BENEDICT
MACDONALD’S REBIRDING WINS THE
RICHARD JEFFERIES SOCIETY AND WHITE HORSE BOOKSHOP LITERARY PRIZE FOR BEST
NATURE BOOK PUBLISHED IN 2019.
The Richard Jefferies
Society [1] and the White Horse Book Shop [2] are delighted to announce that the winner of this year’s Literary
Prize is Benedict Macdonald for Rebirding: Rewilding
Britain and its Birds published by Pelagic [3]. The prize of £1000 is awarded 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’ [4] countryside books.
 |
| Ben Macdonald |
Six
books, published in 2019, were short-listed for this award [5] that was first introduced in 2015 [6]. Last year attracted an
unprecedented number of nominations reflecting the increasing number of books
dedicated to the natural world.
The
judges agreed on 4 June 2020 that Macdonald’s book best met the criterion of
reflecting themes or topics broadly consistent with
Richard Jefferies’ writing. Rebirding not only highlights how modern industrialised
agriculture and land management practices have depleted biodiversity and bird
life in Britain and compares the situation here with the much more favourable
position in other parts of Europe; it also challenges the efficacy of some of
the work of conservation organisations, insisting that small scale successes
with some endangered species of birds will never result in sufficiently large
populations to be viable, and that there is an urgent need for a network of links
between conservation areas across the country. However, Macdonald is not
defeatist, and nor is he afraid to be controversial. He argues for the
game-changing potential of radical schemes of change, such as the rewilding of
economically inefficient areas like those worked by Welsh hill farmers, or in
the Cairngorms, the revision of the environmentally destructive land management
of grouse moors to ensure a flourishing diversity among wild life that is
threatened and dwindling, and the
encouragement of new economic and employment opportunities in the countryside
through the promotion of ecotourism.
Prof. Barry Sloan, Chair of the Richard Jefferies Society and of the judges panel said: ‘Rebirding impressed the judges by its ambition and scope and
by the extensive research which underpins the book’s lively and
thought-provoking engagement with some of the key environmental issues in the
UK and their impact on our wildlife – and especially on bird life. You may not
agree with all of Benedict Macdonald’s ideas and arguments, but his book is a
passionate, informed and important intervention in one of the most
pressing concerns of our time, and it deserves serious attention and a wide
readership.’
Ben Macdonald said: ‘My
wise grandfather gave me a copy of Jefferies’ Wild Life in a Southern County when I was eight years old. Today I
am humbled beyond measure to have won this literary prize. This one’s for you,
Fred Giltinan.’
On 8 September 2020 Rebirding also won the Wainwright Prize for Global Conservation.
Notes
[1] The Richard Jefferies Society is a
literary society and charity established in 1950 to promote the study and works
of Richard Jefferies. More information at https://www.richardjefferiessociety.org/p/john-jefferies-november-1848-14-august.html
[2]
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). http://www.whitehorsebooks.co.uk/
[3] More information about the book along
with glowing quotes from other well-known naturalists and environmentalists at https://pelagicpublishing.com/blogs/news/just-published-rebirding-rewilding-britain-and-its-birds-by-benedict-macdonald
[4]
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 with the
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), and After London, one of the earliest works
of ‘post-apocalyptic’ fiction. For further information about Jefferies life and
work: http://www.richardjefferiessociety.org/p/the-life-of-richard-jefferies-with.html
[5] The final short-list for 2019 publications
was:
The Hidden World of the Fox by Adele Brand,
(William Collins).
Incredible Journeys by David Barrie,
(Hodder and Stoughton).
The Nature of Spring by Jim Crumley,
(Saraband).
On the Marsh by Simon Barnes,
(Simon and Schuster).
Rebirding by Benedict
Macdonald (Pelagic Publishing).
Working with Nature by Jeremy Purseglove
(Profile Books).
[6]
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) and Wilding by Isabella Tree (2018).
See http://www.richardjefferiessociety.org/p/richard-jefferies-society.html
