John Lister-Kaye awarded
inaugural Richard Jefferies Society Writers' Prize
Sir
John Lister-Kaye has been awarded the inaugural Writers’ Prize by the Richard
Jefferies Society for Gods of the Morning,
his critically acclaimed celebration of a natural year through the lives of
British birds. His ninth book, it will be released in paperback this week.
The
Richard Jefferies Society was founded to commemorate Richard Jefferies, a
Victorian writer best known for his groundbreaking work on natural history,
rural life and agriculture. The Society’s Writers’ Prize, founded in memory of John
Webb – lifelong lover of Jefferies’ writing, commenced in 2015, with the prize
of £500 awarded for any length or format of writing on themes or topics broadly
consistent with Jefferies’ writing. Also shortlisted for the prize in 2015 were
Common Ground by Rob Cowen and The Moth Snowstorm by Michael McCarthy.
Gods of the Morning follows a year through the turning of the
seasons, exploring the habits of the Highland animals, and in particular the
birds – Lister-Kaye’s gods of the morning, for whom he has nourished a lifelong
passion. It is an affectionate and wise celebration of the British landscape
and the birds that come and go through the year, a lyrical reminder of the
relationship we have lost with the seasons and a call to look afresh at the
natural world around us.
Published
in hardback last year, it has received praise from critics and writers across
the industry including Helen MacDonald, Mark Cocker, Patrick Barkham and Chris
Packham, widespread glowing reviews, and was selected as the Waterstones
Scottish Book of the Month.
Lister-Kaye
commented: ‘I am delighted to receive this award, particularly since I have
been an enthusiast for Richard Jefferies’ nature writing for many years. His contribution to the genre and to the
general appreciation of our wildlife and countryside is immense, so I am very
proud to be the inaugural winner of this important prize.’
John Price, the Society’s Chairman, added: ‘Gods
of the Morning is a book by a man who is as familiar with his local Scottish
wildlife and countryside as Richard Jefferies had been with his Wiltshire local
environment; and both authors also had the ability to describe some of the
local human population in deft terms. An outstanding first winner of the
Richard Jefferies Society Writers' Prize, Lister-Kaye is able to convey the
joy of nature in an uncomplicated and eloquent fashion.’
Sir
John Lister-Kaye is one of Britain's best-known naturalists and conservationists.
He is the author of nine books on wildlife and the environment, including At
the Water's Edge, and has lectured all over the world. He has served
prominently in the RSPB, the Nature Conservancy Council, Scottish Natural
Heritage and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. In 2003 he was awarded an OBE for
services to nature conservation. He lives with his wife and family among the
mountains of the Scottish Highlands, where he runs the world-famous Aigas Field
Centre.
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| Sir John Lister-Kaye (left), John Price (right) - March 2016 |
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Gods of the Morning, by John Lister-Kaye, is
published by Canongate.
Hardback £14.99 / Paperback
£9.99 / Ebook £12.99
This new anthology of extracts from Jefferies' writing is selected by Hugoe Matthews and Rebecca Welshman. It aims to highlight his broad, exploratory, and sometimes unpredictable nature in his works. The authors have focused primarily on short quotations which read well independently, and longer passages which demonstrate the context, the quality of the writing, or the flow of Richard Jefferies’ thoughts and observations. Where possible the selections are chronological and show a shift in the emphasis of his work from the 1870s, which focused largely on practical subjects such as farming and rural life, to his later work of increased sensitivity and perception of the natural world. Thereby they have sought to reveal the organic continuity and calm objectivity of Jefferies’ writing, which was present from his teens and addressed a diversity of subjects during an extraordinary era of change, illuminating both the man behind the words, and the times in which he lived.
The Anthology is published in a case-bound, thread-sewn book of 266 pages.
