Writing with Water

Water is life. Vital for the replenishment of lakes and streams. Abundant in organisms, wombs and cells. Water heals with its ‘capacity to relieve us of the weight of our bodies’, reflects author Katherine Brabon, and reminds us of origins with its ‘perfect memory... forever trying to get back to where it was’, tells writer Toni Morrison. This workshop invites you to connect with water – in your body, in places around you, and in history. Where in water do you, your stories, begin?

We will write to the ‘water within’ – that held in our lungs, hearts, and bones; to the ‘water around’, to the riverside cities built beside and over the top of sacred Indigenous waterways; and to the ‘water beyond’, the oceans of history, displacement, and resistance. Together, we will wade into and beyond water’s powerful metaphors. You will finish the workshop with a deepened wonder for the life ways of water, feeling more connected to the place where you live, and to the power that flows and returns through your words.