Writers in the Mountains

03/02/21 • 27 min

This week, we're joined by 4 Catskills writers, teachers, and board members of Writers in the Mountains, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide a nurturing environment for the practice, appreciation and sharing of creative writing.

Simona David is a media consultant, author of How Art Is Made: In the Catskills (published in 2017), and former president of Writers In The Mountains (from 2012 – 2019). She's currently working as an advisor to the Board.

Sharon Israel hosts the radio show, Planet Poet-Words in Space, on Roxbury's WIOX, and she hosts a podcast by the same name. Her debut chapbook, Voice Lesson, was published in 2017 by Post Traumatic Press. And she's been on the Writers in the Mountains Board of Directors for over a decade.

Anique Sara Taylor is a Pushcart Prize nominee. Her work has appeared in Rattle, Common Ground Review, Stillwater Review, Earth’s Daughters and several anthologies. She’s co-authored works for HBO, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster and a three-act play that was performed by Playwrights Horizons and Williamstown Theatre Festival. She's also an award-winning artist, and she teaches Creative Writing for Benedictine Hospital’s Oncology Support Program, Bard Lifetime Learning Institute, and Writers in the Mountains.

Leslie T. Sharpe is a lifelong naturalist living in the Great Western Catskills. Her book, The Quarry Fox and Other Critters of the Wild Catskills, is an Independent Book Publisher "Gold Medal Award winner for Excellence". And I had the pleasure of producing the audiobook edition, beautifully narrated by Leslie, and available wherever audiobooks are found. In 2019, Leslie was named one of Fifty Stewards of the Catskills. She's taught writing and editing at Columbia University, New York University, the City College of New York, and currently, at Writers in the Mountains.

Supported by WIOX and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.

Supported by WIOX and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.

Previous Episode

Sustainable Catskills part 2

Join us for part two of our behind-the-scenes tour of "Sustainable Catskills," with stops at the nation's first "passive house" library, an eco-conscious resort on the banks of the Esopus, and an Arkville solar array that implements local art and bluestone into its design. Thanks to Ulster Tourism and The 52-mile Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, following New York State Route 28 through the heart of the Central Catskills.

Next Episode

Bicknell: the Bird and the Man

With snow and ice still reluctant to make way for long-awaited signs of spring, bird species know that warm weather is indeed on its way, and many are already en route back to their Catskills breeding grounds. For many of us, robins are a telltale sign that spring has sprung. If you're hiking in the high country, though, you might be lucky enough to hear a Bicknell's thrush, back from its winter home in Hispaniola. Although its range is not limited to the Catskills, the bird was discovered here in the 19th century, by Eugene P. Bicknell. To tell us more about the man behind the bird, I spoke with Jeremy Kirchman, Curator of Birds at the New York State Museum.

This episode originally aired as part of Catskill Historical Views, an audio companion to Catskill Tri-County Historical Views, published by the Gilboa Museum & Juried History Center, with support from the Zadock Pratt Museum. Thanks to Humanities New York for their support.