How does it feel to be a judge on this year’s Wainwright Prize?
Amazing. As a voracious reader, it’s always been a secret dream to judge a literary prize, but being able to combine it with my passion as an artist is even better!
What do you think has been the biggest challenge and change in nature/conservation writing in the last 10 years?
I think it’s an issue that we can also see in the wider climate space: the sense that people may feel hopeless but don’t realise that taking action will help! It’s easy to see climate work, whether gardening, conservation or activism, as something ‘other people’ or ‘special people’ do, but we need absolutely everyone to get involved.
How can visuals deepen a reader’s connection to the natural world in ways that words alone can’t?
I think there are so many ways this can happen. Sometimes it’s about making the invisible visible, whether it be seeing an animal up close for the first time or getting a behind-the-scenes look at huge food system supply chains we’ve never had access to. Sometimes it’s about opening up a new perspective; zooming in or out to show us things we’ve never noticed, or using colour, form and texture to highlight the often overlooked. And sometimes it’s simply about inspiring awe and emotion, helping us connect in tangible, deeper ways to the world around us. Bringing us out of the theoretical and into the embodied.
Do you have a favourite nature/conservation book that you’ve read previously that’s deepened your understanding of the natural world?
The Story Is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis by Osprey Orielle Lake. It weaves together collective knowledge and stories from Indigenous leaders around the world, helping everyone reconnect with the stories of our earth and realigning relationships with it, forming community and building a better, wilder and more abundant way forward.
Do you have a place you visit that feels intrinsic to your connection with nature?
Anywhere I can swim. Sea, lakes, rivers… I love them all as long as they’re not polluted, but I do have a special place in my heart for saltwater.
What’s your hope for the next 10 years, either for the nature publishing sector or the wider planet as a whole?
That Palestine and all oppressed people around the world will be free. That capitalism is dismantled, the world is rewilded, and humans and ecosystems are flourishing in symbiosis. And everyone gets the chance to explore creativity!