This is a Level 2-3 course designed for motivated intermediate writers who wish to deepen and expand their writing practice over the summer at a languorous pace.  The course is also for adventurous beginners who want to dive right in.

Through a blend of insightful lectures, engaging discussions, and hands-on writing exercises, students will further develop the skills, insights, and approaches for narrative nature writing, compelling travelogues, and memorable memoir.  Whether you aspire to become a professional travel writer, want to enhance your personal blog, or simply wish to better articulate your experiences, this course offers a dynamic platform for unleashing your creativity and refining your writing skills.

Meeting weekly for two hours, the course offers enriching space for students to hear new lectures, discuss fine writing, reap the benefits of a vibrant writing community, and enjoy the positive accountability that comes with supportive bi-weekly writing workshops in a strong writing community.

If you have already taken one of Kathryn’s Level 1 courses, four new and original nature essays will be added to your growing essay collections with an emphasis on revision every other week. There will also be readings scheduled in such a way as to be enjoyable yet focused. 

This is a live online course with a maximum of 16 students for the greatest learning opportunities.

• 7:00 to 9:30 PM BST
• Every Monday
• June 3/10/17/24 and July 8/15/22/29 

• £550 tuition 
• Contact kathryn@kathrynaalto.com to stagger your tuition payments

This hybrid Level 2-3 NarrativeNature and Travel Writing course is an exploration of the different ways writers of narrative nonfiction can combine travel writing, nature writing, and memoir writing. Designed for adventurous beginners and intermediate writers who have taken Kathryn Aalto’s Level 1 or Level 2 narrative nonfiction courses, it is also open by application to those with equivalent experience.  This course is designed for writers of narrative nonfiction whose travel and nature writing has a strong first-person and storytelling components. The writing is not limited to physical travel but is a beautiful blend of inner and outer landscapes.

As Kathryn writes in Writing Wild:

The greatest travel and nature writing explores the islands, capes, and coves of our inner landscapes. Whether nature writers sit on a streambank in Virginia or make a gruelling ascent of Mount Everest, the best are also travel writers whose words have the power to create seismic shifts and continental drifts within us. This is the double helix of travel and nature writing: the artful way movement and stillness are woven with the visible and invisible to create meditations on our place in the world. As acclaimed travel writer Jan Morris puts, “In a profounder sense the best travel writers are not really writing about travel at all. They are recording the effects of places or movements upon their own particular temperaments–recording the experience rather than the event, as they might make literary use of a love affair, an enigma or a tragedy.”

As we dive deep into the concept of place as a character itself, you will learn how to observe and articulate the unique qualities, histories, and atmospheres that define a location. You will gain insights into the ethical considerations of writing about diverse cultures, understanding the importance of respectful representation, and accurate portrayal. You will also learn how to interweave personal experiences and reflections with factual information, enhancing the emotional resonance of your writing.

This course emphasises research, revision, and publication.  You will learn ways to research the most compelling subjects and, in doing so, also add the essential universal element to your essay, be that original commentary on the human condition or unique insights about the zeitgeist. We will write five new and original essays, refine and revise those essays, and develop techniques to help your stories stand out.

Revision is emphasised on a holistic level and sentence level. You will have the opportunity to rewrite your essays to remove clichés, create maximum emotional impact through exquisite figurative language, consider the layout of your paragraphs on the page, and snap your essay together with a distinctive narrative arc.

The focus will be identifying sources for publication and working toward submitting to those sources with at least one publication-ready essay. Kathryn has integrated a lecture on how to research possible places of submission and how to write query letters.

Reading

• Ionia: A Quest by Freya Stark
• The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creative in the World by by Patrik Svensson
• “Death of an Innocent: How Chris McCandless Lost His Way in the Wilds” by Jon Krakauer
• “Journey Into the Night” in The New Yorker by David Sedaris

Writing can often be a solitary pursuit, but all of Kathryn’s writing courses offer a vibrant community of like-minded individuals who share a passion for nature and storytelling. Through online discussions, peer critiques, and collaborative discussions, participants have the opportunity to connect with fellow writers from around the world, sharing insights, offering support, and celebrating each other’s successes.

The sense of camaraderie and shared purpose that permeates the course creates a nurturing environment where creativity thrives and friendships blossom. Whether it’s brainstorming ideas for a new piece or providing encouragement during moments of doubt, the community forged within my course becomes an invaluable source of inspiration and motivation.

Kathryn teaches with a deep care about the individual student and is very clever about bringing out their voices and passions. She also has an unparalleled knowledge of nature and landscape writing that gives a real gravitas and authority on the subject, a knowledge that she wears lightly without intimidating students, which is a huge strength.” — James Rebanks, author of The Shepherd’s Life and English Pastoral 

“Kathryn is an inspiring writer and gifted teacher of narrative non-fiction. She creates a warm and inviting atmosphere in the virtual classroom, even as she encourages writers to pursue their craft with rigour and tenacity. The classes pivot from instructor-led teaching to student-centred learning, with a dynamic range of activities, including lectures, discussions of craft/technique in assigned readings, writing prompts, workshops, Q&A sessions with published authors, industry insights and more. Aspiring writers receive detailed and actionable feedback, whether to build on existing skills or experiment with fresh approaches to craft. Beyond the classroom, Katy is happy to answer any questions, suggest further readings and encourage writers to publish.” — Wendy, Maidenhead, England

“After six months of working with Kathryn–which is a bit like entering the space of a handwritten letter, what with her sharp aesthetic sense, far-ranging intelligence, wit, and curiosity–I’ve made tangible progress on an unwieldy, long-form project I was struggling to articulate. I came to her Memoir and Life Writing class for accountability, and came away having experienced the kind of support, writing insight, and real feeling of friendship that can be difficult to find in a workshop environment. Kathryn fostered a warm, charming atmosphere in class (a real feat online), allowing for life-long connections to develop among our group of writers. She cares about the arc of her student’s writing lives–a form of attention that encourages artistic growth and positive risk-taking. She not only brought her years of writing and publishing experience to class and to our bi-monthly writing assignments (her personal feedback, often handwritten, is invaluable), she also brought her unique perspective. Writer-gardener-historians are, I think, particularly adept at imagining the possibilities for a piece, no matter your subject. Kathryn pushed me to dig deeper, moving my writing in new directions. No matter where one is in their writing life, working with Kathryn will be an experience of profound joy, insight, and artistic deepening.“ — Veronica, Portland, Maine