Campaigner, organiser and co-founder of Green New Deal Rising, Hannah shares the books that have shaped her thinking, the importance of stories in inspiring action, and why nature writing has never mattered more.
She has campaigned with Greenpeace UK, leading their energy and climate team and has ran campaigns and actions as part of the successful UK anti-fracking movement. In 2019, she helped the UK Student Climate Network and the Youth Strikes for Climate to mobilise, including towards the September Climate Strikes, which were the biggest climate protest in UK history and led to the passing of new net zero legislation that year.
In 2020, she founded Green New Deal Rising with Fatima Ibrahim. Since then, they have trained and organised thousands of young people to act on climate, elected several green champions to Parliament and changed the narrative around how green policy can build a stronger economy. She is an Obama Leader in Europe, and before working as a campaigner, she had a career in the children’s services sector, helped found a successful social enterprise in Oxford and set up a community festival in her home city of Wakefield.
I am delighted to return to judge the Wainwright Prize again this year. Now, more than ever, we need books which help us look at the world differently and respond with positive action. All of last year’s books were a diverse and challenging range of titles which shocked, inspired and enthralled. I’m excited to dig into the incredible list for 2026.
Nature and conservation writing can be a chance to draw unusual stories together, creating a tapestry which reveals a fuller picture of the world as it is. I think that often we have focused on drilling down into specific and divided categories – looking at a particular species, or following one particular case-study, for example. But I want to see more books which understand all the ways in which humans, animals, the environment and our planet are deeply interwoven and connected. It is not possible to divide us.
Books are places for stories, but also for wonder. They help us feel and see outside of ourselves and step into other places, communities and experiences. I think the act of reading a book is an opportunity to develop empathy and also understand how to fight injustice wherever we find it as a result.
I loved The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing. Through a deeply personal project to bring her own beautiful garden to life, she explores the political and social implications of gardens, climate change and the natural world in beautiful and atmospheric writing.
It might sound small, but there is an old Victorian cemetery close to where I live in London. In the middle of this relatively small space, it feels like you are far away from the busy city because of the immense number of trees that block the sound and cool the air. My daughter and I go to watch the butterflies, trample through overgrown paths and listen to the bird-song.
I write the answers to these questions during a heatwave where many schools are shutting, and people are already suffering under extreme weather. My hope is that we are all collectively able to take actions both small and big that force those in power to change course and protect our communities and our future.