Walking together
Today, I have been transported to a canal that runs from Wolverhampton to Stoke on Trent in Britain's West Midlands, and I am in the company of Daniella Turbin, a walking artist, who in May 2022 stepped out on a 365 day walk through Britain in search of walking artists. Earlier in the week, I was off in Psarades, in north west Greece, the village beside the great Prespa lake where last summer many walking artists met for an Encounter. My walking companion was walking artist Sinwah Lai, who was brought up in Hong Kong, but has spent many years away from there. On Friday, I also caught up with my old walking companion Simon Waters, once Head of Promoting Walking at the Ramblers, England's largest walking charity, on a stroll through gardens in the City of London. Whether listening or editing an interview for a future podcast episode or actually stepping out on solid ground, walking in the company of others is something recommended for your mental health, as well as being an enjoyable and often inspiring way to spend time outdoors.
"Walking Together" was the theme chosen for our annual writing competition this year, that has a deadline of midnight on Monday. Looking through some of the titles of poems and stories submitted so far, we have a fair few intriguing reads to look forward to. I like the sound of "Today we are walking the watershed with GranGran's stick", "The healing property of nettles" and "To wear it is to crease it" - of course, it is not on the title alone that you get to make the shortlist, but it is a certainly a way to heighten a potential reader's attention. If you hurry, you may have time to write 250 words as a poem or story and submit it before the deadline.
This morning, I was typing what I hope will be coherent and compelling reasons for the British Council to fund a podcast project that Amy Tsilemanis and I have called "Walking Together: sole to soul", in which we will be pairing walking artists and walking writers from the UK and Australia to explore stories to help build resilience during the climate and environmental crises we all face. If we are lucky, our plan is to scale it up beyond a pilot, and broaden it to other English-speaking territories, and (fingers crossed) to involve our European partners from the WALC project (that by the way, you will find has WALCtogether as its web domain).
We hope also to see you online on Tuesday when we are joined by Kathryn Tann for a Walking Writers' Salon, during which we will discussing her first published book - a collection of essays, many of which were inspired by walking together with friends in search of water for wild swimming. Why not dip your toes in the water?
By the by, I was striding through Marks & Spencer's in Lewisham last week and spotted an in-store ad, promoting their range of jeans, and I thought that there must be some occasion when I could use that image....
Looking forward to walking together with you, sometime soon.
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2024-08-20 18:00
· Online
Kathryn Tann is our guest for August's Walking Writers Salon discussing her debut volume of essays "Seaglass". Keep reading
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2024-09-03 18:00
· Online
As we start a month of celebrating sound walks, we invite you to join an online café with last year’s winner and runner up, exploring their approach to making winni... Keep reading
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Join @thebuzzknight on this episode with iconic photographer Elliott Landy, known for photographing The Woodstock Festival 55 years ago. Elliott is also known for m... Start listening
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Help us to expand our archive of walking pieces. Keep reading
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New walking pieces
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A song by KPOP band, Super Junior, about walking towards one's dreams. Keep reading
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If you are an educator who would like to introduce poetry in place to your students, check out this resource by artist Fereshteh Toosi: https://opentextbooks.uregin... Keep reading
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Upcoming events
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2024-08-20 18:00
· Online
Kathryn Tann is our guest for August's Walking Writers Salon discussing her debut volume of essays "Seaglass". Keep reading
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