"When I typed in "West Coast Writers' Retreats," Taos appeared, a well as Santa Fe and Seattle. Then the search took a leap to Ireland...and a writers' workshop on the southwest coast of the Beara Peninsula and a place named Anam Cara."
Inspiration from Zion
"Driving from Denver to Los Angeles with my first husband and baby son in 1973, I wanted to enjoy parts of the country I'd never experienced. Tiredness interfered with that often, sending me into uneasy dozes as Richard drove and Lyle sang with the radio, banging out time on his carseat. And so, only one sight has really stayed with me for all these years: Zion National Park in Utah."
Winners of the Fall 2017 Essay Contest
You can read the winners of our Fall 2017 Essay contest here! Thanks to all who submitted writing to the contest, we received so many powerful and beautifully written entries. We are grateful for the wisdom and insight of our contest judge, Melissa Faliveno, and hope you will enjoy reading her selections.
Timeless Land
Suzanne Cottrell writes about a chance stop at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho, "We’d never heard of it. Well, it was on our way, we had time, and we enjoyed family adventures—so why not stop?" The impulse adventure led to wonder, adventure, and discovery. Click here to read more!
Sperry Chalet
Parks and Points Fall 2017 Essay Contest is Open
Our annual fall essay contest invites nonfiction submissions of up to 1,500 words in the form of autobiographical essay, reportage, profile, memoir, or narrative nonfiction. We seek essays that express a moment of significance — personal transformation, awakening, adventure, exploration, reward, accomplishment, revelation — that is inspired by or set within a park space or public land.
Why Badlands is My National Park
Robby DeGraff shares his personal story about the adventure he and his father had on a road trip out west. A stop at Badlands National Park profoundly changed their lives. Click here to read Robby's poignant essay.
One Step at a Time: Moving On at Joshua Tree National Park
Click here to read Melissa Grego's essay about rock-climbing at Joshua Tree National Park—she gains new perspective during a time of personal and professional turmoil. Melissa writes, "At Joshua Tree, I experienced pain and fear and still reached places I didn’t know existed. I just needed to keep looking at things from different angles and recognize that I was not alone."
The Crown Jewels and the Jersey Girl: Inspiration and Healing in the National Parks
Lauren Danner reflects on the formative trips to national parks in the American West that molded her as a young adult; the parks, particularly North Cascades, are a source of constancy and nourishment throughout adulthood. Click here to read.
Banner photo courtesy Lauren Danner.
Gravity
We're thrilled to share Jill Kolongowski's touching essay about childhood memories and sibling bonds, set on the shores of Lake Michigan at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Click the photo or here to read.
Parks & Points & Poetry
In April, we are celebrating the awe we so often feel in nature, on public lands, through a month-long poetry series to coincide with National Poetry Month. Click here to read along throughout the month; we will share the poems, featuring work by twenty-four poets whose work celebrates parks and other public lands.
Our series is edited by Celeste Hackenberg, and features poems by:
- Phillip Bannowsky
- Karen Berry
- Joe Betz
- Gary Bloom
- Jeff Burt
- Gabriella Brand
- Ann DeVilbiss
- Iris Jamahl Dunkle
- Andy Fogle
- J.M. Green
- Mary Christine Kane
- Richard Kempa
- Joshua Lefkowitz
- Jennifer Moore
- Julie Moore
- Kevin Oberlin
- Kristin Rajan
- Thom Schramm
- Marjorie Thomsen
- Kerry Trautman
- Brendan Walsh
- BJ Ward
- Kory Wells
- Tom Zimmerman
We wish to acknowledge our finalists:
- KB Ballentine “Comfort of Solitude”
- George Campbell, “I Walked All Day Upstream”
- Jan Chronister, “Door County”
- Anne E. Johnson “Dead and Alive in Turkey Run”
- Jennifer Lagier “Moonstone Morning”
- Leah Mueller “Glacier”
- Ken Pobo “Climbing a Tithonia”
- Lara Poulton, “Going to the Sun”
- Alexandra Renwick “particles of your mud still flush my veins”
- Elizabeth Spragins “Eventide”
- Mary Ellen Talley “Whistler Campground at Jasper National Park” and “Lake Melakwa, 1973”
- Paul Thiel, “Split Rock”
- Tyson West, “Solstice Skateboarders Around the Salmon Fountain”
