About this Event
Join us in April to discuss Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain . In this masterpiece of nature writing, Nan Shepherd describes her journeys into the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. There she encounters a world that can be breathtakingly beautiful at times and shockingly harsh at others.
Shepherd spent a lifetime in search of the 'essential nature' of the Cairngorms; her quest led her to write this classic meditation on the magnificence of mountains, and on our imaginative relationship with the wild world around us.
Reviews of The Living Mountain:
"The finest book ever written on nature and landscape in Britain" - Guardian
"Most works of mountain literature are written by men, and most of them focus on the goal of the summit. Nan Shepherd's aimless, sensual exploration of the Cairngorms is bracingly different" - Robert MacFarlane
"If you read it, you too will feel changed. This is sublime, in the 18th-century sense, when landscapes like these were terrifying. And she achieves it in language that is almost incantatory, like a spell" - Nicholas Lezard, Guardian
"A masterpiece . . . Amongst the greatest works of nature writing to come out of Britain" - Chitra Ramaswamy, The Scotsman
"An impressionistic and weather infused memoir of her experiences of walking and living in the wild landscape of the Cairngorms . . . A key influence on modern nature writers such as Robert Macfarlane" - Herald
"I absolutely loved The Living Mountain - part memoir, part field notebook, part lyrical meditation on nature and our relationship with it, evocative of Rachel Carson and Henry Beston and John Muir - Maria Popova, ‘Brain Pickings’, New York Times
Details of the event:
We'll meet in person in the Barbican library from 2.15pm and the discussion will run from 2.30-3.30pm, and you would then be very welcome to join us in the cafe afterwards for tea and further informal conversations.
During the main event, like a traditional book club, we will go around the group and each share our thoughts about the book before engaging in a gently-guided group discussion.
It's wonderful if people have a chance to read the whole book beforehand, but if you don't have time to read all the way through, please come along anyway as we find there's always plenty to discuss. We’re looking forward to meeting you all!
More about The Book Club
The More-Than-Human Book Club is a group that meets monthly both at The Barbican Library and online to talk about more-than-human experiences, wildness and nature writing in its broadest sense. Each month we choose a different book, film, artwork, poem or essay to discuss, including a mix of classic and contemporary works. We hope the space will provide a place of sanctuary, exploration and discovery, and be a place where community and connections are forged and inspiration is found. If you are interested in nature, literature, wildness, ecology, science, art and/or ideas, please do join us. We would love to have you there!
Its co-founders, hosts and curators are:
Olivia “Lilly” Edward. Lilly is a writer who specialises in nature and the environment. For the last two years she has been running nature writing events and panel discussions at the Royal Geographical Society, and she continues to review and write regularly for their magazine. She volunteers as a ranger in Richmond Park and is endlessly enthralled by the natural world and its web of ecological relationships.
Rhona Eve Clews. Rhona is an Artist, Healer and Ecologist. Rhona has a background in Psychology and Photography, holds an MFA in Fine Art from Slade School of Fine Art and teaches independently and for Slade Summer School. Drawing upon her past of growing up a hippie she works across writing, photography, performance and filmmaking, aiming to expand them into somatic, eco-feminist practices and contribute to wider ecological ethics of care.
Any questions please email us at [email protected]
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Barbican Library, Silk Street, London, United Kingdom
GBP 5.00