Skip to content

Can nature writing improve mental health?

Arji Manuelpillai hosts Urban Tree Festival showcase.
19th May 2021

    Arji Manuelpillai, poet and rapper, hosts the Urban Tree Festival showcase of nature writing on Sunday 23 May, the final day of a nine-day celebration of nature in cities. Passionate about community arts and connecting people, Manuelpillai connects trees and people with writing to help nurture relationships, improve mental health and increase self-esteem. With financial support from the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, the event features prizes and readings by the shortlisted authors. Arji Manuelpillai also appears in next week’s WritersMosaic, in a guest edition called ‘Borderliner’.

    https://urbantreefestival.org/write-about-trees

    Ideas are like rabbits

    ‘Ideas are like rabbits, you get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you will have a dozen.’

    Soundsystem as pedagogy

    'You left recalibrated. Heartbeat altered. Shoulders lowered.'

    Bad Signal

    'All language use can be seen as extending a hand; words and their corresponding meanings are always about relationships'

    Minor Black Figures

    Making art without looking over your shoulder

    The Authenticator

    Painful truths hidden in the shadows of history

    Hedda

    An imperfect description of humanity

    video

    Free Will

    Will Harris reads his poem, 'Free Will'. Directed by Matthew Thompson and commissioned by the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation.

    video

    Half Written Love Letter

    Selina Nwulu reads her poem, 'Half Written Love Letter'. Directed by Matthew Thompson and commissioned by the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation.

    Illuminating, in-depth conversations between writers.

    Listen to all episodes
    Spotify
    Apple Podcasts
    Amazon Music
    YouTube
    Other apps
    What we leave we carry, The series that tells the true-life stories of migration to the UK.

    The series that tells the true-life stories of migration to the UK.

    Listen to all episodes
    Spotify
    Apple Podcasts
    Amazon Music
    YouTube
    Other apps
    Everyone has an elsewhere

    Nine writers explore the elusive emotional truth behind narratives and storytelling.

    Listen to all episodes
    Spotify
    Apple Podcasts
    YouTube
    Fiction Prescriptions

    Bibliotherapy for the head and the heart

    Listen to all episodes
    Spotify
    Apple Podcasts
    YouTube
    Search