In Praise of Listening: A Writing Workshop with Christian McEwen

Spend a Day with Author and Activist Christian McEwen

And all the place 

there was grew out of listening.

-Li Young Lee

One of life’s great joys is finding time to listen — whether to the scattered wonders of conversation or to the many voices of the non-human world: birdsong, wild wind, river’s sweep. In this morning workshop we will identify sources for the listener’s delight, and share ways to grow them into poems, songs and stories. No experience necessary.

Christian McEwen is a writer, educator, and cultural activist. Since leaving New York City twenty years ago, she has edited two anthologies, and produced a video documentary Tomboys!, and a play, Legal Tender: Women & the Secret Life of Money. Her book, World Enough & Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down (2011) is now in its sixth printing, and is also available in an audio format. Her most recent collection, Sparks from the Anvil: The Smith College Poetry Interviews, appeared in spring 2015. Christian grew up in the Borders of Scotland, and now lives in western Massachusetts.