Growing up as I did, I rarely thought about myself as British. My first few years on Earth were spent in south London but then my parents decided to move their young family to Jamaica at the start of the 1990s. It is in capital city Kingston and green and wet Portland that my …
Nan Shepherd wants to feel. To go against the mountain, she answers the taunt when the mountain itself asks “fey?” To pit oneself against the expanse over and over again was to be daring, challenging, brimming for want of pushing the limit, the summit. A little mad.
Written during my year as writer-in-residence for Forestry England The Fern Ticket I *In the Forest of Dean, to have had your first amourous experience in the forest was to get your ‘fern ticket’ A taboo so sweet A myth so endearing A lover’s retreat A comfortable clearing Where prying eyes need not …
How do female writers portray nature in works of fiction and essays? How does culture color that perspective? Nature writing has long been the domain of primarily white male writers. Today, women are staking their claim on the genre in original ways. How does their perspective enrich what the Scottish author Kathleen Jamie has called …
Nature: Through Her Eyes celebrated and highlighted women’s roles in storytelling about nature and the environment in October 2019 in Perpignan, France. The event explored what a feminine perspective means to women, what they bring in their art and why it is important for society as a whole. Interview recorded at the first annual Nature: Through Her …
In episode 2 of the More Trees Please series, Dan meets writer Zakiya Mckenzie and discusses finding peace in nature. Please join the growing call for #MoreTreesPlease: http://friendsoftheearth.uk/trees
Ujima Radio’s Green and Black Project featured on BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today
BBC Bristol’s Ujima Pick of the Week with Dj Style and Nia featured a clip from the Grio Sound radio programme, April 2019. On this episode travel/nature writer Nick Hunt joins Zakiya Mckenzie to chat about his treks, work as a writer and his new book work of gonzo ornithology, The Parakeeting of London. Nick is an editor …
When I asked him about the process of being commissioned to respond to a topic (no less, a person who will see the work) Wilson said he read Stephenson’s biography, spent a lot of time researching and watched everything he could find about the Bristol bus boycotts.
I Interviewed Baroness Valerie Amos on her visit to Bristol to accept an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Bristol. Amos told me all about her numerous honorary degrees, how they city of Bristol has had an impact on her work and her never-ending love for soca music. Check out my interview in Bristol’s …