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Selborne is considered by some as the home of nature writing.On the 8th March we will be joined by six nature writers for a one of a kind book festival.
Supported by One Tree Books this event will be held in the barn at Gilbert White’s House with views of Selborne in spring whilst you listen to 7 nature authors in conversation.
Matthew Oates
Matthew Oates writes regularly for Nature Notebook in The Times, and has published several books, mainly on butterflies, notably his natural history of the Purple Emperor and In Pursuit of Butterflies. He lived around Selborne for twenty formative years before leaving to work as an ecologist for the National Trust, living in his father’s Gloucestershire. He had made a number of broadcasts on TV and radio. Matthew Oates newest book a beginner’s guide to British butterflies will be published via National Trust Books and Harper Collins on March 13th. Other titles include His Imperial Majesty, a natural history of the Purple Emperor and In Pursuit of Butterflies.
Simon Martin
Simon Martin is a curator, writer and art historian. He is the Head of Collections and Exhibitions at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, which won the Gulbenkian Prize for Museums and Galleries in 2007. He is responsible for the Gallery’s collection of Modern British and contemporary art, and the programme of temporary exhibitions.
In Drawn to Nature, Simon Martin has gathered joyful and beautiful images of the extraordinary array of wildlife described by White, providing an insight into the continuing appeal and relevance of the Natural History. This fascinating account takes us from some of the earliest published depictions of birds and animals, to pioneering nature photography, wood-engravings of the 1920s and 30s, and contemporary illustrators such as Angie Lewin and Emily Sutton. The book also includes an introduction to the life of Gilbert White by Sir David Attenborough, an essay by Virginia Woolf, poems by modern and contemporary poets, and a jacket design by Mark Hearld.
Chloe Dalton
Chloe Dalton is a foreign policy specialist and writer. She spent over a decade working in the UK Parliament and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as a special adviser and speechwriter, with a particular focus on human rights and international justice issues. She lives between London and her home in the countryside in the north of England. Raising Hare is her debut book. Raising Hare tells the story of the unusual experience of raising a leveret to adulthood and beyond. Drawing from the extraordinary opportunity of observing a hare at close quarters in a relationship of trust – as it comes and goes freely from the wild – it is an appeal for better understanding, appreciation and protection for hares wherever they are found. THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER & 2024 HAY FESTIVAL BOOK OF THE YEAR
Richard Mabey
After education at Oxford, RM worked as a lecturer in Social Studies in Further Education, then as a Senior Editor at Penguin Books. He became a full-time writer in 1974. He is the author of some thirty books, including The Cabaret of Plants: Botany and the Imagination (2015), and Whistling in the Dark: In Pursuit of the Nightingale (1993), winner of the East Anglia Book Award, 2010, in a revised version entitled The Barley Bird, Beechcombings: the narratives of Trees (2007), the ground-breaking and best-selling “cultural flora” Flora Britannica (1996), winner of a National Book Award, and Gilbert White, which won the Whitbread Biography Award in 1986,. His recent memoir Nature Cure (2005), which describes how reconnecting with the wild helped him break free from debilitating depression, was short-listed for three major literary awards, the Whitbread, Ondaatje, and J.R. Ackerley prizes. His latest book is Turning the Boat for Home (2019). He writes for the Guardian, New Statesman and Granta, and contributes frequently to BBC radio.
Please note that Richard Mabey will be joining us remotely.
Roger Morgan-Grenville
Roger started his working life as a soldier in the Royal Green Jackets (1978-1986), during which time he served in five different continents, worked in counter-terrorism operations and led the first expedition that successfully retraced Shackleton’s route across South Georgia. He then spent 25 years as the leader of a small trading company, travelling to over 30 countries, and managing change through a period of huge upheaval in retail. In 2018, he took the decision to devote the rest of his working life to the restoration of nature through his own skill sets of writing, public speaking and campaigning. In 2020, he was a founder member and first chair of trustees of the conservation charity, Curlew Action, having previously also been a founder member of the military charity, Help for Heroes. In the spring of 2022, he walked 1,000 miles through Britain from Lymington, on the Solent, to Cape Wrath, to assess for himself the state of British nature, a story told in Across a Waking Land, in reviewing which, the Glasgow Herald described him as ‘one of Britain’s leading conservationists.
Paul Rodhouse
Paul Rodhouse lived in Hampshire as a youngster and there he developed his interests in natural history and art. After completing a PhD in biological oceanography, he held scientific positions in Ireland and New York, and then joined the British Antarctic Survey as a research scientist and later head of biological sciences and board member. He is now a BAS emeritus fellow and a member of the South Georgia Association executive committee. He is president of the Cambridge Drawing Society and he paints the Antarctic and other marine subjects in his Cambridge studio. Paul has recently completed a definitive study of whales, which records how the world whale population has now returned to the levels it was at in 1900.
The day will begin at 10am and end at 5:30pm. Tickets are £50 to listen to all speakers and sessions and includes entry to the house and gardens.
Books will be on sale and there will be opportunity for the authors to sign.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Gilbert White's House & Gardens, Liss, United Kingdom
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