From the Farmhouse Table: April 2021

A Careful and Welcome Opening

I walk the land at Hedgebrook just after dawn, when damp air and secret forest sounds cushion my thoughts. My boots seek out spongy lime moss. I imagine the air tastes a little salty but what I actually smell is the tang of wood smoke that curls from cottage chimneys into the lightening sky, ordinary exhalations at a place that teaches Firebuilding 101 to each visiting writer.

But these have been anything but ordinary times.

Hedgebrook’s regular residencies came to an abrupt end last March, when stay-at-home orders shrank our worlds. Like so many nonprofits, Hedgebrook faced painful choices in uncertain times: staff layoffs, a restructuring and the transformation of what had been primarily place-based writing programming into online experiences.

It isn’t hyperbole to say the time was fraught and painful.

People who care about Hedgebrook poured their energies and creativity into this magical organization. Through the unceasing efforts of dedicated staff and board members, Hedgebrook cleared a new path to meaningful writing experiences in virtual spaces. We channelled Radical Hospitality and Radical Reciprocity into virtual offerings—live webinars, Radical Craft Retreats and self-directed Online Classes with alumnae instructors.

The by-product of that ingenuity is broader access.

For many years, Hedgebrook has hosted about 40 writers each year, a small fraction of the thousands who apply for residency. Our virtual offerings since last March have invited hundreds of writers into the Hedgebrook community. For 33 years, Hedgebrook has been largely defined by place; it has come to represent making space accessible to the writers who seek it.

Last month at Equivox, Hedgebrook’s annual fundraiser, a diverse group of more than 200 people crossed time zones to chat and watch and listen on Facebook and YouTube. I would have loved to have sat beside Michelle Alexander and Carolyn Forché and Natalie Baszile for our discussion about resiliency and the imperative to write, to hear their laughter and honesty face-to-face. But there was a warmth and intimacy that transcended our screens. With writers coming back on the land, Hedgebrook sits in both the liminal and the physical.

This marks one month since I joined the Hedgebrook team as executive director, part of a leadership shift that includes Program Director Amber Flame and Board President Sarah Ladipo Manyika. Flame is a force, a cuff-rolling innovator whose two Hedgebrook residencies inform her perspective. Sarah, also an alumna, brings a deep board experience, a wide network and a passion for Hedgebrook’s next chapter. I bring an appreciation of strategy, a journalist’s gaze and a determination to extend Hedgebrook’s legendary hospitality throughout the organization. Together, the Black Girl Magic is real.

It is an exciting time in spaces and places that are ripe with possibility.

Sitting around the firepit with the first batch of writers this year, the conversation turned to the housing market, reacquainting ourselves with social settings and the qualities of the perfect dog. We sat about 10 feet apart, pulling masks aside to nibble on the chef's latest creation. Someone spoke about their writing practice over the past year and what it means to pull into the drive and hear the crunch of gravel as you walk to the Bathhouse, how it feels to set up your desk with reference books and a steaming mug.

She couldn’t wait to tell her Hedgebrook writing community, which has met daily online for more than a year, about this incarnation.

There is a small wooden bridge that forks off the road to Meadowhouse. At this time of year, water trickles beneath the slats from the waterfall. After gathering with the writers, I stood on that little overpass, suspended between, grateful to be here and there.

-Kimberly A.C. Wilson, Executive Director

Our first open application will serve local and regional residents

and will be launching very soon. Stay tuned!