Upcoming events
Beasts of the Future Wild
How might our much-loved animals adapt to the landscapes of the future? How might traditional nature writers, in all their curiosity and wonder, investigate? In this playful creative writing workshop, you will explore a future full of wild surprises with UEA lecturers Jos Smith and Hetty Saunders.
The world is constantly evolving. Organisms are undergoing radical biological change all around us. From the coloration of the peppered moth to the skull-shape of the urban fox to the genetic variation of mosquitos living on different London Underground lines, life adapts.
Evolutionary biologist Rob Dunn even suggests that human environments are driving the evolution of animals disproportionately fast. In this informal workshop we will attempt to keep pace, using science, literature, and the imagination to explore the beasts of the future wild.
No expertise required, just a willingness to play and imagine. All welcome, ages 15+ recommended. 2hrs long. Stationary and resources provided. £6 (unwaged £4).
This workshop is enabled by the AHRC-funded project ‘Speculative Nature Writing: Feeling for the Future’ based in UEA’s School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing.
11.00-13.00, Saturday 23rd July 2022. Location: Waterloo Park.
Join Jos Smith at the ‘Song of the Reeds: Re-wilding Drama’, a symposium at the University of East Anglia on drama, conservation and the climate crisis.
Jos will be reading some of the project's creative writing exploring future sea-level rise and adaptation on the Norfolk coast.
Book you ticket for 'Song of the Reeds: Re-wilding Drama'.
Date of event: 9th July 2022
Last booking date for this event: 27th June 2022
Location: The Enterprise Centre, University of East Anglia.
Past events
Speculative Nature Writing: Feeling for the Future
6th & 7th April at UEA.
Speculative Nature Writing and the Aesthetics of Displacement
With Giovanni Bettini, Charne Lavery and Jos Smith.
17th March 2022, 5.30-6.30pm, online, tickets free.
Speculative Nature Writing: A Field Guide with Two Practitioners
Jos Smith and Andrea Holland
Friday 11th March, 11-12pm, online panel at the National Association for Writers in Education conference.