16 Apr, 2023

Only open on the second Sunday of the month, and only accessible on foot, the old Jewish Cemetery in Vienna, was an extraordinary discovery that we stumbled upon earlier today.

It was in use between 1770 and 1870, and has managed to avoid being built on, owing to an unusual Judaic law. Once your are buried, you own the plot in which you are buried, so when it comes to purchasing land for housing, or creating a park, as so happened to the adjacent Christian cemetery, the purchaser would have to settle with hundreds of dead owners, so through time they haven't bothered. Inevitably it was vandalised during the Second World War, with graves losing any adornments that could be melted down for war use, and owing to neglect since, it has endured weathering and the encroachment of plants and trees. However, the occupants of some 4,000 graves have been identified, and for the last four years, a group of volunteers assisted by the City of Vienna, have begun to reinstate the cemetery as it would have been.

Vienna is often talked about as an easily walked city, however, that is not entirely the case - what makes Vienna something special is that it has reliable and extensive public transport, that is significantly subsidised, so that it is easy and cheap to get to places from which walking is made more convenient. As Londoners, what we've found is that so many of Vienna's streets lack any greenery, and very few are lined with street trees. So a square with a bar, coffee shop or restaurant is a very welcome sight...

During the past week, although in Vienna, we've managed to run two online events:

a very popular creative writing workshop to launch our annual writing competition on Walking A/way, the theme of which, was chosen by Cheryl Markosky and Tony Horitz, our writers-in-residence, who also facilitated the workshop;

and an intriguing and provocative Walking Writers' Salon with Dave Borthwick, of which you can view the video recording from here.

Coming up, we have Simon Cole aka Hackney Tours, taking us on an investigation into the parlance state of refugees trying to reach the UK, in a walk · listen · cafe on Tuesday and then early in May, Linda Cracknell will be our guest for another Walking Writers' Salon. We hope you can join us online, and would like to thank you for your continuing support.

Meanwhile, keep walking.

Co-founder of walk · listen · create

Free for supporting members, open to everyone

18 Apr · Tue · 18:00 (UTC) · Online
What goes on at Europe's borders, out of sight and out of mind? Simon Cole always loved the film Casablanca. Then 2020s life began to imitate 1940s art. Let's tease out treasure from the corridors of historical uncertainty. Keep reading
02 May · Tue · 18:00 (UTC) · Online
Meet the authors who are writing about walking and the landscapes through which we walk, at walk · listen · create’s Walking Writers Salons. We are delighted to have award-winning writer Linda Cracknell join us in May, talking about “Writing Landscape: Taking Note, Making Notes” , a collection of essays writing landsca... Keep reading

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Writers were asked to tell us their “Secrets of the Trees” in the Urban Tree Festival writing competition that walk · listen · create administered – their imaginations branched out, with more than 150 authors submitting poems and stories. The Top 12 shortlisted “secrets”, chosen by a team of volunteer judges that included past competition

Upcoming events

16 Apr · Sun · 15:00 (UTC) · Online
As part of the 2023 MK Lit Fest Springs Back! Festival, Cheryl Markosky and Tony Horitz, winners of the 2022 Write About Walking competition and our 2022/3 writers-... Keep reading
18 Apr · Tue · 18:00 (UTC) · Online
What goes on at Europe's borders, out of sight and out of mind? Simon Cole always loved the film Casablanca. Then 2020s life began to imitate 1940s art. Let's tease... Keep reading
22 Apr · Sat · 09:00 (UTC) · Braid Burn, Edinburgh, UK
Four poetry / art / ecology walks + 2 workshops, tracing the course, and name-changes, of the Braid Burn from its mouth at Portobello nr Edinburgh to source in the ... Keep reading
22 - 23 Apr, 2023 · 135 Junction Road, Kowloon Tsai, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Healing Hours is a community-led project, which invites people to retrace minute moments in daily situations through a series of embodiment exercises. Healing is no... Keep reading
23 Apr · Sun · 12:00 (UTC) · Fruit Towers, Innocent Drinks, Ladbroke Grove, London, UK
We will walk and listen together along the canal, from Kensal Rise to Stonebridge Park, where we will end up in a cafe and have a chat. This route is 3.4 miles, but... Keep reading
24 Apr · Mon · 18:00 (UTC) · Online
We want to uncover the forgotten or not yet revealed walking compositions – will you help us in our detective work as we search through archives and make connection... Keep reading
28 Apr · Fri · 15:00 (UTC) · Saunders-Monticello Trail, 503 Thomas Jefferson Parkway, Charlottesville, VA 22902, United States
Join The Nature Conservancy for a guided outdoor meditation and sound walk on the Saunders-Monticello Trail and make wildlife observations. Join The Nature Conserva... Keep reading

From our network

Just before walking into Valletta from the airport, I had done my due diligence and confirmed that that essential chain of providers of sustenance to wary traveller... Keep reading
Day 1103 - Excavation and 4.3 km drawing.Collectivity and 2.0 km drawing. Keep reading
Why you should walk barefoot on a Caribbean beach: an acrostic wonder of wanders Walk barefoot on Pinneys Beach, walk barefoot on the longest beach on the island of... Keep reading
In a new series of Walks for you to try out by yourself using our audio guides, we continue with Grief. Plug in your earphones, pop your shoes on, and […] The post ... Keep reading
Slowing down is a vital part of the Street Wisdom process. But it’s not always easy to do. This extra exercise – which is a great accompaniment to reading Wanderful... Keep reading
We’re looking back at some of our favourite Street Wisdom Walkshop write-ups. This time it’s Ian Sanders who found great wisdom and folk in the seaside streets of L... Keep reading
In the “(Best Foot) Foreword” of Founder of Street Wisdom, David Pearl’s book Wanderful, David asks 9 particularly good questions. They’re very Street Wisdom, they’... Keep reading

Stuff we found

A rapid increase in urban dwellers walking in the countryside is putting the very landscapes we enjoy Source: The Irish Times view on being in nature: how to walk r... Keep reading
Indie Hive review Pineapple on Pizza, a short and jolly walking simulator and exploration game with a surprising twist! Source: Pineapple on Pizza – A Surprising Ne... Keep reading
A sonic portrait of the Wildlife Sound Recording Society. Source: BBC Radio 3 – A Society of Recordists Keep reading
When Turcich was 17, a close friend of his died, and he had an existential crisis. He decided it was time to seize the day – and to cross the globe on foot Source: ... Keep reading

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