Writing on the Land

This experiential learning course will immerse senior creative writers in the natural beauty and ecological abundance of the Rideau Lakes region of Ontario, in a senior-level seminar on the power and practice of nature writing. Through direct experience with the land, colloquium-style discussion and debate, and engagement with scientific, humanist, and indigenous perspectives on ecological practice, students will produce their own works of nature-inspired writing, while deepening their physical, imaginative, and emotional bonds with the wild. 

For ten intensive days, students will be at QUBS, where the natural world will serve as their classroom. Students will meet every morning for 2-hour seminars based on daily readings. They will welcome guest speakers and visiting writers, who will address the group through a variety of pedagogical lenses: scientific, indigenous, personal, and artistic. Students will conduct their own Nature Study projects. Lessons and activities will take place across the QUBS landscape.