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Writing the Landscape and a touch of FenScaping…

Writing the Landscape explores the connections people have discovered in Lockdown and the thoughts and ideas it has created.

Location:

Online

Dates:

Ongoing

FenScapers- Writers inspired by landscape. A groups of people with umbrellas to protect from the bright sun, make their way through an open field of wild flowers.

The FenScapers writing group are currently preparing to launch their first venture into the world of podcasts. Reading their own writing with original music composed by Chris Ellis.

Originally called ‘Writing the Landscape’, the group has continued to meet online throughout 2020 and has explored poetry, short stories and dialogues, sharing their thoughts and experiences of nature during the first Lockdown and the ongoing pandemic situation.

During 2020 many people rediscovered a connection with the landscape and environment around them. Daily walks and gardening began to become the “new norm” for many people. It was this that inspired the writing group

As part of our Creative Conversations in Isolation commissions programme, writer Bel Greenwood facilitated an online space for people to share their discoveries through writing and to be inspired by the Fenland landscape. Using her wide range of experience, Bel encouraged writers of all levels to find and celebrate their voice.

“Fen. One New Year’s Day, in deep frost, teasels shining in the watery light of early morning, I scrunched my way along the bank, revelling in the crispness of the air, the sunlight filtering through the rising mist.” Paul
“Dear Robin. If I’d only sat up and taken the time to smell the damp earth and appreciated the beauty of my garden instead of considering my work a trial to endure, things could have been different.” Jacqui Fairfax

The writers are continuing to explore their ‘writing voices’ and are considering where the body of work that they create will lead them. MarketPlace has been pleased to watch the writing group develop their writing skills but also their ability to think about how to reach out to others across the region.

You can read some of the writing on the groups new blogsite – Leaping The Lockdown – which is all about nature, our relationship with it and the changes the writers have noticed in themselves and the world around them.

VISIT Leaping the Lockdown

Read an article about the project in The Local View, online magazine for Cambridgeshire

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