Hello! I’m Linden, my pronouns are they/them. I live in Edinburgh, and often work in London and Brighton. I graduated from the MA in Creative Writing and Education at Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2018, and I’ve trained in Nature Connection Facilitation with Change in Nature, The Work That Reconnects with Active Hope London, and I am currently training in Forest School Leadership with FSTC.
I’m a participatory arts and nature connection facilitator – you might find me co-producing arts projects with young people and communities, teaching creative writing, or facilitating workshops in the woods. I want my work to contribute to community building, nature connection and ecological healing, increasing access to creativity, and justice and belonging.
I’m also a writer and performer – I write poetry and fiction exploring connections between humans and non-human nature, re-imagining belonging and kinship, and celebrating queer joy and liberation. I aim to use poetry and stories towards building queer, feminist, decolonial, and sustainable futures through community and solidarity. I’ve written poems for as long as I can remember, but I started sharing them on stages around 2010 at open mic nights in Edinburgh. Since then, I’ve collected a wide range of feature performances – from music festivals to dive bars to one glorious night with a full orchestra. I wrote and toured a full-length spoken word show about fat liberation and reclaiming exercise, Fat Kid Running, in 2016-18. My latest poetry pamphlet, All the plants I have half-grown, is published by Stewed Rhubarb Press
I’ve run participatory arts projects and taught creative writing in schools, with older people, in mental health contexts, in a children’s hospital, in queer spaces, with community gardens, in a cemetery park, and more. I’m particularly intested in combining nature connection and queer ecologies with creativity – I love working with conservation and ecology projects to support people to connect with their ecosystems through art and writing.
I am part of nature connection facilitation collective Gather – we offer nature inspired sessions which build community with each other and the ecosystems we are a part of. As well as working with change-making organisations to offer wellbeing, team-building, and strategy sessions, we run Queers in the Woods, a seasonal community space for queers and queer-curious people, connecting with nature in an informal, welcoming and joyous space. See more…
Please feel welcome to contact me to discuss any aspect of my work – whether you would like to collaborate with, to book me for an event, or to commission me to run a project or event!
Linden K McMahon 