9, September 2024
Culture Forager, Vol. 10
September’s here, the first leaves are falling and autumn is well underway. Of course, we love the great outdoors (and they’re a real treat at this time of year!), but the darker evenings put us in the mood for cosying up with a good book. Happily, the season plays host to plenty of literary goings-on – and we’ve been foraging for our Nature-related favourites…
Wigtown Book Festival
At this thriving festival in Scotland’s National Book Town, Change the Stories is an entire strand dedicated to exploring ‘new ways to talk about the climate emergency’. From tales of cycling adventures to a memorial service for the Sycamore Gap, the roster’s packed with planet-focused happenings. Elsewhere on the programme, there’s Nature aplenty, including Chantal Lyons sharing her book Groundbreakers: The Return of Britain’s Wild Boar, and Anna Chapman Parker discussing Understorey, her work about the wonder of weeds. And the free Coastal Fringe series, supported by Solway Coast and Marine Project (SCAMP), takes things outdoors to explore Wigtown’s rich natural landscapes.
Wigtown Book Festival, 27th September-6th October 2024, various venues, Wigtown. Some events free, others from £5, day passes from £20.
Cheltenham Literature Festival
The world’s longest running literature festival, Cheltenham celebrates its 75th year this autumn – and there are several meetings of Nature and literature on the calendar. Oaklore sees environmentalist and author Jules Acton and novelist Tracey Chevalier chat about the cultural significance of trees and their love for them, while John-Lewis Stempel shares his forthcoming work A Natural History of England. At The Plant Hunters, Chris Thorogood (whose book about Rafflesia featured in the last edition of Culture Forager) joins garden historian Advolly Richmond to celebrate plants and those who go to great lengths to save them. And in Carving a Life, author Wyl Menmuir and woodworker Callum Robinson talk ‘the transformative power of embracing a life close to nature’.
Cheltenham Literature Festival, 4th-13th October 2024, various venues, Cheltenham. Individual events from £12.
Kendal Mountain Book Festival
This book festival is part of ‘celebration of adventure, culture, nature and exploration’, Kendal Mountain Festival. At the time of writing, the programme is yet to be released, but it promises to be ‘overflowing with uplifting optimism and full wonder for the world’. As well as book talks, the festival hosts the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature and The Nature Chronicles Prize – a new, international Nature writing competition. Away from the bookish bits of the festival, expect adventure films, environmental events, live music, family friendly activities and more. Don’t miss the Montane Secret Sessions, ‘one-of-a-kind, never to be repeated events’, featuring mystery speakers in mystery locations. Intriguing.
Kendal Mountain Book Festival, 21st-24th November 2024, various venues, Kendal. Ticket prices TBC.
Bath Children’s Literature Festival
Young fans of art and Nature are spoilt for choice this autumn at Bath’s annual celebration of children’s books. Attendees of Pippa Pixley’s workshop, inspired by her new book Make Art with Nature, will learn to sketch woodland creatures using materials from Nature. And those at Yuval Zommer’s workshop, which celebrates the launch of his The Big Book of Nature Art, will use natural and recycled materials to create art inspired by the natural world. Elsewhere on the line-up, CBBC star and conservationist Hamza Yassin introduces his new fact-packed book, Hamza’s Wild World. And author of Bird Boy, Catherine Bruton, invites aspiring writers to ‘rewild their imagination’ in an animal tale writing masterclass.
Bath Children’s Literature Festival, 27th September – 6th October 2024. Various venues, Bath, event tickets from £8.50
Nature Writing Workshops
Feeling inspired to write your own Nature literature? We’ve foraged for some specialist writing workshops to help you begin. Karen Lloyd, author of Abundance: Nature in Recovery delivers Nature Writing in the Biodiversity Crisis, a day-long masterclass at the magical Gladstone’s Library in North Wales on 13th October (£65 inc. lunch). In London, FREE workshop Therapeutic Nature Writing takes place on 26th October in Bloomsbury’s St. George’s Gardens. On 19th October at Butser Book Fest on Butser Ancient Farm, Hampshire, Foraging for Words with Ri Baroche offers a chance to build writing from objects found in Nature (£15, under 14s FREE). And in Rivington in Lancashire, you’re invited “just turn up and let the woods inspire you” at these Autumn Writing Workshops (6th and 13th October, £10). Sounds wonderful.
