Come talk with the trees of Plas Newydd Farm, and bring your tree stories with you for a one-day generative workshop with Oregon-based poet Kate Gray.

Maybe you climbed trees as a kid. Maybe you picnicked under trees in parks. Maybe you made your living planting seedlings, tending them, and then shipping your crop to the sawmill. Maybe you’re a woodworker wanting to dig deep into the stories your lumber carries. Whether you are a tree-lover or just a human who lives in a wooden house, touches paper, or, for that matter, breathes, trees are a part of your story. 

What tree(s) shaped you? In this generative workshop, you’ll write the story of a tree in your life, whether it shielded you, grew you, or gob-smacked you with its beauty. No tree springing to mind? We’ll make sure you have the chance to meet some of the trees of Plas Newydd Farm to spur your writing. 

No experience necessary. Poetry/prose/song encouraged. You’ll experience a guided meditation, writing to prompts, a walk in the forested landscape of Plas Newydd (weather-permitting), laughter, and the Gateless Method of specific, positive feedback. 

Kate Gray’s passion stems from writing, teaching, and volunteering. For Every Girl: New & Selected Poems was published by Widow & Orphan House in 2019. Her first full-length book of poems, Another Sunset We Survive (Cedar House Books, 2007) was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and followed chapbooks, Bone-Knowing (2006), winner of the Gertrude Press Poetry Prize and Where She Goes (2000), winner of the Blue Light Chapbook Prize. Kate’s first novel, Carry the Sky, (Forest Avenue, 2014) stares at bullying without blinking. In her novel-in-progress, she narrates, in Sylvia Plath’s voice, what led to The Bell Jar and her suicide attempt in 1953. After 25 years teaching English at a community college, she retired to coach writers. Kate and her partner live in a pine-and-oak forest in the mid-Columbia River Gorge with two impetuous dogs.