Welcome to series 5, episode 9 of the Prompted by Nature podcast. I hope this one finds you well. 

Action Point: WhenToPlugIn app: https://www.nationalgrid.com/cop26/when-to-plug-in-app

Today, we hear from one of my teachers, the wonderful Kathryn Aalto.

Kathryn Aalto is an American teacher, designer, speaker, and New York Times best-selling writer of creative nonfiction. For the past twenty-five years, her creative practice has fused nature and culture: teaching the literature of nature and place; designing beautiful and sustainable gardens; and writing about the natural world. Based in England, she teaches popular online and live writing courses, mentors emerging writers, and leads writing retreats in England and the United States. Kathryn is the author of three books including Writing Wild: Women Poets, Ramblers, and Mavericks Who Shape How We See the Natural World (2020), The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh: A Walk Through the Forest that Inspired the Hundred Acre Wood (2015), and Nature and Human Intervention (2011). Her personal essays and book reviews, appear in Smithsonian Magazine, Outside, Sierra, Buzzfeed, Resurgence and the Ecologist, and more.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Kathryn’s childhood and youth growing up in Southern California


• How her love of the personal essay came about and how this influenced her writing


• How Kathryn’s connection to nature and place has changed and developed through her life


• Her definition of sense of place


• How her perception as an ex-pat enriches her understanding and encounters with nature and landscape


• The circumstances that surrounded her stepping into what she always knew she was meant to do


• The impact public speaking has had on her writing


• Kathryn’s writing tips and what it means to ‘show, not tell’


• The lesson she’d like to share with you (and it’s a good one!)

I took Kathryn’s nature writing course last summer and absolutely loved it. I’m not often able to invest in myself or my ongoing learning so it was amazing to finally take a writing class. I’m so used to teaching that it was joyful to be a student again. I can highly recommend any of Kathryn’s classes and workshops. You can find Kathryn and all information about her forthcoming writing courses at www.kathrynaalto.com and over on social media @kathrynaalto. I’ve also added Kathryn’s books to my bookshop over on bookshop.org so please do pop over there and have a browse. https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/promptedbynature

As always, you can find me over on my website www.promptedbynature.co.uk and on social media @prompted.by.nature on Instagram, @promptedxnature on Twitter and @promptedbynature on Facebook. I have a few local in-person courses and day retreats coming up so do have a look on my website events page if you’re local to Brighton and Hove.

The writing prompt that follows this episode will be up on Tuesday.

Happy listening!

Helen x