Joycelyn is an award-winning environmental justice researcher and educator, currently completing a PhD at Cambridge University working with bioacoustics – essentially Shazam for nature – and local forest communities in Ghana for biodiversity conservation. She is also the founder of ClimateInColour, an online education platform and community for the climate curious, making climate conversations more accessible, diverse and hopeful.
We’re so delighted to have Joycelyn as Chair of our judging panel for the 2024 Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing. We chatted to her about the judging process, her favourite books and the biggest challenge of nature writing in the last 10 years.
How does it feel to be a judge on this year’s Wainwright Prize?
As someone who has been following the awards for the last couple of years, equally in awe of the winners as I am the entire longlist, it is an absolute honour to be a judge for this year’s Wainwright Prize. I feel so lucky to be able to read all of these wonderful books, which have already shifted my perspectives, educated and inspired me.
As we enter our second decade as a prize, looking back, what do you think has been the biggest challenge and change of nature writing in the last 10 years?
I think there have been two major challenges in the Nature Writing space over the last decade. Firstly, there has been an incredible lack of diverse stories, acknowledgement of privilege and attention to inclusion. There have been incredible campaigns, independent projects and communities that have sprung out of the need for more representative spaces within Nature Writing but there remains much more work to be done to create safe spaces for diverse experiences in the natural world. The second challenge arises out of the artificial separation between humans and the living world that Nature Writing often perpetuates through anthropomorphising nature or writing about nature through a paternalistic, subjugating or pacifying lens.
Why do you believe nature and conservation writing is so important, both for yourself and others?
Writing on and in the living world is an essential practice of bearing witness to the incredible ecosystem we are a part of, and reflecting on how our philosophies, worldviews and actions alter, disrupt or regenerate life on this planet. I believe that, paraphrasing Julian Aguon’s beautiful reflections in his book No Country for Eight Spot Butterflies, words on our connection to the living world can close some of the gap between our short-sightedness and our better selves.
Do you have a favourite nature/conservation book that you’ve read previously that’s deepened your understanding of the natural world?
I have three that come immediately to mind. Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life, Jessica J Lee’s Two Trees Make a Forest and Kathleen Jamie’s essay collection Antlers of Water.
Do you have a place you visit that feels intrinsic to your connection with nature?
Yes, my local nature reserve. I am so lucky to live less than a five-minute walk from such a beautiful oasis of woodland and river. It is home to the most magical willow tree that I love to visit often.
We can look at the natural world with a social, historical and political perspective. Through which of these lenses do you feel you see or connect to nature most strongly?
I most strongly connect to the living world through my body. I once had a wonderful conversation with the writer Katherine May about her connection to the living world and she put words to my own experience perfectly. She told me that her goal is to blur, as much as possible, the boundaries between her body and the rest of the living world, and to me, this is what I am constantly trying to do when I am thinking about, writing on and moving through the world. Acknowledging and focusing on our bodies as a conduit for our experiences in nature draws our attention to the fact that the social, historical, and political are inextricable; this is something marginalised communities are acutely aware of.
Following our recent general election, what’s your hope for political leaders and those with power when it comes to protecting our planet?
I have many hopes, but I would love to see the new government will endorse and pass the Climate and Nature Bill, the only proposed legislation before the UK Parliament that ensures a comprehensive and joined-up approach to the climate and biodiversity emergencies.