Workshops

& Events

People gathered around outdoor table engaging in arts and crafts, with various bottles, cups, and supplies on the table, surrounded by trees and greenery.

“Mapping Plant Colors” led by artist Simona Winkler-Fishyan for Impermanent Earth

Connecting with the outside world through art.

A woman in a white shirt giving a presentation in front of a projection of a close-up photo of yellow flowers on a white wall in a room with studio lighting. There are tables with plates of soil, a container, seeds, and napkins in the foreground.

“Seed Mapping: Urban Planting Through Digital Cartography” for UAAD’s festival, Jukebox of Dissonance

Imagining gardens of the future by planting seeds and cultivating urban plantlife.

To add your own seeds to the map, place pollinating seeds in empty spaces and document them here.

A panel discussion taking place in a bookstore or library with five speakers, including a woman reading from a book, seated at a table with bookshelves in the background, and an audience listening attentively.

“Storytelling in Catastrophe,” a discussion panel with ethnobotanist Alex McAlvay, philosopher and writer Travis Holloway, and NY Farm School organizer Jazz Kerr at Printed Matter.

Our stories, new and old, shared through books and conversation.

A Birthday Party For Oreades Press

10.4.25, New York

A small group of people gathered in a cozy bookstore or coffee shop, with two women standing and speaking at the front, one clapping and smiling, while others sit and watch in the dimly lit room decorated with string lights and books.

A ten year anniversary celebration of our press

A person wearing a black hat and black shirt playing acoustic guitar in a cozy, warmly lit bookstore with a small audience watching.
A woman with glasses and dark hair is speaking to a small group in a cozy bookstore or cafe. She is standing in front of shelves filled with books and greeting cards, with a large window behind her decorated with plants and lights. The audience is seated on the floor, with some women having dark hair, one with a large hair clip, and another with a white tank top.

We hosted a birthday party at Yu & Me Books with readings by Christine Hou, Lalo McKenzie, and Larissa Pham, and a musical performance by treya lam which all happened to center around the image of a sprouting seed, a truly wonderful way to celebrate ten years of environmental storytelling and book making.

Assorted cupcakes with white and chocolate icing, decorated with red letters spelling out 'Happy Birthday, Oreades!'
People inside a bookstore or library with shelves of books, string lights hanging from the ceiling, and some individuals browsing or waiting in line.

Botanical Storytelling

9.29.25, New York

A writing and bookmaking workshop with Center For Book Arts

Inspired by sketchbooks and travel journals by artists like Margaret Mee and Dame Barbara Hepworth, we guided participants in the creation of personal field guides of important plants from their lives and memories in the form of illustrated, saddle stitched booklets.

Group of women gathered around a table covered with colorful books and art projects, in a workshop.
Group of women sitting around a table working on craft projects in a workshop, decorated with colorful paper umbrellas hanging from the ceiling.
A group of women working on artistic projects at a workshop table with colorful paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

Environmental Storytelling

5.8.25, New York

A writing workshop with Brooklyn Women’s Writing Group at Brooklyn Public Library

Two young men are sitting at a white table, writing in notebooks. One has long hair, wearing a blue plaid shirt, and the other has curly hair, wearing a graphic t-shirt. There are notebooks, a book, a phone, and pens on the table.

Our first hybrid in person and zoom workshop focused on speculative fiction through an environmental lens. We shared excerpts from mythology alongside contemporary science fiction and looked at the ways the climate and ecosystem play a role in the story’s unfolding in work by Kim Stanley Robinson and Phillip Pullman. The workshop included several short writing prompts with participants sharing their work at the end of the session.

Seed Mapping

10.20.24, New York

An urban planting workshop at UAAD’s art festival, Jukebox of Dissonance

A workshop dedicated to exploring a contemporary version of “guerilla gardening” planting native pollinator seeds using a geo-mapping component and referencing the work the Green Guerrillas began in New York City in the 1970’s. After making “seed marbles,” participants planted the seeds, marking them with a public map so they can be checked in the following year.

Two women are standing in front of a green sign at Duartie Square, looking at it. One woman has light hair, a white shirt, colorful skirt, and brown boots. The other woman has short black hair, glasses, and is dressed in dark clothing. There are benches, trees, and a building with glass windows in the background. The scene is sunny with fall foliage on the trees.
Map showing locations marked with seed packages numbered 1 to 4 on streets including Canal Street, Lyric Street, and others in an urban area.
Two women are showing a close-up of one woman’s hand with jewelry, while the other woman is taking a photo of it with a smartphone. The women are seated at a table with a green tablecloth, paper plates, cups, and a container.

How Plants Shape Our Narratives

10.6.24, New York

Group of people gathered outdoors in a garden or park, listening to a woman speaking, surrounded by trees and plants, under a blue sky.
A group of people sitting on the grass in a park during daytime, with trees and a blue sky in the background.

A nonfiction writing workshop with Brooklyn Women’s Writing Group and sponsored by Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Drawing on texts from Robin Wall Kimmerer and Jemima Kincaid, this generative workshop looked at how writers use plants to build personal and cultural identities in the atmosphere of the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

Purple flowering plant with tall spikes of small purple flowers and green, gray, or silver leaves, surrounded by green shrubbery and trees in the background under a clear blue sky.

11.19.22, Zurich

Mapping Plant Colors

Group of people gathered around a rustic wooden table outdoors under a shelter, with some servings, cups, and papers, in a cozy, outdoor setting.

a creative botanical workshop with Simona Winkler-Fishyan for Impermanent Earth

A person is painting watercolor leaf and apple images on watercolor paper at a rustic wooden table outdoors, with art supplies including brushes, watercolor paints, and paper towels around them.

An IE workshop hosted by the community garden Stadionbrache and led by Zurich based artist, Simona Winkler-Fishyan. Simona began a discussion on a topic close to her practice, plant blindness, which is when people are not aware of the plants they see around them daily, which led to a discussion on how plant colors are affected by climate change. Through a booklet she prepared, participants explored the garden and wrote and illustrated their observations.

A community garden with various plants, trees, and gardening structures. Two people are visible, tending to the garden on a sunny day with a bright blue sky and some clouds.

Nonfiction Writing with Impermanent Earth

10.29.22, Pittsburgh

A generative workshop with local writer Averi Rose

A smiling man in a black jacket and pants standing on a brick parking lot, with a red brick building with a red-tiled roof in the background and a clear blue sky, during daytime.

IE’s first public workshop in the library of the small town of California, Pennsylvania (pop. 5,400) in the suburban Pittsburg neighborhood of assistant editor Anthony Cassarino. The conversation spanned local development in the community and in the Pittsburgh area at large, including small business, industry, and effects on the community such as homelessness, followed by a generative writing exercise.

Group of five people standing inside a library room with yellow walls and large windows, smiling at the camera.

Storytelling in Catastrophe

10.27.22, New York

A reading and discussion panel for the launch of Six Endings and Some Beginnings at Printed Matter

A discussion on the relationship between storytelling and climate action with writer and philosopher Travis Holloway, storyteller Jazz Kerr from Farm School NYC, and ethnobotanist Alex McAlvay from the New York Botanical Garden, accompanied by readings from Rachel TonThat, Irene Lee, Claire Donato, and Nik Slackman.

A panel discussion in a bookstore with six people seated at a table and an audience listening. Bookshelves in the background.

Six Endings and Some Beginnings

8.13.2022, New York

a reading at Artbook @ MoMA PS1

People attending a discussion panel in a bookstore with bookshelves on the walls, brick ceiling, and hanging lights.

A reading to celebrate the publication of Six Endings and Some Beginnings in person and livestreamed on Instagram with Rachel TonThat, Irene Lee, Pitchaya Sudbanthad, Bria Strothers, and Amanda Monti.

A group of writers sitting at an outdoor wooden table at a restaurant enjoying food and drinks, with a brick building and large window in the background.