Writing(with)Plants Care(Work)Book (2026)

Update: 14 January 2026.

Book cover reveal and more information will follow in February 2026.

  • Text and frameworks: Wendy Wuyts
  • Book cover and graphic design: Maartje van Dokkum (artist name: Mary Feywood)
  • ISBN number: 9789465206844
  • Limited edition, with crowdfunding campaign for European market – in spring 2026 – price: 40 euros (including packaging and postal costs)
  • The dream is to work with USA-based publisher for the North-American market.
  • A5-A4 format (pending)
  • 120 pages: 40 pages with theory and short stories from Flanders, Belgium and 80 ’empty’ pages with templates for DIYO and DIWO sessions

LATEST SKETCH OF BOOK COVER ILLUSTRATION

The book cover is not made with AI, but with an artist. We had several rounds of discussions, including previous sketches. This is the latest sketch before the final book cover illustration. There are still some mistakes and missing details. In one of the previous issues of our writing(with)plants newsletter, we explained some of the design choices and how to visualize this concept of writing(with)plants.

This is a book for designers and facilitators who want to work with plants, not just around them.

what will be in part 1?

  • This book traces the roots of a practice that treats plants as co-creators in design, facilitation, and collective imagination. It offers a brief, accessible history of the philosophy behind this work, with enough context to ground the reader, without drowning them in academic theory or endless references.
  • Along the way, I open up the design and ethical choices behind the practice: why certain decisions were made, what was left out, and how responsibility, care, and power shape collaborations across species.
  • At its core lies a reflection on disenchanted landscapes in a globalized world. Without nostalgia or naïve romanticism, the book introduces the political and psychological forces that have stripped many places of meaning…
  • … and why re-enchantment matters. This becomes the anchor for exploring the need for new eco-mythologies and eco-critical thinking: stories that do not escape reality, but help us stay with it more attentively.
  • Interwoven through the book is my personal story in Flanders, Belgium. Willows, family histories, loss, and quiet resilience shape this landscape. There are sad stories here, but also encounters (human and more-than-human) that have informed my ecofeminist practice and way of working.
  • Short chapters document previous writing-with-plants sessions: fragments, reflections, and musings on what emerged, which choices mattered, and what patterns kept returning across different contexts and groups.
  • For practitioners, the book introduces the P-framework: a practical guide for designers and facilitators working with plants: Plant, Place, Prompt, Psychology, Politics, and Play.
  • This framework supports the design of sessions that are grounded, ethical, and imaginatively alive.
  • Finally, the book maps the mythopoetic spectrum of plants, helping facilitators understand how different “guest plants” invite different types of conversations, tensions, and co-creation processes… and why plant choice is never neutral….

What will be in part 2- templates?

  • templates for 20 guest plants
  • templates for mapping the ecosystem in various seasons
  • templates for business modeling and planning, to ensure that you do not end up getting exploited for your care work
  • check sheets for facilitators and participants who want to do DIWO and DIYO sessions
  • …

a FIRST VOLUME – A VISION OF A BIGGER SERIES OF CARE WORK BOOKS TO SUPPORT CO-CREATION OF ECO+MYTHOLOGIES AND ECOSYSTEM-SENSITIVE PLANS

This book would be seen as a first volume of a series of care(work)books. The vision is that the first part of each volume focuses on another geography, demonstrating how the writing(with)plants practice and certain frameworks can assist in the co-creation of a (new) eco+mythology for a place. The second part are (improved) templates for writing(with)plants sessions, ecosystem mapping and making action plans for valorizing your care work in your chosen place (ecosystem, watershed).

royalties to support our online community care work

Too often, care givers do not get paid. This leaves them in vulnerable positions. We want to change existing toxic systems and business models exploiting free work and apply some financial feminism.

This book is intellectual property of e.g. Wendy Wuyts, who hosted more than 20 sessions for free, and spend many more hours in communication, building structures and discussing this with other co-initiators and hosts. will be copyrighted.

By copyrighting some of our work through an independent publication (and not through an academic publishers like Springer or Elsevier which models exploit many academics), we can get royalties.

The royalties will be used to give volunteers reimbursement or gift vouchers of 100 euros/session to our volunteers who are preparing and hosting the online writing(with)plant sessions (around 2-10 hours work).

In this way, we want to communicate that we see the co-creation of these times and moments, and the therapeutic, learning and community benefits are worth something.

When you buy a book, you support our online sessions in 2026-2027.

do you want to experience this with others?

To learn more about the writing(with)plants frameworks, and to receive announcements for the Do-It-With-Others (DIWO) sessions, please consider to subscribe to our tailored newsletter. You can subscribe here or visit the page about writing(with)plants as a practice with more blogposts of our journey since 2021.