EarthSpells Institute
Rewild your writing. Root into the earth.
Learn from visionary writers and thinkers.
Flourish in community.
A year-long online program for ecological storytellers who are ready to root
more deeply into their practice and their places, hone their craft, sharpen
their skills, and nurture their creative lives together.
November 1, 2026 to October 31, 2027
Thursdays on Zoom; all meetings recorded
Join us for a Seed Swap with our institute faculty October 1 at 7 pm Eastern on zoom.
We’ll plant seeds of inspiration in your heart as we enter the dark season.
Are you ready to root into an ecological writing practice supported by regular workshops and instruction, monthly rituals and prompts, and an intimate community?
It’s time to answer the call if
You’re passionate about writing about the earth but struggle to develop regular practices of connection and attention rooted in the place where you live. You can’t seem to adopt a writing practice with a regular rhythm. You need monthly rituals to ground you and keep you focused.
Your life is a little chaotic and you’re longing for the contemplative space to explore your thoughts, journal with your ideas, and bring your words to life.
You’re connected to the earth and the land and feel you have stories to tell about it, but you feel lost when you sit down to write. You feel stories stirring inside you, but you flounder, not knowing what to land on.
You yearn for an intimate and trusted community to grow in, one that gets your devotion to the more-than-human world and can reflect with you on environmental topics, geek with you on nature and science, grieve with you in the sixth mass extinction. Writing feels too isolated and lonely, and you long to have your stories held and reflected by others.
You’ve been nature journaling for years but feel you want to go further. You want to gain a deeper understanding of the genre of ecological and environmental writing. You want the guidance of experienced authors to give you the skills that can help you turn your rough words into crafted poems and stories.
We're
so
glad
you're
here
The question isn’t whether you have something to say. It’s whether you create the space to listen.
The EarthSpells Institute is a sanctuary for the imagination. A place to deepen your practice, ground into regular devotion. A refuge for grief, magic, and mystery. For craft conversations and slow art, rigorous research and thinking. Writing in the richness of place and land. For finding the joy in your creative flow.
We are under the spell of the earth.
We are casting spells for the earth.
We are growing together when the world falls apart.
Holly held a space that always felt safe, affirming, and fertile with possibility. I leave with renewed enthusiasm, willingness to follow seemingly-unconnected threads, and patience for the pace of an intelligent unfolding in my work.
— Kim
Holly created an online space like a nest—secure but porous—and full of new life. Our group grew and stretched our writing wings and were fed by Holly's wise words, provocations, and perceptive questions. I am so grateful to have been part of a group so spaciously run.
— Alex
You will begin to
Feel the natural rhythm of your creative flow and trust the practice
Find the stories in the earth that are calling you to write them
Strengthen your capacity for play and experimentation
Weave your stories in a supportive web with others
Deepen your relationship to nature as you turn your attention to the place where you live
See yourself as a story animal and write with your whole body
Gain the craft skills to turn your journaling into powerful works of art
Savor the ideas of other ecological writers as nourishment for your own thinking
The EarthSpells Institute is an online writing community where we nurture a different way of living, learning, and writing.
We welcome an annual cohort of only 45 writers, to ensure a robust yet intimate place to grow. We believe that small is beautiful. This is a living online habitat where we gather to rewild our attention, kindle our creativity, and cultivate a more reciprocal relationship with the earth beneath our feet.
What’s included in your year-long membership
Each month has three movements that mirror the natural cycles of plants: rooting, growing, and going to seed. All gatherings are 90 minutes, on Zoom and will be recorded so you can watch anytime.
Rooting Circles
Water your creative practice, plant yourself in the place where you live
In these sessions at the beginning of each month, Holly will offer craft talks & writing exercises, meditations, & bioregional practices so you can root more deeply into the earth beneath your feet, your own creaturely body, seasonal rhythms, & your natural creative flow.
Held the first Thursday of each month from 6:30-8:00 p.m. Eastern, live attendance is encouraged, but all sessions will be recorded and archived in the institute’s library so you can root down anytime you wish.
Workshops for Growing Your Practice
Branch out in your craft as you learn from visionary writers and thinkers
Each month, you’ll learn from a writer on the institute’s stellar faculty. (See below for our complete lineup.) Instructors will teach with a combination of lecture, Powerpoint, live exercises and prompts, readings, and discussion. A 25-minute Q&A will be held at the end of each session, during which participants can dig in more and engage with the instructor.
While we have many nonfiction writers on our faculty, our program and all workshops will speak to, or can translate to, poetry and fiction as well as hybrid genres. The common thread is ecological writing.
Held the second or third Thursday of each month, either 3-4:30 p.m. or 7-8:30 p.m. Eastern, your live attendance is encouraged, but all workshops will be recorded and archived in the library so you can keep revisiting. The full schedule of workshops is provided at the beginning of the annual program so you can mark your calendars.
Seed Swaps
Participate in a reciprocal creative ecosystem
Taking the traditional seed swap as our model, where diversity is the farming community’s brilliance and resilience, at the end of each month, we’ll gather to share “seeds” of inspiration: words you’re germinating, ideas and thoughts you’ve collected for a budding project, wisdom from workshop, discoveries you’ve had about your practice, a poem you love, research that’s stirring you, a meaningful connection with the more-than-human world, a new craft tool you’ve picked up, or anything else you wish to offer to the community. Come to speak, to share what you’re holding close, to stumble or stammer, to whisper your dreams, or just to listen deeply.
These sessions will be held the final Thursday of each month from 6:30-8:00 p.m. Eastern, and all sessions will be archived in the library for your continued inspiration. Held the first Thursday of each month from 6:30-8:00 p.m. Eastern, live attendance is encouraged, but all sessions will be recorded and archived in the institute’s library so you can root down anytime you wish.
Written Materials
In addition to our live gatherings, each month you’ll receive written materials. These will be provided as pdfs in our online learning platform.
Contemplations
Every month, you’ll receive a contemplation from Holly about craft, the writing practice, and/or your relationship with the more-than-human. These will be short readings that are meant for you to chew on, to walk with, to put in your backpack or back pocket, journal to, share in conversation with a loved one, tuck beneath your pillow and sleep on, bury in your garden, or burn in the fire.
Writing Prompts
Each month’s prompt will provide an opportunity for play, a spark for your tinder. Prompts can be used as short exercises, or they may take you into a full-fledged piece of writing. In response, you can post up to 700 words in our community forum to receive feedback, curious questions, reflection, and encouragement from your cohort.
EarthSpells Institute Faculty
Holly Haworth (This Resounding World: A Field Guide to Listening, forthcoming) Founder, EarthSpells Institute
Other Community Benefits
The Mycelial Network: our member directory allows you to connect across the distance, or with other members in your bioregion. Form relationships online or organize in-person meet-up adventures like hikes or writing retreats.
Core support groups within the larger circle where you will have the option to organize monthly or quarterly writing workshops
Member discussion boards where you can share celebrations and opportunities, what you’re reading, podcasts you’re listening to, etc.
Members chat group on WhatsApp for casual conversation
Meet your Guide
Holly Haworth is a writer, deep ecologist, certified naturalist, editor, and educator. Her writing explores the intersections of ecology, spirituality, history, technology, and culture. Her work has been included in Best American Science and Nature Writing and listed as notable in Best American Essays and Best American Travel Writing. It has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Orion, Emergence, Oxford American, Sierra, Nautilus, In These Times, The Utne Reader, The Bitter Southerner, Creative Nonfiction, and at the On Being radio program blog. She is the Assistant Editor at Southlands Magazine. Holly is a recipient of the Middlebury Fellowship in Environmental Journalism. She earned an MFA at Hollins University, where she was a Jackson Fellow. Her first nonfiction book, This Resounding World: A Field Guide to Listening, forthcoming from Bloomsbury, has received the Robert B. Silvers Foundation Grant for Works in Progress.
Holly is from the Great Smoky Mountains. She is a certified Southern Appalachian Naturalist with a deep love for plants and trees.
Holly has been teaching creative writing since 2016 and founded the EarthSpells Institute in 2025. Her offerings are informed by her background in contemplative and holistic education and whole-person learning; her training in the Coyote Mentoring philosophy; her own evolving writing practice; and her academic studies in the more-than-humanities.
I have long admired Holly’s writing, and it was a gift to be a student under her guidance. It was exactly the support and spark that I have been looking for.
— Meriwether
Holly was a master of welcoming all participants and facilitated a safe and stimulating space. Her often-subtle ways of bringing our group closer fostered a trusting environment that encouraged collaboration. Everything about the course felt deeply intentional yet with ample room to play. I am so grateful to have engaged with this beautiful group of writers, led by such a talented and grounded host.
— Jane
Choose How to Join
There are two membership tiers and pay plan options, so you can make it work for you.
Full Community Member
all community benefits. Live sessions, written materials, discussion boards, community platform
$2755.00
Payment Plan Options Available at Checkout
Mentorship Member
all community benefits. Live sessions, written materials, discussion boards, community platform
Plus: one monthly 45-minute 1:1 session with Holly
$4555.00
Payment Plan Options Available at Checkout
Note that payment plans include a 3% Stripe transaction fee, so it costs a little more to spread the payments.
We offer five 50% off scholarships each time our doors open. You can apply here. We especially encourage people of color/cultural minorities, women with young children, and LGBTQ+ writers to apply.
Choose How to Join
There are six different ways to pay, so you can make it work for you.
Plan One 1 x payment of $2755
Plan Two 2 x payments of $1420
Plan Three 3 x payments of $947
Plan Four 4 x payments of $709
Plan Five 5 x payments of $568
Plan Six 6 x payments of $
Note that payment plans include a 5% Stripe transaction fee, so it costs a little more to spread the payments.
We offer five 50% off scholarships each time our doors open. You can apply here (hyperlink to come). We especially encourage people of color/cultural minorities, women with young children, and LGBTQ+ writers to apply.
Gifts and Bonuses
✽ Early Bird Gift: pay in full before midnight on October 5th and receive two 45-minute sessions with Holly for extra support in your writing, worth $350; schedule anytime throughout your yearlong membership
✽ For those who pay in full before midnight October 11th
You’ll receive one 45-minute session with Holly, worth $175
You’ll be entered into our raffle for a free gift session with Bridgett Brunea of Sacred Ground Somatics. Bridgett is an embodiment coach who guides women and non-binary writers in body-centered inquiry and dialogue to unlock their writing and creative life—in a way that honors their sensitivity, centers the sacred heart of their work, and connects to the living world.
✽ Pay in full before midnight October 15th and receive these bonuses worth $1,200
How to Write a Reported Essay live workshop
From Cold Facts to Truths that Sing: Incorporating Research into Creative Nonfiction workshop
Getting Unstuck live small group session
During my time with Holly, I felt that my writing was supported and my ideas were heard, encouraged, and expanded. She nurtured excitement and curiosity through dynamic instruction, responding to our class’s collective and individual interests and energies. This responsiveness demonstrated to all of us that our wellbeing and lives beyond the classroom was valued, and she took the time to extend compassion, check in, and follow up. I am sure Holly cultivates a culture of care in any community she is a part of. As a writer, I was so grateful for the space she created in which I felt comfortable to risk, express, and explore.
— Marta
Holly's class is space for wondering. She encourages approaching your own and others' writing with curiosity and openness, for what truth it might discover, for where it might lead us, for the possibilities it might reveal. It's no surprise that her class naturally creates a sense of trust and community.
— Jaime
I came to Holly's workshop a seasoned workshopper and writer, and yet I was still so surprised by the space Holly cultivated: community-oriented while also introspective and reflective; joyous risk-taking on the page while also grounded in the material here and now of being a writer, living through this moment in time. I loved the readings she brought for us to spend time with and her presentations to frame and inspire writing; but I also loved how she gathered a group of fellow writers together to learn from each other's questions, processes, and discoveries. Her workshop was not only a class in the best sense—challenge, read, write, time, reward; it was a heartfelt journey that cultivated community, care, and growth.
— Molly
FAQs
How is the EarthSpells Institute unique?
While there are many writing programs out there that offer workshops and craft discussions, ours is unique for at least four reasons, which define the pillars of our program:
1. Our ecological focus You’ll be surrounded by other writers whose subjects concern the natural world, our more-than-human kin, nature, science, spirituality, and ecology.
2. An intentionally small community of no more than 45 participants. We believe that small is beautiful and that we deepen our writing through meaningful weaving-together.
3. Holistic contemplative practices of rooting and belonging in the place where you live, and connecting to your body. We offer modes of bioregional belonging and somatic feeling that go beyond yet encompass our writing. Because we believe that our relationship with the earth and with our bodies is all part of our writing practice.
4. We are not product-oriented. Rather, we make space to come to know the aliveness of our process. We believe that we change the way we write by creating space to listen to the unfolding of our work, having our words reflected by curious questions, and witnessing others in their creative process—not primarily by critical feedback. While you’ll have the opportunity to conduct traditional feedback-based workshops in your core support groups (with an anti-racist non-patriarchal workshop model offered by Holly), we do not center the workshop and are not an alt-MFA program. We aim to decolonize your writing and help you dive below the surface.
Do you have payment plans and scholarships?
Yes, we offer four payment plans so you can choose the one that suits your financial situation. We offer five 50% off scholarships and encourage people of color/cultural minorities, women with young children, and LGBTQ+ writers to apply when our doors are open each year.
If I decide I don’t want to continue, can I get a refund?
Once you join our annual membership, you commit to paying the full amount. If you meet a major life crisis and cannot participate, please ask us about transferring your membership to a future year.
Why do I have to commit to a full year?
This program is meant to deepen your craft and practice in an embodied way that will change your life. A year gives you the space to integrate and absorb the growth of your writing, and it allows for you to deepen into a trusted and intimate writing community. A year is the minimum commitment, and we welcome members to return each year if they find that they would like to keep growing with us.
How much time do I have to spend each month?
We hold three 90-minute gatherings each month. While we encourage live participation, we know that life is busy and that your capacity fluctuates. This is why we record all our sessions, so you can absorb them at your own pace, in your own time.
This isn’t school—you are not in trouble for missing sessions, and there’s no falling behind. We offer a regular structure that you can lean into however you see fit for your practice. You can also choose to engage as much or as little with our community as you wish. You can meet with your core support group when you’re able, chat in the WhatsApp, and engage in group discussions on our community forums. It’s all there for you, when you need it.
When are the live events?
Live events are always held on Thursdays and your attendance is welcome and encouraged! We would love to weave in real time with you. That’s where the deepest magic happens.
Rooting circles are held the first Thursday of each month from 6:30-8:00 pm Eastern.
Workshops are held either the second or third Thursday of each month, either at 3:00-4:30 pm Eastern or 7:00-8:30 pm Eastern. (You’ll receive a full schedule of workshops when our program begins.)
Seed Swaps are held the final Thursday of each month from 6:30-8:00 pm Eastern.
Again, all sessions will be recorded and archived.
What if I’ve never written?
We are all story animals. We welcome the advanced writer and the beginner. If you are longing to write, join us.