A Place Beyond Setting
on forming a radical, subversive belonging in writing
I’ve been thinking a lot about writing as a place and place-writing as a radical discipline. It’s what’s behind my upcoming workshop, Writing Yourself Home.
In times of gentrification and alienation from the land, how can writing manifest a sense of belonging? How can we make the writing process itself a home—in the words of bell hooks “a place of solace and comfort”?
How can writing embody our shared longing for rootedness and connection with the land?
In my research for my creative nonfiction book of place writing, Ashes and Stones, I saw a direct correlation between the waves of clearances in Scotland and the witch hunts. I’m indebted to the anti-colonial work of First Nation people for giving me a lens on my own country’s traumas as well as the scholarship of Silvia Federici—specifically her Caliban and the Witch & Re Enchanting the World.
Displacement, environmental destruction and ongoing gentrification prevent many of us from putting down roots in a traditional sense. What role can writing play in articulating these displacements and perhaps even bridging them? Can we use writing to create a radical, subversive sense of belonging with the land? What would that look like?
When we write beyond the traditional notion of “setting” and into place as character, rendering place as a living being, what shape will this take?
If these questions interest you, I welcome you to join my upcoming workshop, Writing Youself Home.
28th of April, 2024. 7pm GMT £25, tickets via Eventbrite
