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Previous Winners

The wainwright prize
for Writing on GLobal COnservation

All Previous Winners

Flick through all the winning books of the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation and click through to learn more about each author

2023 Winner

Guy Shrubsole

The Lost Rainforests of Britain

Temperate rainforest may once have covered up to one-fifth of Britain, inspiring Celtic druids, Welsh wizards, Romantic poets, and Arthur Conan Doyle’s most loved creations.

In this awe-inspiring investigation, Guy Shrubsole travels through the Western Highlands and the Lake District, down to the rainforests of Wales, Devon, and Cornwall to map these spectacular lost worlds for the first time.

This is the extraordinary tale of one person’s quest to find Britain’s lost rainforests – and bring them back.

2022 Winner

Dan Saladino

Eating to Extinction

Drawing on a unique global archive of the world’s most endangered foods, Last Harvest is a thrilling and unexpected journey through the history of humankind’s relationship with food, and an urgent book for our times.

2021 Winner

Merlin Sheldrake

Entangled Life

Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into a spectacular and neglected world, and shows that fungi provide a key to understanding both the planet on which we live, and life itself.

2020 Winner

Benedict Macdonald

Rebirding

Britain has all the space it needs for an epic return of its wildlife. Only six percent of our country is built upon. Contrary to popular myth, large areas of our countryside are not productively farmed but remain deserts of opportunity for both wildlife and jobs. It is time to turn things around. Praised as ‘visionary’ by conservationists and landowners alike, Rebirding sets out a compelling manifesto for restoring Britain’s wildlife, rewilding its species and restoring rural jobs – to the benefit of all.