writer-in-residence
Highlights
Beaver Safari
A despatch from our story-writer-in-residence Penny Walker. 8th September 2026, Paradise Fields, Ealing, half a mile. It has been raining hard all morning and into the afternoon, but now we are at the gate, in the early evening, the sun is out. We wear our sensible footwear, raincoats, some of us have binoculars. In this small
Birds on a Wire
A despatch from our story-writer-in-residence Penny Walker. 13 July 2026, Southport to Tarleton, 13 miles The air is wobbling over the flat land which grows pale brown grass out of grey-red soil. Sweat and suncream on my glasses make me lose focus. I cannot make sense of it. Dry, bone dry, both sides of the flood
Words to Light the Dark
What can the planet’s past tell us about the future? How do we relate to nature when our bodies try to keep us from it? And how do you write about creatures that don’t wish to be found? Join Wainwright Prize-nominated authors Sophie Yeo, Polly Atkin, and Chantal Lyons – host of this Salon and walk · listen · create’s Writer-in-Residence – as
• Walking Writers’ Circle – Walking Together
An “Invitation Only” event for shortlisted authors in the Walking Together writing ocmpetition with VIP guests. VIP guests confirmed include Amelia Hodsdon, our current writer-in-residence, and Ann de Forest, author, poet and editor of “Ways of Walking”.
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Women walking in sisterly solidarity
A despatch from our story-writer-in-residence Penny Walker. 30th April Golders Green station to Highfield Avenue, and back 1.5 miles I am by myself among strangers who are friends: women walking together in sisterly solidarity. We meet just before six, outside Golders Green station, on the small semi circle of grass where the buses turn. At
The river has desire lines
Penny Walker, 2026 story writer-in-residence, who invites you discover where a river might flow River Pant, Essex. 2 miles 13th January 2026 Seven of us and a dog walked down the track, watching for the flow and rise of water under our boots. We had detailed LIDAR maps from official agencies of the river’s current
New Year’s Day, 2026 – 6 miles, Lee Valley Park, UK
We welcome Penny Walker, 2026 story writer-in-residence, who invites you discover a chilly morning walk We didn’t see in the New Year. We woke long before dawn to drop our daughter and her husband at the airport. At South Mimms services the universe rewards us with veggie sausages, a cyber pink sunrise and the year’s
Mapping Copenhagen
Penny Walker, 2026 story writer-in-residence, weaves a flash story as she walks through Copenhagen. 12th – 14th February 2026 22 miles We walk from the station to the hotel. I use the map on my phone. The distance is so short that it surprises me. I am good at maps. I can read street names,
A Dearth of Much-Loved Butterflies
Every natural historian must have noticed that over this past summer in the UK there have been much reduced numbers of our normally commonest butterflies: peacocks, red admirals, small tortoiseshells, painted ladies. We’re told this was due to the wet, cold, windy spring, although the general decline in most species is a long-term trend, related
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