26 Comments
Aug 12, 2022Liked by Yasmin Chopin

where? currently the New Forest, but often the Luberon valley in Provence

favourites? Ali Smith and Graham Swift

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Nov 25, 2023Liked by Yasmin Chopin

Rural village in South west France. My avidness to read has been replaced by my obsession to forage for obscure historical cookery manuals. My kitchen. I am a feeder.

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Sep 1, 2023Liked by Yasmin Chopin

Hello Yasmin, I live in my little corner of Iowa, US. Near corn fields and woods and quiet (tho we do not farm and are transplants originally from New York State). Fav Authors? ONE is Chaim Potok. Getting ready to reread “My Name is Asher Lev”. A fav challenging author is Robert Macfarlane, slow reading to savor.

I am brand new to Substack and still learning my way around. I happened upon you and loved your Liminal piece. It has filled my mind and I look forward to putting words to my thoughts.

We will shortly be visiting London again (cruising the Mediterranean), London being my husbands fav place; we thoroughly enjoyed our trip a few years ago to the Midlands and Wales. My fav place, besides home, is the generational family camp (lake cottage) in Maine.

I did not know there was such a thing as place writing. But it resonates w me and it shows -- back when I used to write long letters, I always opened w the place. It might’ve been just a common space in my home, but I’d describe it. The slant of light, noise & activity nearby, where I was sitting, if there was a cat lying on my paper, what I was feeling at the moment...then I’d get on to news and latest what-have-you.

I’m glad I found YOUR space. And will revisit regularly, even if to reread content. Thank you. -Karen

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Hi Yasmin - I live in Dorset, UK. My favourite writer (at the moment) is Roger Deakin.

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1) For a consideration of what factors make a place sacred, see: "UN address - N. Scott Momaday," Wisdom of the Elders, 8-7-11.

2) I live in the USA. My mother's Lawrence family traces back to England. I read mainly news. The best fiction writers are Shakespeare and Thomas Hardy.

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Hi Yasmin, I'm in Surbiton currently, land of the suburbs! Hard to pick a favourite author, but up Bene Brown, Rebecca Solnit and the poet Diane di Prima are definitely on my go-to list. As you know, I'm a walking artist but am now also incorporating writing for well-being into my work, and next year going to train to teach mindfulness. Enjoying your substack and very interested to know more about the interior design! Lucy x

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Aug 21, 2022Liked by Yasmin Chopin

Hello all. Thank you for setting up this space Yasmin! I live just outside of Edinburgh, in an old mining village called Newtongrange. It's an area that is being rapidly developed for new housing developments but at the moment there is still access to lots of woodland paths and river walks. It's almost impossible to pick out a favourite author so I'll give a handful! I love Annie Dillard - particularly when she describes the brutality of nature. I also love Robin Wall Kimmerer. In terms of fiction I've recently been enjoying Miriam Toews, Jamaica Kincaid, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Claire Keegan.

A special place is the fields behind my house - there's a beautiful hedgerow, I often see (and hear) larks, and from the top field you can see out to Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh Castle and the Firth of Forth. Where I live is a very suburban, quiet place, and I like to be able to see out! It's a bittersweet experience because the land is due to be developed over the next few years.

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Aug 18, 2022Liked by Yasmin Chopin

Hello Yasmin

I'm across the puddle, just outside of Boston and very excited to be able to chat with other place-minded people! I don't really have a favorite author - so many have written such delicious works - although I would have to say that one author who I respect for his prolific creativity and expertise in making the reader feel as though they'e living his words, would be Stephen King. I've only read a few of his books - I can't read more - he's that good that I really don't want to spend more time in his disturbing world!

However, my go-to genre is place writing and some favorites come to mind, Sarah M. Broom (The Yellow House), Nicola Chester (On Gallows Down), Jeff Young (Ghost Town) and Jean Sprackland (These Silent Mansions).

I would have to say where I was born and raised, Willis Farm in Sudbury Massachusetts, has the deepest ties to my heart. I still live on a section of it and it's where I'll stay. I can become attached to many places, though, Cambridge, MA, anywhere in Vermont, Britain and Tuscany. It will be fascinating to explore place writing, place attachment and all its soul-filling wonders with this group.

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Aug 16, 2022Liked by Yasmin Chopin

The Isle of Mull and Iona are two of my favourite places. We go there for a holiday every seven years and it's a great way to mark all that's happened and how we and the things around us have changed in that time.

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Hi Yasmin, great newsletter! And thanks for the tip about that online day of the Talking Places conference!

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New Zealander in Adelaide.

Placey Authors/books:

Rose Macauley - Towers of Trebizond.

Lawrence Durrell - Reflections on a Marine Venus, Propero’s Cell, Bitter Lemons.

Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises

Tom Cox: Ring the Hill

Place: Coorong, South Australia

Currently doing a place writing series taught by Cal Flyn via the Land Arts Collective

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Aug 12, 2022Liked by Yasmin Chopin

Hi Yasmin

I am pleased to see you looking so well. I will certainly send on details of this newsletter to the writing group. We have missed you, but the groups continues to thrive. Several novels now completed by various members, old and new.

i am intrigued by the current focus on Place - i recently did the WordFactory course on Place Writing in Fiction, and found it very stimulating. is this all the doing of MMet?

bw

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