Short list announced for best nature writing literary award

The Richard Jefferies Award is given annually to the author of the publication considered by the judging panel to be the most outstanding nature writing published in a given calendar year. The winning work must reflect the heritage and spirit of Richard Jefferies’ countryside books.

 The final short-list for 2021 publications was announced on 14 January as:

 Birdsong in a Time of Silence by Steven Lovatt (Penguin Particular Books)

·         Goshawk Summer: A New Forest Season Unlike Any Other by James Aldred (Elliott & Thompson)

·         Ice Rivers by Jemma Wadham (Allen Lane)

·         Islands of Abandonment: Life in the post-human Landscape by Cal Flyn (William Collins)

·         On Gallows Down by Nicola Chester (Chelsea Green Publishing)

·         The Sea is Not Made of Water: Life Between the Tides by Adam Nicolson (Collins)

 The award was first introduced in 2015 by the Richard Jefferies Society and then sponsored by the White Horse Bookshop, Marlborough. It has attracted an unprecedented number of nominations reflecting the increasing quality of books dedicated to the natural world.

 Previous winners are: Gods of the Morning by John Lister-Kaye (2015), The Wood for the Trees by Richard Fortey (2016) The Seabird's Cry by Adam Nicolson (2017), Wilding by Isabella Tree (2018); Rebirding by Benedict Macdonald (2019), and Orchard by Benedict Macdonald and Nicholas Gates (2020).

 The judging panel will meet in the early summer to agree and announce the overall winner of the £1000 prize.

 

Zoom meeting: 10 January 2022. Readings from Jefferies on the theme of 'Weather and Climate Change'

 

Official recognition of the ‘Richard Jefferies Russet’ at Coate