·
The Nature of Autumn, by Jim Crumley,
published by Saraband.
·
The Running Hare, by John Lewis-Stempel,
published by Doubleday.
·
Six Facets of Light, by Ann Wroe,
published by Jonathan Cape.
·
Walking Through Spring, by Graham Hoyland,
published by William Collins.
·
The Wood for the Trees, by Richard Fortey,
published by William Collins.
The winner was selected at the Richard Jefferies Society's Executive
Council meeting on Saturday 13 May 2017. The prize is £1,000. The winner will be announced at an event at the White Horse Bookshop on 3 June 2017.
BRITAIN’S “VERY
PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SEASONS” AT CORE
OF
RICHARD
JEFFERIES/WHITE HORSE BOOKSHOP LITERARY PRIZE
SHORTLIST
Marlborough, 3rd April 2017
The seasons and how they affect the flora and fauna
of the United Kingdom feature heavily in shortlisted books for the Richard
Jefferies and White Horse Bookshop Literary prize, which rewards outstanding
nature writing. Palaeontologist and broadcaster Richard Fortey, historian and
farmer John Lewis-Stempel, journalist Ann Wroe, mountaineer and film-maker
Graham Hoyland and poet and wildlife expert Jim Crumley now compete for the
£1,000 Prize, which will be awarded in June.
Richard Jefferies Society Chairman, John Price,
said the shortlist reflected a very British obsession – the seasons: “We have a
very personal relationship with the seasons – we are a county whose citizens are
never more than a few miles from beautiful countryside, and where the weather is
a very unifying national obsession. Our shortlisted writers have tapped into
that relationship in original, intimate ways that both illuminate and entertain.
Richard Jefferies would be proud of this list, of that I am
sure.”
In The Nature of Autumn (Saraband), Jim Crumley
writes about the season’s effects on wildlife and landscape, while in
Walking Through Spring (William Collins) Graham
Hoyland follows the season north as it unfolds along his walk from the South
Coast to the borders. The changing seasons have an impact on every aspect of the
beech-and-bluebell wood that is the subject of Richard Fortey’s
The
Wood for the Trees (William Collins), and John Lewis-Stempel’s The Running
Hare (Doubleday) looks at the importance of traditional ploughland
to nature and wildlife. Finally, Ann Wroe ruminates on the influence of light in
nature, from her own perspective walking the downs and coastline of East Sussex,
and from that of other writers, painters and scientists, in Six Facets of
Light (Jonathan Cape).
Angus Maclennan, Manager of co-sponsor,
Marlborough’s White Horse Bookshop, said: “Nature writing is more popular than
it has been in years, no surprise given the quality of the writing evident in
this year’s shortlist. It is important, and it will last.”
The Prize will be awarded to the author of the
publication considered by the judging panel to be the most outstanding nature
writing of the last year, with the winning work reflecting the heritage and
spirit of Jefferies’ countryside books. The winner will be announced on 3rd June, 2017, at a ceremony in
the recently opened gallery at The White Horse Bookshop,
Marlborough.
For further information, please contact:
Angus Maclennan at info@whitehorsebooks.co.uk
/ 01672
512071
Notes for
Editors
About Richard
Jefferies
(John) Richard
Jefferies (1848-1887) is best known for his prolific and sensitive writing on
natural history, rural life and agriculture in late Victorian England. Less
well-known now than he deserves to be, Jefferies stands in tradition of writers
concerned with man's relationship to the natural world – a forerunner of today's
abundance of nature writing. Perhaps his best-known works today are Bevis
(sometimes described as an English Huckleberry Finn), Round About a Great
Estate, and After London, one of the earliest works of 'post-apocalyptic'
fiction.
For further
information about Jefferies life and work, please visit: http://www.richardjefferiessociety.org
About the
Prize
John Webb, one of
the Richard Jefferies Society's most active members, died in 2014. He left the
Society a legacy that will be used as a memorial to him: The Richard Jefferies
Society Writers' Prize commenced in 2015. The inaugural winner was John
Lister-Kaye for Gods of the Morning (Canongate).
For further
details, please visit: http://www.richardjefferiessociety.org
About the
White Horse Bookshop
The White Horse Bookshop first opened its doors
in 1943 and has stood on its present site - a 16th century townhouse in
Marlborough, Wiltshire - since 1949. It was bought in 2014 by local businessmen
Robert Hiscox (founder of Hiscox insurance) and Brian Kingham (founder of
Reliance Securities Group). It was named Wiltshire Life Small
Business of the Year in March 2017. http://www.whitehorsebooks.co.uk/
