Our Planet and Us

Our Planet and Us

‘Siding with the planet is to side with the underdog,’ writes Patrick Barkham in his Wild Green Wonders. This year meet writers who champion the natural world, from direct calls to action against climate change; to rejoicing in the beauty of the earth’s landscapes and wild inhabitants, these events shine a light on the majesty of our fragile planet.  

 

Jessica Gaitán Johannesson & Amanda Thomson: Climate Change is Personal and Political

Tuesday 16 August 14:15 - 15:15

Jessica Gaitán Johannesson & Amanda Thomson: Climate Change is Personal and Political Book
  • Attend in person
What new ways of thinking and feeling can guide us through rapid climate change? Activist and writer Jessica Gaitán Johannesson uses the body and its vulnerabilities to comprehend the climate crisis in her raw collection of essays, The Nerves and Their...
 

Anna Fleming & Helen Mort: A Personal Mountain to Climb

Tuesday 16 August 16:15 - 17:15

Anna Fleming & Helen Mort: A Personal Mountain to Climb Book
  • Attend in person
For many of us, the physical restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic have refreshed our relationships with the outdoors. But for Helen Mort and Anna Fleming, the mountains always represented both freedom and control. In discussing their books – A Line...
 

Cal Flyn, Matthew Green & Judith Schalansky: Abandoning All but Hope

Wednesday 17 August 11:30 - 12:30

Cal Flyn, Matthew Green & Judith Schalansky: Abandoning All but Hope Book
  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
In an era of climate catastrophe, the urge to hold back the sands of time appears futile. Three lyrical books powerfully underline human transience: Cal Flyn’s Islands of Abandonment explores strange lands surrendered by humans; Judith Schalansky’s...
 

Patrick Barkham & Ed Yong: The Secret Lives of Animals

Wednesday 17 August 13:30 - 14:30

Patrick Barkham & Ed Yong: The Secret Lives of Animals Book
  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
Discover nature’s marvels with two expert writers. 20 years of writings about the natural world are collected in Patrick Barkham’s Wild Green Wonders. The Guardian writer observes the changing conditions of the wildlife around us, from peregrine...
 

David George Haskell: The Call of the Wild

Thursday 18 August 13:30 - 14:30

David George Haskell: The Call of the Wild Book
  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
Open your ears to choruses of frogs and birds, the thwops and whistles of whales and the chirrups of crickets as David George Haskell introduces his non-fiction rallying cry, Sounds Wild and Broken. The music made by the world’s creatures contains...
 

Joy Williams: Post-Apocalyptic Rage and Revenge

Friday 19 August 14:15 - 15:15

Joy Williams: Post-Apocalyptic Rage and Revenge Book
  • Attend in person
In Joy Williams’s Harrow, Khristen’s life falls apart when her boarding school closes, her mother disappears and her future is thrust into the unknown. In a dead resort, she finds a network of elders planning to punish those who’ve destroyed the...
 

Jason Allen-Paisant & Samuel Tongue: Natural Connection

Friday 19 August 15:30 - 16:30

Jason Allen-Paisant & Samuel Tongue: Natural Connection Book
  • Attend in person
Award-winning poet Jason Allen-Paisant was raised in central Jamaica and now lives in Leeds. In Thinking with Trees he explores his shifting relationship with the natural world and the way he moves through it. Poet Samuel Tongue’s debut poetry...
 

Kathleen Jamie & Don Paterson: Memories and Meltwater

Saturday 20 August 17:30 - 18:30

Kathleen Jamie & Don Paterson: Memories and Meltwater Book
  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
  • Captioned
Join us to welcome back two of the most gifted writers of their generation. Kathleen Jamie is the virtuosic poet and essayist named as Scotland’s fourth Makar last year. Working in English and Scots, Jamie’s work spans the personal and the natural...
 

Mya-Rose Craig: Birdgirl’s Journey

Age 14+

Sunday 21 August 14:15 - 15:15

Mya-Rose Craig: Birdgirl’s Journey Book
  • Attend in person
Dr Mya-Rose Craig is a legend of climate activism. She started blogging aged 11 and at 17 became the youngest person to see half of the birds in the world. In We Have a Dream last year, she introduced readers to 30 young indigenous people and people of...
 

Steve Brusatte & Thomas Halliday: The Paleo-Adventurers

Sunday 21 August 15:45 - 16:45

Steve Brusatte & Thomas Halliday: The Paleo-Adventurers Book
  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
Has our obsession with dinosaurs overshadowed other discoveries about our planet’s history? Palaeontologist Steve Brusatte lays out a fascinating alternative history in The Rise and Reign of the Mammals. Thomas Halliday is a Scottish paleontologist...