Orion magazine hosts regular Online Environmental Writers’ Workshops in poetry and nonfiction. This unique opportunity lets you improve your writing skills and build community from home. Connect with us for six to eight sessions with an experienced instructor and writer. Learn more about environmental writing, and renew, illuminate, and deepen your relationship with nature and place.

Conducted over Zoom (or similar platform) and limited to twelve participants, the workshops will feature a combination of generative exercises, craft talks, readings, special guest appearances, and workshopping of student manuscripts. Please read individual course descriptions for more specifics as each course is different. While individual workshops vary, students can likely expect to spend a few hours a week reading, writing, and commenting on work in and outside of class

We also offer an additional hour-long private group Zoom Q&A session with Orion's editor-in-chief Tajja Isen. This will occur outside your normal class meeting time at a time and date TBD, for no additional charge. It will be a time to peek behind the curtain and ask any general questions you might have about pitching, writing, publishing, and Orion.  

The Course: Socializing the Nature Poem

Who you are influences what you notice, how you forge understanding, the connections you seek.  In this workshop we’ll embrace how our “social selves”–our race, gender, hobbies, families, cultures, and friendships–can enrich our poems centering the more-than-human world.  In each class session, we’ll divide our time between doing a deep read of one or two example poems, reading and discussing them with enough time to let nuance and detail surface, and sharing new work generated from class prompts. Consider this a “soft workshop,” in that we will offer responses and suggestions as a way to reflect what is working and provide insights for possible futures.

Duration: This online course meets across six consecutive Saturdays from 10-1 ET (7-10am PT), beginning on October 3rd and concluding on November 7th.

Application window: August 1-15

The Instructor: Poet/naturalist Elizabeth Bradfield is author of five collections of poetry, most recently SOFAR: Poems, which was a finalist for the Audre Lorde Prize in Lesbian Poetry. She is also author of several collaborative projects, including Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry, winner of a Pacific Northwest Book Award among other honors.  A former Stegner Fellow, winner of the Audre Lorde Prize in Lesbian Poetry, and Editor-in-chief of Broadsided, Liz works as a naturalist and directs the Poetry Concentration for the low-residency MFA at Western Colorado University. When asked about her multiple interests, she says, “I am an aspiring generalist.” Forever queer, forever curious, you can learn more at www.ebradfield.com

Tuition

This Zoom course is available for $600. Payment within five days of acceptance will guarantee your spot. Cancelations up until a week before the start of the course will result in a full refund. After that, refunds will be conditional on our ability to fill your spot before the course begins. 

How to Apply

These workshops may be competitive. Please send a brief cover letter and up to 1500 words of your best prose, or up to five pages of poems. Sample writing can be published or unpublished, and might, but probably will not be used in class. Applicants will be notified whether they have been admitted within a week or so of the application deadline.

Questions? Contact workshops@orionmagazine.org or check out our Help Center or FAQs.

Orion magazine hosts regular Online Environmental Writers’ Workshops in poetry and nonfiction. This unique opportunity lets you improve your writing skills and build community from home. Connect with us for six to eight sessions with an experienced instructor and writer. Learn more about environmental writing, and renew, illuminate, and deepen your relationship with nature and place.

Conducted over Zoom (or similar platform) and limited to twelve participants, the workshops will feature a combination of generative exercises, craft talks, readings, special guest appearances, and workshopping of student manuscripts. Please read individual course descriptions for more specifics as each course is different. While individual workshops vary, students can likely expect to spend a few hours a week reading, writing, and commenting on work in and outside of class

We also offer an additional hour-long private group Zoom Q&A session with Orion's editor-in-chief Tajja Isen. This will occur outside your normal class meeting time at a time and date TBD, for no additional charge. It will be a time to peek behind the curtain and ask any general questions you might have about pitching, writing, publishing, and Orion.  

The Course: Graphic Storytelling

Through graphic storytelling, we can depict natural and inner landscapes in a language beyond words alone. In this eight-week course, we will use text and images to tell stories about characters’ relationships to place and nature, and to explore the interaction between interior and exterior narratives. Beginning cartoonists, writers who want to branch out into a new medium, and experienced artists are all welcome.

We will begin with a review of the fundamental principles and techniques of cartooning that will benefit creators of all experience levels, look at some different graphic novel styles, and do some in-class writing and drawing exercises. We will then work on developing a script for a short graphic piece (or the beginning of a longer piece) and continue by illustrating that piece in the medium of your choice. Together, we will give feedback on in-progress works and discuss published graphic novels that serve as models and inspiration. Students will have the opportunity for a 30-minute one-on-one consultation with the instructor. Homework will include working on your project and reading other students’ works.

Duration: This online course meets across eight consecutive Wednesdays from 5-7 pm ET (2-4 pm PT), beginning on September 16th and concluding on November 4th.

Application window: August 1-15

The Instructor: Danica Novgorodoff is an artist, writer, and New York Times best-selling illustrator. Her books include the graphic novels A Better World is Possible: Global Youth Confront the Climate Crisis; Long Way Down, written by Jason Reynolds; Slow Storm; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; and Refresh Refresh; the cookbook The Simple Art of Rice, with Chef JJ Johnson; and the picture book Alexander von Humboldt: Explorer, Naturalist, and Environmental Pioneer. In 2022, Danica was awarded the Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal, the UK’s most prestigious award for children’s book illustration. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky.danicanovgorodoff.com.

Tuition

This Zoom course is available for $600. Payment within five days of acceptance will guarantee your spot. Cancelations up until a week before the start of the course will result in a full refund. After that, refunds will be conditional on our ability to fill your spot before the course begins. 

How to Apply

These workshops may be competitive. Please send a brief cover letter and up to 1500 words of your best prose, up to five pages of poems, and/or illustrative art.  Sample writing can be published or unpublished, and might, but probably will not be used in class. Applicants will be notified whether they have been admitted within a week or so of the application deadline.

Questions? Contact workshops@orionmagazine.org or check out our Help Center or FAQs.

Orion magazine hosts regular Online Environmental Writers’ Workshops in poetry and nonfiction. This unique opportunity lets you improve your writing skills and build community from home. Connect with us for six to eight sessions with an experienced instructor and writer. Learn more about environmental writing, and renew, illuminate, and deepen your relationship with nature and place.

Conducted over Zoom (or similar platform) and limited to twelve participants, the workshops will feature a combination of generative exercises, craft talks, readings, special guest appearances, and workshopping of student manuscripts. Please read individual course descriptions for more specifics as each course is different. While individual workshops vary, students can likely expect to spend a few hours a week reading, writing, and commenting on work in and outside of class

We also offer an additional hour-long private group Zoom Q&A session with Orion's editor-in-chief Tajja Isen. This will occur outside your normal class meeting time at a time and date TBD, for no additional charge. It will be a time to peek behind the curtain and ask any general questions you might have about pitching, writing, publishing, and Orion.  

The Course: Forage and Response

In this eight-week course, we will integrate journaling, foraging, and observation in nature with experimental visual art practice. Drawing on mindfulness traditions such as forest bathing and vipassana meditation, participants will engage in group and independent responses to prompts for creative explorations in nature. Weekly sessions will include introductions to new artists, guided reflection and dialogue, and group brainstorming sessions. Students will be encouraged to experiment with a broad range of media and will be introduced to the basics of gelli printing, cyanotype and other approaches to printing with plant pigments. Students will develop personal projects that build on these investigations, culminating in an online exhibition of artworks and artist statements that reflect their creative journey. No prior art experience is required.

Duration: This online course meets across six consecutive Sundays from 5-8pm ET (2-5 pm PT), beginning on October 4th and concluding on November 8th.

Application window: August 1-15

The Instructor: Shelley Kirkwood is an American photographer and writer whose work explores memory, place, and themes of transience depicted through the landscape. Deeply rooted in observation and attuned to the natural world, her practice blends fine art photography, literary sensibility, and curatorial insight to create images and essays that invite reflection on the intersection of the ephemeral and the enduring. Kirkwood earned a BA in photography from Hampshire College and an MFA from the University of Arizona. She has exhibited her work extensively both in the US and internationally. Recent accolades include a Gold Medal and Best in Show at the Royal Horticultural Society’s International Portfolio Exhibition at London’s Saatchi Gallery, an Honorable Mention in the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, and several features in award-winning art and environmental publications, including Orion.

Tuition

This Zoom course is available for $600. Payment within five days of acceptance will guarantee your spot. Cancelations up until a week before the start of the course will result in a full refund. After that, refunds will be conditional on our ability to fill your spot before the course begins. 

How to Apply

Please send a brief cover letter and up to 1000 words of your best prose, poetry, and/or visual art or photography. If you are a beginner and don't have something to share yet, that's okay, just tell us about yourself in the cover letter. Sample writing can be published or unpublished, and might, but probably will not be used in class. Applicants will be notified whether they have been admitted within a week or so of the application deadline.

Questions? Contact workshops@orionmagazine.org or check out our Help Center or FAQs.