Writing About Place: Workshop with Grace Farrell
Thursday, May 21, 2026 at 5:30pm
Join us for the third workshop of the Writing About Place series—a four-week writing workshop exploring how landscape, memory, and ecology shape story and voice.
This session features guest writer Grace Farrell, R. C. Reade Professor emerita of Butler University in Indianapolis, and author and editor of five books, along with numerous essays on writers including Poe, Melville, Lillie Devereux Blake, I. B. Singer, Beckett, and Anne Tyler, and on 19th- and 20th-century American literature and culture. She taught literary texts and their cultural contexts for thirty-five years. A weaver as well as a writer, Grace co-founded the Carolina Fiber and Fiction Center in Rhode Island. While conventional advice often urges writers to write what they know, Grace encourages writing toward what is not yet fully known — what may remain partly mysterious. Now back home in Rhode Island, within sight and sound of the ocean, she uses writing to explore both beauty and uncertainty in the world around us.
This workshop will include writer reflections, discussion, and writing exploration centered on place, lived experience, and relationship to place. Participants will be invited to engage through listening, reflection, and optional writing exercises in a supportive setting. By deepening how we notice, describe, and connect with the landscapes around us, writing can also strengthen our understanding of why conservation and stewardship matter to our communities.
Writers of all experience levels are welcome. Participants are asked to preregister Here.
📅 Thursday, May 21st
🕒 5:30pm
📍 Cross Mills Library
🎟️ Free and open to all—please preregister Here.
Writing About Place is a collaborative community series featuring four writing workshops and two guided hikes focused on observing, experiencing, and writing about the landscapes around us. This series is presented in partnership by the Charlestown Land Trust, Hopkinton Land Trust, Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association, Cross Mills Library, and Earthinform Studio.
