Venturing into the Wild with Karina Berenson
Panhandle Creek Press Writers-In-Residence Series
Friday, September 11th, 4:30-6pm at Red Feather Library, 71 Firehouse Lane, Red Feather Lakes, CO
Event is Free and Open to the Public
Come to welcome Karina Berenson to the mountain and venture into the wild with us!
Explore and reimagine the adventure narrative from a perspective that challenges the Eurocentric and patriarchal concept of “human versus nature.” In this workshop, we will examine classic adventure stories that uphold traditional ideals of conquest and exploration, contrasting them with modern narratives where themes of migration, metamorphosis, and transformation emerge.
We will begin with a reading from Berenson’s novel-in-progress, Such Great Heights. The book follows a former classical oboist turned mountain climber who secretly attempts a grueling hiking challenge after a life-altering accident ends her musical aspirations.
From there, we will look at excerpts across a range of adventure literature—from Jack London’s The Call of the Wild, to modern-day works like Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild and Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, to less recognized adventure narratives such as Lauren Groff’s The Vaster Wilds.
The final half of the workshop will be dedicated to conversation and informal writing exercises to reimagine the adventure narrative and explore how landscape shapes the stories we tell.
Karina Berenson is a writer based in Western Massachusetts. After nearly twenty-five years as a science and medical writer, she shifted her focus to fiction and is currently completing a novel set in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Her work has appeared in JPG Magazine, and she was a finalist in the 2021 Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest. She holds degrees in biological sciences and public health and worked for many years as a hospice volunteer and an elder care case manager, deepening her connection to narratives of grief and mortality. She is also involved in local environmental and outdoor justice initiatives— experiences that shape her relationship with the natural environment and the interplay of story with our changing climate, and that inform her interest in troubling the idea of belonging in outdoor spaces. An avid hiker, she completed a solo trek of the Tour du Mont Blanc and is working on hiking all 48 of the 4,000-foot peaks of the New Hampshire White Mountains. She is also a classically trained violinist learning how to fiddle and performs with the band, Crowd the Plow
Venturing into the Wild
Explore and reimagine the adventure narrative from a perspective that challenges the Eurocentric and patriarchal concept of “human versus nature.” In this workshop, we will examine classic adventure stories that uphold traditional ideals of conquest and exploration, contrasting them with modern narratives where themes of migration, metamorphosis, and transformation emerge.
We will begin with a reading from Berenson’s novel-in-progress, Such Great Heights. The book follows a former classical oboist turned mountain climber who secretly attempts a grueling hiking challenge after a life-altering accident ends her musical aspirations.
From there, we will look at excerpts across a range of adventure literature—from Jack London’s The Call of the Wild, to modern-day works like Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild and Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, to less recognized adventure narratives such as Lauren Groff’s The Vaster Wilds.
The final half of the workshop will be dedicated to conversation and informal writing exercises to reimagine the adventure narrative and explore how landscape shapes the stories we tell.
Karina Berenson is a writer based in Western Massachusetts. After nearly twenty-five years as a science and medical writer, she shifted her focus to fiction and is currently completing a novel set in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Her work has appeared in JPG Magazine, and she was a finalist in the 2021 Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest. She holds degrees in biological sciences and public health and worked for many years as a hospice volunteer and an elder care case manager, deepening her connection to narratives of grief and mortality. She is also involved in local environmental and outdoor justice initiatives— experiences that shape her relationship with the natural environment and the interplay of story with our changing climate, and that inform her interest in troubling the idea of belonging in outdoor spaces. An avid hiker, she completed a solo trek of the Tour du Mont Blanc and is working on hiking all 48 of the 4,000-foot peaks of the New Hampshire White Mountains. She is also a classically trained violinist learning how to fiddle and performs with the band, Crowd the Plow