It's hard to believe that the Wainwright Prize is only seven years old, such is the excitement that surrounds this book award for nature writing in the UK. In that short period of time, the prize has been awarded to works that have immediately become modern classics, books whose brilliance will endure well into the … Continue reading Irreplaceable: Wainwright Prize Longlist
If “a culture is no better than its woods”, then WH Auden would be rightly disappointed by large parts of the world if he were still with us. There’d be Romania, one amongst many countries miserably failing to preserve its woodlands, where a violent logging mafia clear-cuts vast and spectacular beech forests irrespective of EU … Continue reading Ancient woodlands are more vital than ever
Although the young man playing crazy golf wore shorts, the day was sharp and shivery on the pier. Glassy March light slid off the waves and broke into bright, glittering shards. Further out to sea, panels of dark grey rain had been hoisted against the horizon, blotting it from view. The arms of the Ferris … Continue reading A Murmuration of Starlings
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained within water." ~ Loren Eiseley, 'The Flow of the River' Strong and muscular, Otny Thomas stood like a figurehead at the prow of the boat. He had an angel tattooed on his back, and a large centipede inked in a coiled and wavy line around … Continue reading A World Within Water
This past July I had the great pleasure of recording passages from Irreplaceable around Christchurch in Dorset and on the stunning headland of Hengistbury with friend, musician and sound recordist Matthew Shaw. Utilising the natural sounds of sea, wood, wind, birds and people, we sought connective links between the places written about in the book, … Continue reading Irreplaceable: sound recordings and tour dates
Julian Hoffman 