too might add to the large number of worthwhile efforts needed to bring about cultural change in our care for the environment. 

Through a series of writing exercises, readings and discussions, Sally will ask participants to re-examine their relationship with the natural world. She will guide them in ways to make landscape and place a driver of story by creating metaphors, adding layers of meaning, increasing tension and setting mood so that reader engagement is enhanced as they experience a story’s setting, not just observe it. 

The readings and writing exercises encourage participants to examine their connections to landscapes through the senses (sight, sound, taste, smell or touch), then move beyond these to the emotional, physical, political and philosophical realm. As the masterclass progresses, participant’s perceptions of those connections shift from a sensorial experience to a felt experience, which culminates in imagining nature beyond the human. 

All participants need bring to this masterclass is a passion for the places that sustain them and a desire to write about them in new and meaningful ways.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sally Piper’s debut novel Grace’s Table was shortlisted for a Queensland Premier’s Literary Award and she was awarded a Varuna Publishing Fellowship for her manuscript. Her second novel The Geography of Friendship was shortlisted for an Australian Book Industry Award and will be developed into a 6-part TV series by Aquarius Films and Dollhouse Pictures. Her third novel Bone Memories was published in 2022. She has had short fiction and non-fiction published in various online and print publications in Australia and the UK, including Griffith Review, The Saturday Paper, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Weekend Australian.