Join the Belcourt and The Porch for a writing workshop inspired by Sasha Waters Freyer’s feature film based on the life and writing of Mary Oliver. Drawing from the full depths of Mary Oliver’s archives, this film illuminates a behind-the-scenes look at the inextricable connection between her life, the natural world, queerness, identity, and her work.
Led by writer Lane Scott Jones, this generative workshop invites participants to engage more deeply with Oliver’s writing through close reading, discussion, and guided writing prompts inspired by the film and her writing. Participants will generate new material and have the opportunity to share their work and get feedback in class.
Whether you’re new to Mary Oliver or a longtime fan, this workshop offers space to slow down, tap into our inner and outer worlds, and practice the kind of attention that shaped Oliver’s writing. Together, we’ll honor her enduring invitation for living: “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” See the film on your own, then join us for the workshop. Movie tickets sold separately.
Want to hear from more writers inspired by Mary Oliver’s work? Hear from local poets before the screenings on July 25 and July 26.
Presented in conjunction with MARY OLIVER: SAVED BY THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD, opening at the Belcourt on Fri, Jul 24.
Lane Scott Jones is a writer and speaker based in Nashville whose personal essays and creative nonfiction have appeared in Longreads, Good Grit, Nashville Scene, and in translation in Internazionale. Her writing has been awarded a 2025 ASJA (American Society for Journalists and Authors) Award for first-person essay, selected as runner-up for the W.W. Norton’s Writer’s Prize in Creative Nonfiction, and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her work has been supported by Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, McCormack (formerly Tin House), South Arts, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Wildacres, The Porch, and OZ Arts, among others. Lane has been a featured speaker and storyteller at events hosted by TEDx, Creative Mornings, Soho House, Nashville Design Week, and more. She is currently at work on her first book exploring gender, sexuality, and desire in the evangelical South. Originally from North Carolina, she sold everything she owned in 2022 and has been living out of a suitcase ever since. She documents the journey in Second Rodeo, a newsletter about reinvention: dispatches from traveling full-time, leaseless living, and prototyping her life, one experiment at a time.
