Writing Wild Issue 10

Words from the Wild Women Writers' Salons

Hello, wonderful wild ones! I hope this finds you well and feeling nourished. Thank you all so much for your support and your continued creative community.

As the summer draws to a close here and the days grow shorter, my thoughts are turning towards the creativity that hibernation can bring, and curating the next season of wonderful, wild salons. Maybe you’d like to hear more memoir writers, or perhaps fiction, or poetry? With four more salons programmed for 2024, there’s still plenty of inspiration in the pipeline, but please comment below and let me know what you’d love to see next year in the comments below — and what you’ve loved so far!

And remember, if you missed the previous salons, consider upgrading to a paid subscription to access all previous newsletters and private links to the salons for this programme, plus extra interviews with authors, writing prompts and reading suggestions.

Coming up at the end of the month, we have Salon 11: A Wild Calling on 26th September (online, 7 p.m. UK time). Join me and fabulous guest authors Catherine Munro (Ponies at the Edge of the World), Doreen Cunningham (Soundings), and Erica Berry (Wolfish) for a deep dive into our relationship with the wild — around us and within us.

Wild Wishes, Vik xx

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A Look Back…

‘…We all carry trace fossils within us – the marks that the dead and the missed leave behind…’ (Robert McFarlane - Underland)

Thank you to our August salon guest authors, Annie Worsley, Cal Flyn, and Wendy Pratt. Together, we took a deep dive into the the landscapes that hold us, the traces that shape them, and the intimate relationships we form with the places we call home, and the ones we pass through. A rich conversation that had us exploring deep time, grief, ecology, archaeology — and a surprise celebration of boglands and all their mysterious beauty!

Thank you to all who shared the evening with us.

Want more from our authors? Catch them here…

Annie Worsley - Red River Croft Blog

Cal Flyn - Website

Wendy Pratt - Substack

Wendy and Cal are both currently open to new mentees. Please contact them directly via their websites for more information.

(Remember, you can access all salon recordings on the 2023-24 programme by upgrading to our paid subscription.)

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Coming Soon…

Wild Women Writers’ Salon 11

A Wild Calling

Thursday 26th September, 7 pm (UK time)

Online

A deep dive into our relationship with the wild within, and around us, exploring the connections between humans and animals, and the homes we make in wild places. With guest authors Catherine Munro, Doreen Cunningham, and Erica Berry.

Thursday 26th August at 7 pm UK time (Online)

The event is recorded with English subtitles and has captions enabled.

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Introducing our Salon Guests

Catherine Munro

Catherine Munro is an author and anthropologist in human-animal relationships, with a special interest in the people and ponies of Shetland. She lives in Shetland with her young family and loves exploring the landscapes and sharing her experiences through her writing and work as a tour guide. The Ponies at the Edge of the World is her first book.

Ponies at the Edge of the World: on nature, belonging and finding home

Catherine Munro transforms her life when she moves to Shetland to study the hardy ponies who call this archipelago home. Over the course of her first year, she is welcomed into the rhythms and routines that characterise life at the edge of the world.

When faced with personal loss, Catherine finds comfort and connection in the shared lives of the people, animals and wild landscapes of Shetland. Ponies at the Edge of the World is a heartfelt love letter to the beauty and resilience of these magical ponies and their native land. A stunning book on community, hope and finding home.

Doreen Cunningham

Doreen Cunningham is an Irish-British writer born in Wales. After studying engineering she worked briefly in climate related research at NERC and in storm modelling at Newcastle University, before turning to journalism. She worked for the BBC World Service for twenty years as an international news presenter, editor, producer and reporter. She won the RSL Giles St Aubyn Award 2020 and was shortlisted for the Eccles Centre and Hay Festival Writers Award 2021 for Soundings, her first book.

Soundings: Journeying North in the Company of Whales

Doreen first visited Alaska as a young BBC journalist reporting on climate change among indigenous whaling communities. There, drawn deeply into an Iñupiaq family and an ill-fated love affair, she joined the bowhead whale hunt out on the sea ice.

Years later, now a single mother living in a hostel, Doreen embarks on this extraordinary journey: following the grey whale migration back to the Arctic, where greys and bowheads meet at the melting apex of our planet.

From Mexico to the Arctic ice, grey whale mothers swim with their calves. Following them, by bus, train and ferry, are Doreen and her toddler Max, in pursuit of a wild hope.

Erica Berry

Erica Berry is an author, creative lecturer and mentor. She lives in her hometown of Portland, Oregon, where she is a Writer-in-the-Schools and an Associate Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters. Her nonfiction debut, Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear, was published in 2023 and was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and a semifinalist for the Pacific Northwest Book Award.

Winner of the Steinberg Essay Prize, her essays often explore the intersection between feelings and the natural environment, and have appeared in The New York Times, Orion, The Yale Review, The Guardian, Aeon, Literary Hub, Wired, Outside, Colorado Review, and The Atlantic, among others.

Wolfish: The stories we tell about fear, ferocity and freedom

Both vilified and venerated, wolves abound through cultural folklore and literature. In this hauntingly lyrical and unflinching inquiry, Erica Berry untangles these depictions - alongside her own research of the wolf and experience as a woman - to try to understand how we navigate terror, vulnerability and violence in our fragile, often dangerous world.

Luminously wise and unusually brave, Wolfish will stay with you long into the night.

Introducing our Salon Host — Victoria Bennett

Victoria Bennett is a disabled writer, carer, and mother. A firm believer in everyone’s right to write their own story, she has dedicated much of her working life to nurturing spaces where people can do just that, founding Wild Women Press in 1999. When not juggling writing, care, and chronic illness, she can be found close to where the wild things grow, tending her new apothecary garden in Orkney.

Her debut memoir, All My Wild Mothers: motherhood, loss, and an apothecary garden, was published by Two Roads in 2023. An intimate memoir of motherhood, grief, and care, it offers a testimony to the love and radical hope that can grow in even the most broken places and, in doing so, holds a quiet manifesto for a changing world.

Nautilus Book Award Winner 2024.

‘A treasure map back to 'living' for those who have been away too long…’ — DONNA ASHWORTH, author of WILD HOPE

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What are the Wild Women Writers’ Salons?

The Wild Women Writers’ Salons are on the last Thursday of every month (except December) and include day and evening events. This programme focuses on memoir and creative nonfiction and runs until December 2024 (please note, the date for the December 2024 salon will be different due to holidays).

With a treasure chest of excellent writers from across the globe, these are different from your regular Zoom sessions or author events. Together, we're creating a welcoming and inspiring space to gather and engage in meaningful conversation and reflection, where writers can share and explore their inspirations and writing journeys.

Each salon will feature three (and sometimes four!) fantastic guest writers. Here’s a sneak peek of what you can expect:

• Dive deep into the world of words.

• Hear authors share their works.

• Get a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process.

• Real talk about publishing highs and lows.

• Engage in some heart-to-heart during the Q&A session.

Remember, ticket sales and paid subscriptions help value and pay all the fantastic people making these salons possible—from behind the scenes to the fabulous authors!

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Be part of the growing Wild Women Writers’ community

Why Upgrade to Paid?

The salons are entirely unfunded. All paid subscriptions support the work behind the scenes to make the Wild Women Writers’ Salons and the newsletter happen. In exchange for your support, you receive access to:

• access to recordings of all the salons;

• additional interviews with our guest authors on their writing and inspirations;

• further reading/resources and book suggestions from our guest authors;

• writing prompts from our guest authors;

• you can submit your writing questions to our guest Author Agony Aunt. One will be picked to be answered in each issue;

• listed opportunities and courses;

• the chance to be part of a nurturing community of creative practice!

Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription today.

Writing Wild (Wild Women Writers' Salons) is a reader-supported publication. By taking out a paid subscription, you support the work behind the scenes to make this project possible. Thank you.