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More about this trip-
We are so excited to be offering our second Jane Eyre pilgrimage, this time led by both Vanessa Zoltan, co-host of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text and author of Praying with Jane Eyre, and Lauren Sandler, co-host of Hot & Bothered: On Eyre, and a journalist and author. Together, we’ll explore Jane Eyre through the theme of hope. Each day, we will have a morning discussion about our theme led by Lauren and Vanessa. We will engage in sacred reading practices while reflecting on the text and our own lives. During the day, we will walk through the beautiful moors on guided hikes. Using the landscape as a source of inspiration, we will spend our days walking, reading, and joining in conversation.
Whether you are a longtime fan of Jane Eyre or new to the text, this trip can offer you time to reflect and relax, and to enjoy nature in a community of thoughtful individuals. We are so excited to gather together again and can’t wait to embark on this journey together.
We’ll meet in Manchester to explore the city where the first words of Jane Eyre were penned on the afternoon of the 3rd and then travel to the Yorkshire Moors, where we’ll visit Haworth and walk the paths that the Bronte sisters traveled across. Each day, we will make space for writing, reflection, reading, silence, ancient reading practices and of course, for walking.
Trip Faculty
Lauren Sandler
Co-Faculty Leader (she/her)
Lauren Sandler is co-host of Hot & Bothered: On Eyre, and a journalist and author. Her most recent book is This Is All I Got: A New Mother’s Search for Home, a 2020 New York Times Notable Book. Sandler’s journalism has appeared in dozens of publications including Time, The New York Times, Slate, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and New York. She has been on staff at Salon and NPR, a columnist at HuffPost, and has led OpEd Project fellowships at Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, and the University of Virginia. She lives in Brooklyn.
Vanessa Zoltan
Co-Faculty Leader (she/her)
Vanessa is the CEO of Not Sorry. She is on three of our podcasts: Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, The Real Question, and Hot & Bothered. She founded Common Ground Pilgrimages in order to travel with brilliant faculty to beautiful places and talk about books with amazing pilgrims. It was a great trick she pulled off. She is also the author of the book, "Praying with Jane Eyre".
Vanessa was trained as a non-denominational chaplain at Harvard Divinity School. She is a proud California girl who currently lives in MA with her gorgeous, blended family. Her Romance novelist pseudonym, if she ever publishes a Romance novel, will be Lorelai Mason, as you can see in her profile pic.
Colette Potts
Chaplain (she/her)
Colette is an educator, family therapist, and parent of three Harry Potter fans. She serves as chaplain on our pilgrimages and happens to share a life with Matt Potts, the co-host of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. Colette is currently working at a Harvard teaching hospital, researching early psychosis in adolescents and the benefits of early intervention through family therapy. Her real love, though, is helping parents raise the loving children they mean to raise, using caring communities to make it easier – and more fun.
Colette will serve as chaplain on this trip.
“I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had the courage to go forth and seek them.”
-Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë