the GUIDES
David Rothenberg
David Rothenberg is known for his work playing live with birds, whales, bugs, and ponds, performing concerts with these more-than-human musicians, teaching, and writing books about it, like Why Birds Sing, Bug Music, and Survival of the Beautiful. He has more than forty recordings out, including One Dark Night I Left My Silent House and Lost Steps. He has performed or recorded with Pauline Oliveros, Peter Gabriel, and Suzanne Vega. In 2024 he won a Grammy Award as part of For the Birds, in the category of Best Boxed Set. Whale Music and Secret Sounds of Ponds are his latest books. Rothenberg has been teaching this kind of thing for more than three decades, to musicians and non-musicians alike.
davidrothenberg.wordpress.com
Rosalind Brackenbury
Rosalind Brackenbury has published poetry, novels, and non-fiction, and has taught Creative Writing workshops in the UK, the US, Spain, and Australia. She was Writing Fellow in 2007 and 2012 at the College of William and Mary, VA, and served as Key West’s Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017. She currently teaches creativity classes based on Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way at The Studios of Key West, as well as generative workshops in poetry and fiction. Her teaching is rooted in the belief that every student can and will find their way to their own creative voice. In June 2024, she taught Writing in Place in northern Spain along the Camino de Santiago. Her forthcoming novel Indigo Sky at Noon, a mystery and love story set in Provence, will be published in 2027 by Regal House Press.
Nadine Pinede
Nadine Pinede writes to spark wonder for curious readers of all ages. Her debut novel, When the Mapou Sings, was named an América’s Award Honor Book; Earth is a Living Thing: Black Poets and the Natural World and Uprooted: A Journey in Poems are both forthcoming; and she has written several nonfiction books for young readers. Her journalism has appeared in The New York Times and CNN.com, her fiction in Haiti Noir and her poetry on National Public Radio. Nadine teaches creative writing for the Miami Book Fair, the Highlights Foundation, and The Writing Barn and also leads workshops on Self-Compassion for Creatives. The daughter of Haitian exiles, Nadine is the first Rhodes Scholar of Haitian descent. Her recent diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome inspired her to create “Coming to Our Senses.”
Charlotte Sophia
Villa Host & Meditation Guide
Charlotte Sophia is a meditation guide, HeartMath trainer, coach, and ordained priestess devoted to creating spaces of deep connection and inner stillness. After twenty-five years in Key West, Florida, she returned home to England, where she founded The Listening Room, a sanctuary for slowing down, listening within, and awakening to the quiet wisdom of the heart.
At Coming to Our Senses, Charlotte will offer gentle morning meditations at the Villa, prepare nourishing breakfasts, and hold a steady, grounding presence, caring for the circle and tending the spirit of home throughout our days together.