My First Residency

I recently learned that I had the good fortune to be selected as a writer-in-residence at Trail Wood–the historic home of Pulitzer prize winning naturalist Edwin Way Teale in Hampton, Connecticut.  It is the first time I have been awarded a writing residency and I will spend my week there this summer.

Trail Wood is owned and managed by the Connecticut Audubon Society, so the property Teale lived and wrote in is now a nature preserve.  There are a few miles of trails (connecting to a lengthy rail-to-trail project), and two ponds–one impressively managed by a colony of beavers.  Eighty eight species of birds have been identified at the preserve.

During the residency, I will be able to live in Teale’s home, and will have free reign to roam the grounds of the preserve.  Teale’s writing cabin is also accessible, and I understand he recreated it to the exact specifications of Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond.  To be honest, the cabin is not that inviting–you will most likely find my during the day at a gazebo or a bench near one of the ponds.

The Teale home at Trail Wood

Trail Wood is also 4.6 miles from the We-Lik-It Ice Cream stand.  You will likely find me there in the evening, rewarding myself for a productive day.

The residency will culminate with an autumn event entitled “Trail Wood Under the Harvest Moon.”  This will be a reception, open to the public at local Audubon center. Each writer and artist will share a sample of their work to culminate and celebrate the works created over the summer.

My application for the residency included several poems written about my Shoshone heritage.   It is my plan to begin to weave these poems into a book that would also be part journal and part memoir, based on my life on the reservation and the lessons on living harmoniously with nature I learned from my grandfather.

I am curious to see how the project will come together, as I have been focused largely on script writing over the last fifteen years.  A book project based upon poetry and prose will be a wonderful challenge, one that will flex different writing muscles.  I am excited to see where the residency helps me take the project.

Here is a link that tells you more about the Trail Wood and the Residency.