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Greetings friends, visitors, and companions, welcome to 

The Scriptorium: 
Echos of an Orphan Wisdom

Whatever scent you followed to find yourself here, we are grateful that you have arrived at The Scriptorium’s door.

Many of you may have encountered Stephen Jenkinson’s storytelling, lyric prose, and word-smithing ways through the Orphan Wisdom School, the Nights of Grief and Mystery, interviews or his books. For some of you this may be a first. Whatever has brought you here, The Scriptorium is a place to learn and to hear the reverberating echos of a thinking man's life's work. And for those inclined, we created a way to connect with others via the Colloquium.

Following a health diagnosis which led to Stephen deciding to close the doors to the school, Nathalie, together with a handful of Orphan Wisdom School scholars, decided to create a platform where people might still listen to the gifts of his wonderings.

So welcome one and all, each and every one of you, and whomever you may bring with you. Welcome to this online archive, this cherished library created from the collected works of  Mr. Stephen Jenkinson, Founder and Principal Instructor of The Orphan Wisdom School.

Echos of an Orphan Wisdom

The Scriptorium is an online platform that houses Stephen Jenkinson's collected works in a Library and a place where we host online classes as well as a place to connect with other people through the Colloquium. And this year we'll host four in-person events in the Ottawa Valley, called The Boreal Sessions.

We invite you to be an active participant in carrying forth these Echos of an Orphan Wisdom.

Here's are some ways how:

By becoming a member of The Scriptorium you will have access to listen to and read transcribed talks which Stephen has given over the years, many of the talks are not available elsewhere.

“I’m saving the best for last? No, I’m not. No, I spilled the wine early on, and then I did it again, and then I did it again. And now you want to find out what the secret sauce is? It’s the spilled wine on the floor. That’s the secret sauce. It’s not the stuff that hasn’t been said, it’s the stuff that has been said, and the fact that I said it.” 
- Stephen Jenkinson

Invitation from Orphan Wisdom Manager, Khadija Striegel

 

About Stephen Jenkinson MTS, MSW

Culture activist, worker, author, Stephen teaches internationally and is the creator and principal instructor of the Orphan Wisdom School, co-founded the school with his wife Nathalie Roy in 2010, convening semi-annually in Deacon, Ontario, and in northern Europe. He has Master’s degrees from Harvard University (Theology) and the University of Toronto (Social Work).  

Read Stephen's full bio

Founding Patrons / Membership 

A foundational principle of all things Orphan Wisdom has been that money should not be the reason that those who really want to attend an event can’t do so. This remains important to us. Perhaps it’s important to you too.

In order to support the creation of The Scriptorium and to ongoingly provide the resources needed to make access available to some who could otherwise not, we are inviting you who are willing and able to consider becoming a Founding Patron of The Scriptorium.

The goal of this Founding Patron Membership campaign is to: 

  • Provide funding for the development of The Scriptorium
  • Subsidize the scribes participating in The Boreal Sessions
  • Offer partial scholarships to those who otherwise would not be able to partake in an online class or event hosted in The Scriptorium

  • Support ongoing administrative costs

Join the Update List

Get notified when we go live with the funding campaign end of March 2025.

Boreal Sessions: The Scriptorium Echos

These are in-person events at Orphan Wisdom in the Ottawa Valley, Ontario and limited to a maximum of 15 participants. 

In these events we follow the example of those ancient monks, who put oral stories down onto vellum. We'll gather in the Great Hall by candle to listen to recordings of past teaching events. 

In the time we have together we'll review the mojo and accuracy of the transcripts and share those in our online Library. We have a lot more in store but we share that with those who participate in The Boreal Sessions.

We are honoured to place this open invitation before you. This for Orphan Wisdom scholars, for people with little or no familiarity with Stephen Jenkinson’s work, and for all those in between.

Applications, for the Boreal Sessions, opens at the end of May: 

  • August 13-17 - Founding Patron Special Offer
  • August 20-24
Explore the Boreal Sessions

 Online Library & Colloquium

One of the aspects of The Scriptorium is an online Library and Colloquium.

def. late 16th century (denoting a conversation): from Latin, from colloqui ‘to converse’, from col- ‘together’ + loqui ‘to talk’)

The Library houses Stephen Jenkinson’s work. Transcripts from The Boreal Sessions are continuously added to the Library, alongside an expanding collection of audio and video recordings from Stephen Jenkinson’s vault. 

The Colloquium is our gathering place for participant conversations and a platform for us to host meetings that include a variety of Scholar-led sessions.

Membership options include monthly and annual subscriptions. Anyone may register and all are welcome to participate in a forthcoming event or class.

Explore the Library & Colloquium

Handcrafted Books

In time, we wish to create a collection of hand-crafted leather-bound books. Stephen's twenty years of oral storytelling has resulted in a vast vault of recordings. Participants in The Boreal Sessions will be afforded the opportunity to listen in, and to enter into the labours of a scribe. We are thrilled about this aspect of The Scriptorium. We’ll make note of unpublished poignant passages, drastic medicine in stories, balm for the soul, etymologies and ‘unthinkable thoughts’ which will then be collated and bound into books.

Scriptorium Ensemble

The Scriptorium is Scholar-crafted and Scholar-led, thus called ~ Echos of an Orphan Wisdom.

We govern ourselves by this question: 'What would Stephen do if he were creating this?'

And the fact is he isn’t leading this. And won't.

So, here we are assembled, from far off places, forging together an endeavour with high regard for Stephen Jenkinson's work, we are: Nathalie Roy, Khadija Striegel, Miles Minichiello, Ian MacKenzie, and Ć andor Balogh.

The photos posted on these pages have been captured mostly by Nathalie Roy, Khadija Striegel, Ian MacKenzie and Christopher Roy.

The opening short film with crafted by Ian MacKenzie & Delaney Covelli with additional footage from Mattias Olsson.

“Would that everybody's life turn into something somebody else was in on. Not something you crafted. That's what I mean by echo. Somebody else was in on it, and that's how you find out you did something. And that's why, if you're lucky, and people are willing to go through the formalities of doing so, you don't have to wait till you're dead to find out if you were here.” 
- Stephen Jenkinson