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Allowing & Remembering

Let nature teach you sustainable self-care: refresh & develop your writing practice by exploring nature in big cities & rooting yourself in a creative well-being practice. Discover & be inspired by the body’s natural defence against urban energy drain.

About

Nature Persists is a hybrid online and in-person creative writing and nature project. It is an initiative spearheaded by founder and facilitator Zena Edwards, and developed through her practice of embodiment and the writing of poetry for well-being.

Using poetry to explore how we reconnect with the body’s natural defences against urban energy drain, Nature Persists is an experimental poetics & embodiment practice space for gentle but determined writing for those living in big cities.

Nature Persists' courses and programs are holistically structured to encourage reconnection to the quiet power of nature so that we can flex the muscle of sustainable well-being in the urban environment.

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Your Local Oasis

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Nature Persists' in-person workshops are specially curated to happen in local city parks, green spaces and community gardens.

Immerse yourself in the energies of local city parks, lush green spaces, and vibrant community gardens as you embark on a journey to wonder, play, and poetic expression. This unique arts course is designed to rekindle your imagination and cultivate your body's innate ability to nurture vital well-being.

(Radicle -the embryonic root of the plant, which develops into the future root of the plant.)

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Aims

  • to inspire participants to begin to tap into the body’s natural adaptive intelligence which can hold the duality and tension of nature in built-up man-made environments.

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  • to assist participants in finding a wholistic balance of comfort and well being between the two.

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  • Use various writing and art-making as tools to process thoughts and feelings around urgent environmental issues 

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What You Can Expect

  • Nature Immersion: Explore the natural ecologies of your area as you learn to observe, connect with, and draw inspiration from its natural environment.

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  • Creative Prompts: Engage in a wide array of creative prompts and exercises specially curated to stimulate your imagination. and  inspire you to express your thoughts and emotions around climate and the fast changing urban environment in unique, profound ways.

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  • Poetic Writing: Discover how nature serves as a rich source of metaphor in poetry. Explore the symbolism of urban natural elements in your online writing. Create poems that draw connections between inner and outer landscapes.​

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  • Photography and Poetry: Learn to observe both the intricate details (micro) and the broader landscapes (macro) of local green spaces through the lens of a digital camera or a mobile phone and capture the essence of the natural world. Through the power of words and images, you will create creative responses that convey the strength and adaptability of nature.

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  • ​Body-Mind Connection: Learn to tune into your body's wisdom and harness its capacity for innovative well-being with nature you have around you right now.

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  • Radicle Well-being: Just as the radicle is the embryonic root of a plant, these workshops aim to help you nurture the seeds of your own well-being. 

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Nature Persists Online

Nature Persists Online - Exploring Nature, Eco-Poetry, and Urban Well-Being

This program offers a diverse menu of workshops, masterclasses, Crit Club discussion groups designed to immerse you in the art of writing about nature, EcoPoetry, the body, and its profound reconnection to the quiet power of nature within the urban environment.

For more details about our online programs, click here

New Program

Writing EcoPoetry - From The Pastoral to Dystopia and Back Again. A 3-Part Poetry & Well-Being Program

Urban Nature Poetry Writing For Well Being
Launched at September2023

Nature Persists Founder Zena Edwards

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Zena has been involved in climate and environmental awareness raising since 2016.

Her poetic advocacy work includes climate and environmental awareness, sustainability, well being and regeneration. Her writing and performance pedagogy is rooted in identifying the connection to the Earth, the body, human resilience and the imagination which greatly informs her mentorship practice.

Nature Persists her most recent initiative which uses creativity and embodiment principles to view the body as an intelligent vessel that can hold the duality of nature and the man-made environment, and find a wholistic balance of comfort and well being between the two.

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Examples of Climate and Environmental Curatorial and Facilitator Collaborations Poetry and Spoken Word Commissions and Contributions

  • Arvon at Home Series 2023 - Eco-Poetry Masterclass From The Pastoral To Dystopia And Back Again

  • "Mosi’s Mothers" - a Poem included in Wilder Journeys - Environmental writer Laurie King and internationally bestselling author Miriam Lancewood a collection of narrative non-fiction stories and poems on the human connection with nature. Watkins Publishing

  • Culture: The Missing Link - Julie's Bicycle Conference and Discussion Seminar at COP26 2022 as poet in residence

  • Collaborator with May Project Gardens 2016 - 2018: an award-winning, London-based grassroots organisation who value of our relationship to the earths wisdom. They provide practical, affordable, and collective solutions for people to live sustainably nature, food and creative arts.

  • Hot Poets - Commissioned poem Mothers of the Forest - Paired with and now patron for the charity Word Forest and Tracy and Simon West to acclimatise themselves to the field of funding for environmental work to support tree nurseries and tree planting and for the education and entrepreneurship of women and girls in Kenya. 

  • Judging panelist for the the Tune Into Nature Music 2021 originated by Professor Miles Richardson from the Nature Connectedness Research Group at the University of Derby and supported by Selfridges, Tileyard London and Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

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  • Artistic Director for Apples and Snakes Poetry Organisation Music and Spoken Word Show Cece’s Speakeasy 2021.

  • Lead artist for the launch procession in London for the Culture Declares Emergency with artistic direction by Ackroyd & Harvey, Lucy Neal 2019

  • Colour Green Podcast - The Colour Green is a new podcast from Julie’s Bicycle exploring the links between climate change, race, nature and social justice from the perspectives of people of colour in the UK.

  • “Building an Inclusive Movement” - Keynote Speech for Arts Admin and Julies Bicycle ‘Season for Ex-change’ An 8-week programme in April – June 2021 of free online events for artists, arts organisations, cultural practitioners, producers, curators and anyone who wants to learn about, share knowledge or get ideas and inspiration on embedding climate action and climate justice in their artistic and creative work.

  • Culture Declares Emergency - Guest speaker - The Offer:Reimagining the City 2 2020 - an online cultural response to the climate and ecological emergency.

  • Director of Climate of Fear for the Flying Solo Festival 2017 with Contact Young Creatives 2017

  • Weather Fronts Realistic Utopias - A collection of poems and stories by writers responding personally and creatively to the scientific and emotional realities of climate change - Cambria Books, Llandeilo, Wales, United Kingdom

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