WRITE ABOUT TREES
A showcase of nature poetry and prose, performed by the writers themselves
Ticket Information
WRITE ABOUT TREES
Date: Sunday 22 May
Time: 17:00 - 18.30
Location: Online Zoom event
Tickets: Free (donations welcomed), booking essential
Readings from the shortlisted authors participating in Canopy, the 2022 Writing competition.
Joining information will be sent to you when you book.
Event Information
The WRITE ABOUT TREES showcase event introduces the shortlisted authors of the Urban Tree Festival writing competition, and includes readings of their poetry and prose.
Run by the Museum of Walking and Sampson Low Publishers the Urban Tree Festival writing competition attracted over 100 entires. The competition required writers to compose poems or prose of 250 words and under, inspired by the theme of “Healing Trees”.
The shortlisted pieces are published in Canopy an illustrated chapbook anthology, sale proceeds of which go to support future Urban Tree Festivals. Copies of the book can be purchased here.
The winners and runners-up in each of the poetry and prose categories will be announced at the event - with the accolade of on-line Poet & Prose Writer-in-Residence for the 2023 Urban Tree festival going to the winners in each category.
Our compere for the event will be Sarah Westcott
Sarah Westcott has published a pamphlet and two collections with Pavilion Poetry, Liverpool University Press. Sarah was a news journalist for twenty years and now works as a freelance tutor and writer. Poems have appeared on beermats, billboards and buses, baked into bread and installed in a nature reserve, triggered by footsteps.
Our chapbook anthology authors are:
Nancy Charley
Nancy Charley is the Royal Asiatic Society’s archivist. Her latest poetry collection, How Death Came into the World, was published by Smokestack in 2020. Nancy’s poem Apple Jacks Wassail will be read by Mel Sutton.
Jude Higgins
Jude Higgins is a widely published flashfiction writer. She organises Bath Flash Fiction Award, directs Ad Hoc Fiction press and Flash Fiction Festivals U.K @JudeHWriter. Jude will read Alder
Sally Duffin
Sally Duffin is a creative and health writer, and registered nutritionist, living in York, England. She is currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing. Sally will read Medicine Woods
Laurence Sullivan
Laurence Sullivan is a PhD candidate at Northumbria University, appearing in over sixty publications, he started writing fiction as an undergraduate. @lozzysullivan - will read Each and Every April
Sara Stegen
Sara Stegen is a nature writer, inclusion advocate and avid cyclist. She is working on a memoir about her Dutch rural landscape, apples and autism. Sara will read The Trees of Ukraine
Rosaleen Lynch
Rosaleen is an Irish community worker and writer in the East End of London. @quotes_52. Rosaleen will read The Fish Tank Mangroves
M. L. Grieve
M. L. Grieve; poet, writer, tree seer. Her first drafts written within the ancient forests of Hertfordshire; she’s currently collating her first collection. @page_soul They will read their story Mama has hair of silver-green leaves
Joanna Wolfarth
Joanna Wolfarth is a cultural historian, lecturer and writer. Her first book, MILK: An Intimate History of Breastfeeding will be published in early 2023 by W&N. Joanna’s story The Survivor Tree will be read by Mel Sutton.
Daniel Harwood
I am a London Wildlife Trust volunteer. My writing is inspired by green spaces and the people and non-human living things I meet in them. Daniel will read Deadwood?
Cheryl Markosky
Cheryl Markosky’s work appears in EllipsisZine, New Flash Fiction Review, The Cabinet of Heed, Janus Literary, WalkListenCreate; National Flash Fiction Day and Flash Fiction Festival anthologies. Cheryl will read What To Do If A Tree Falls On My House
Gina Headden
Gina Headden’s writing has been published on Easter Craiglockhart Hill, on audio platforms, in anthologies, and in fiction and non-fiction magazines. @gmdfreelance Gina will read her story Annie Stevens’ Tree of Life
Jackie Morrison
Jackie Morrison, Scotland, was a Finalist in Bloody Scotland 2021 with her novel in progress. In moments in between she writes poems and flash. @Jacmor63 Jackie will read Waiting for you
The writers will be joined by the competition judges
For poetry:
Chris Cuninghame lives in east London and has worked internationally. He plays music sometimes, closing the windows if he remembers.
Anita Roy is a poet and non-fiction writer, whose books include Self Heal (2018), a collection of poems about nature and the self, and The Living World (2020), the first literary study of the Scottish nature writer Nan Shepherd. She’s soon to publish a book about the deep history of the 'nature cure' Everybody Needs Beauty (Bloomsbury, July 2021) exploring the science and stories behind this relationship, and considering how the climate crisis will affect our mental health. Samantha is unable to attend the showcase event.
For prose:
Sarah Wheeler is an erstwhile lawyer, aspiring writer, frazzled mother. Sometime Londoner, returned to my rural roots. Now often found outside, with a double expresso, talking to hens.
NG Bristow is a screen writer, director and visual artist. He is rooted at Goldsmiths University of London, where he runs the MA in Directing Fiction. An award-winning filmmaker and installation artist whose practice encompasses classical narrative, expanded cinema, and para-cinema. Past work in these categories includes: CONTROL , winner of the Louis Mitchell award for best feature / short at Action on Film festival 2016. UNSOUND, showcase premiere at SXSW. Using the prototype Sensum Emotional Response Cinema technology, the film recomposes its narrative in real time based on bio-feedback from the audience. He has been commissioned by: FilmFour, C4, BBC, UKFC, BFI, NIFC, NI Screen and the Arts Council.
The anthologies are edited by Chris Bestwick and beautifully illustrated by Alban Low and published by his family’s 300 year old publishing company Sampson Low Publishers.
Read more about WRITE ABOUT TREES and the competitions in the blog.
Buy the Canopy 2022 chapbook anthology of poetry and prose - in support of future festivals - just £4.99 +p&p
Please Donate
Most tickets for the Urban Tree Festival are free, but we ask attendees to please donate if they can.
We suggest a donation of £5 per event and you can easily donate when booking your ticket. Larger donations are always welcomed.
Donations are essential to the running of the Urban Tree Festival and you can find out why here.