Now in its eighth year, The Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing is awarded annually to the book which most successfully inspires readers to explore the outdoors and to nurture a respect for the natural world. Named after much-loved nature writer Alfred Wainwright, the prizes will be awarded to the work which best reflects Wainwright’s core values and are a celebration of the outdoors or a warning over the dangers to it across the globe.
The Wainwright Prize is split into two categories:
The Wainwright Prize for UK nature writing:
The book should be narrative driven with a subject that must be related to nature, the outdoors or travel writing (not guidebooks) covering Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a central theme.
The Wainwright Prize for writing on global conservation:
The books in this category will reflect efforts in or, studies relating to conservation or climate change as it affects nature and the outdoors. They should be narrative driven and could be global in scope.
Here are the 13 shortlisted books:
UK Nature Writing:
Seed to Dust by Marc Hamer (Vintage)
A moving and restorative account of a life lived in harmony with nature described through a month-by-month look at the life of a garden.
English Pastoral: An Inheritance by James Rebanks
(Penguin Press, Penguin Random House UK)
A stirring history of family, loss and the land over three generations on a Lake District farm
The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn (Michael Joseph)
A luminous story of hope triumphing over despair, of the human spirit’s instinctive connection to nature, and of lifelong love prevailing over everything.
The Screaming Sky by Charles Foster (Little Toller Books)
A radical new look at the Common Swift – a numerous but profoundly un-common bird. Foster follows the swifts throughout the world, manically, lyrically, yet scientifically.
Thin Places by Kerri ní Dochartaigh (Canongate Books)
A breathtaking mix of memoir, nature writing and history: this is a story of a wild Ireland, an invisible border, an old conflict and the healing power of the natural world.
I Belong Here by Anita Sethi (Bloomsbury Plc)
A journey of reclamation through the natural landscapes of the North, brilliantly exploring identity, nature, place and belonging.
Featherhood by Charlie Gilmour (Orion Publishing Group)
This is a story about birds and fathers. About the young magpie that fell from its nest in a Bermondsey junkyard into Charlie Gilmour’s life – and swiftly changed it.
Writing on Global Conservation:
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake (Vintage)
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.
Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert (Vintage)
Elizabeth Kolbert investigates the immense challenges humanity faces as we scramble to reverse the effects we’ve had on the atmosphere, the oceans – on the very topography of the globe.
A Life on our Planet by David Attenborough (Penguin Random House)
Attenborough’s witness statement, and vision for the future. It is the story of how we contributed to the loss of our planet’s wild places – and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right.
Net Zero: How We Stop Causing Climate Change by Dieter Helm (Harper Collins)
Economist Dieter Helm addresses the action we all need to take to tackle the climate emergency: personal, local, national and global. Reducing our own carbon consumption is the first step.
Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn (Harper Collins)
This is a book about abandoned places: ghost towns and exclusion zones, no man’s lands and fortress islands – and what happens when nature is allowed to reclaim its place.
Fathoms by Rebecca Giggs (Scribe)
How do whales experience environmental change? Has our connection to these animals been transformed by technology? What future awaits us, and them?
The winners will be announced on the 7th September 2021. For more information see: wainwrightprize.com