Outdoor writing workshop with award-winning author

Everyone Has A Story community partnership offers a special opportunity to write about the natural world with celebrated writer Athena Kildegaard.

Kildegaard will lead a writing workshop on Thursday, June 28 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Lakes Area Theatre, 2214 Gevena Road Northwest, Alexandria. The cost is $26, and it is made possible by special grant support and the Everyone Has A Story community partnership.

Participants will spend time outdoors on the shores of Lake Geneva and read and discuss the work of several noted nature writers, such as Mary Oliver, Scott Russell Sanders and Gretel Ehrlich.

Kildegaard teaches creative writing at the University of Minnesota, Morris. She is a published poet with three books (Rare Momentum, Bodies of Light, Cloves and Honey). Bodies of Light is a finalist for the Minnesota Book Awards.

She has taught workshops through the Lake Region Writers Network, as well as in other venues in Minnesota and across the country. Her poems have appeared in many journals and several anthologies. She received the distinguished McKnight/Lake Region Arts Council (LRAC) fellowship as well as grants from the Lake Region Arts Council and the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Everyone Has A Story series is a unique partnership of area organizations joining together to offer engaging, interactive experiences for our community to explore story, history and identity through a variety of perspectives.

Partners include Alexandria Adult Education, the Douglas County Historical Society, Friends of the Library, Lakes Area Theatre, Alexandria Branch of American Association of University Women, Diversity Resource Action Alliance and the Alexandria Cultural Inclusiveness Committee. The Minnesota Humanities Center and the Alexandria Community Foundation provided special funding.

Register online at www.alexandria.thatscommunityed.com or call Community Education at (320) 762-3310.

Tags: variety, writing, workshop, author, events