Growth of the soil – in Knut Hamsuns footsteps, A workshop catching the spirit of nature through the inspiration from the distinguished Norwegian writer and poet Knut Hamsun.

This is a 2-3 day workshop that I have developed for children between 9 and 13 and has been performed in many schools in the Hamarøy/Steigen region in North Norway. The aim is to make children familiar with the authorship of the world famous writer Knut Hamsun through being absorbed in nature in a similar way to how the writer got his inspiration. In the workshop we explore and discover how the natural environment was a source of inspiration for many of his famous books. The children learn to discover nature in new and unexpected ways, literally through exploring Hamsun’s footsteps. They find their special place of fancy in the woods and try and capture its essence with a homemade writing tool sourced from the place and real ink. They study nature close-up with magnifying lenses and stereo microscopes. They watch the clouds and feel the earth and gather colors and patterns from nature on a palette and play with Hamsun’s words and letters to create their own cut-and-paste poetry. They make collages and share stories and in the 3-day workshop we also make a meal with locally sourced ingredients and invite parents and guests to a feast with poetry reading and an exhibition of their work.