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Adult Opportunities

Nature Writing Workshop

Deepen your connection to nature and your writing skills in this guided workshop.

Content Detail

Join a community of nature lovers and nurture your writing skills with a guided workshop designed to support and challenge you. This workshop includes four in-person sessions at the Arboretum in which you will:

  • Complete writing prompts and exercises to develop your writing skills in class.
  • Work on short assignments between classes to share in person.
  • Dive into nature writing classics and see what makes them work.
  • Give and receive constructive critiques that will build and strengthen your skills as a writer.
  • Experiment with a variety of styles and techniques as you continue to develop your own voice.
  • Ask questions, take risks, explore, and continue to develop your connection to nature in this fun and supportive, small-group environment.

The same qualities of good writing apply to everything from blogs to books. No matter your background or interest, join us, and become the writer you always dreamed you could be!

This interactive class is a way for those who have some foundational writing experience to further their development within a supportive community of fellow nature writers. Open to all levels, this class is great for those early in their nature writing journey as well as long-time writers.

This program meets in person at The Morton Arboretum.

Instructor: Cindy Crosby, author and naturalist

Age: 16 and older

#N096

Cindy Crosby, author and naturalist

Cindy Crosby is the author, compiler, or contributor to more than 20 books, including The Tallgrass Prairie: An Introduction, co-author of Tallgrass Conversations: In Search of the Prairie Spirit and author of Chasing Dragonflies: A Natural and Cultural History (Northwestern University Press, 2020). She is a prairie steward at the Schulenberg Prairie and Nachusa Grasslands and coordinates dragonfly monitoring programs at both sites. She earned a master’s degree in natural resources at University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. She blogs each week at Tuesdays in the Tallgrass and teaches natural history and trains naturalists in the Chicago region. Find out more on her website.

What to Know

  • Appropriate for all levels of experience and there are no prerequisites. However, some foundational writing experience will be helpful. If you’ve taken Foundations of Nature Writing (N095), this is a great next step!
  • This is an interactive class, so come prepared to share your writing and provide feedback.
  • Held indoors.
  • Bring a notebook and a pen.

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