With generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the University of Oregon’s Center for Environmental Futures announces its first annual “Writing the Environmental Humanities for Public Audiences” workshop.
The workshop will take place August 5-August 9, 2019 (with arrival and departure on August 4 and 10), at Silver Falls Resort and Conference Center, located within Silver Falls State Park, in Silverton, Oregon. It is located roughly 80 miles north of Eugene and 70 miles south of Portland. Many call Silver Falls, known for its waterfalls, the Crown Jewel of Oregon’s state parks. Accommodations at the conference center will be in shared cabins, and meals will include vegetarian and vegan options, if desired.
The workshop is limited to 12 participants, with at least 8 from the University of Oregon, and up to 4 from beyond the UO community. Faculty and graduate students in the Environmental Humanities and allied fields (for example ecological approaches to literature, gender, religion, politics, philosophy, and/or race; animal studies; indigenous studies, environmental justice, ethics and sustainability; environmental history, art/architectural history and criticism, historical/cultural geography; anthropology, or sociology) are eligible to apply. Both aspiring and accomplished non-fiction writers who want to learn a more literary narrative style to engage a wider public audience are encouraged to apply.
The workshop, lodging, meals, and transportation are free of cost to UO faculty and graduate students. Those selected from outside the UO community will receive up to $500 to reimburse travel costs, with no charge for the workshop, lodging, and meals.
The workshop will be led by Karen Piper, an award winning professor of literature and geography at the University of Missouri, Columbus. Piper is the author of The Price of Thirst: Water Scarcity and the Coming Chaos, which won the Next Generation Indie Book Award in current events, and A Girl’s Guide to Missiles: Growing Up in America’s Secret Desert, among other books. She has also received a Sierra nature writing award.
Applicants should send a CV, a letter explaining why you would benefit from this workshop and a description of the essay or book chapter you intend to work on during the workshop, and a writing sample to Alison Mildrexler, amildrex@uoregon.edu, by May 15, 2019. Successful applicants will be notified by June 15 and must send a draft of the essay they intend to workshop by June 30.
