Sussex author shortlisted for 2024 Wainwright prize celebrating nature writing
West-Sussex based award-winning writer and conservationist Isabella Tree is shortlisted in the Children’s Writing on Nature and Conservation category in the Wainwright Prize 2024 for Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back, illustrated by Angela Harding.
The Wainwright Prize showcases writing that reflects its namesake Alfred Wainwright’s values of celebrating nature and our environment, nurturing respect for our planet, and informing readers of the threats that the earth currently faces. The shortlists for the Prize for Nature Writing and the Prize for Writing on Conservation have also been announced.
Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Backby Isabella Tree, illustrated by Angela Harding, tells the story of the rewilding of the Knepp Estate in West Sussex. Featuring garden activities to 're-wild' your own spaces, Wilding encourages young readers to observe the natural world around them and start to understand the connections between species and habitat.
● Winning author of the 2023 Children’s category, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, and fellow esteemed children's author, Nicola Davies, have made history having been shortlisted every year since the category was introduced.
● For the second year in a row, women dominate the shortlists, with 6 female authors in the Prize for Children’s Writing on Nature and Conservation – including former winner Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Katya Balen and Katherine Rundell out of the 8 shortlisted titles.
● This year’s Children’s category features a diverse mix of children’s fiction and non-fiction, including the very first graphic novel to be shortlisted for The Wainwright Prize – Global by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Giovanni Rigano.
● Debut titles are strongly represented in the Conservation and Nature categories, with 4 out of 6 titles in the Conservation shortlist written by debut authors.
● 6 of the 15 shortlisted titles in the Nature and Children’s categories were published by independent publishers, including Eye Books, Firefly Press, and Magic Cat Publishing.
● Memoirs dominate this year’s Nature category, with all titles incorporating personal narratives alongside elements of natural history, science writing, and historic insight.
● While confronting the realities of a world in crisis – from wildfires, the global waste industry and climate change anxiety – the shortlisted books offer solutions to fight environmental destruction, as well as a rallying cry to find peace and connection in the pockets of nature on all of our doorsteps.
The 2024 Wainwright Prize for Children’s Writing on Nature and Conservation shortlist (listed alphabetically by author surname):
● Foxlight, Katya Balen (Bloomsbury Children’s)
● The Observologist, Giselle Clarkson (Gecko Press)
● Global, Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Giovanni Rigano (Hodder Children's Books)
● Skrimsli, Nicola Davies, illustrated by Jackie Morris (Firefly Press)
● Fly: A Child's Guide to Birds and Where to Spot Them, David Lindo, illustrated by Sara Boccaccini Meadows (Magic Cat Publishing)
● Geomancer: In The Shadow of the Wolf Queen, Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Orion Children’s Books)
● Impossible Creatures, Katherine Rundell (Bloomsbury Children’s)
● Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back, Isabella Tree, illustrated by Angela Harding (Macmillan Children's Books)
The 2024 Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing shortlist (listed alphabetically by author surname):
● Uprooting: From the Caribbean to the Countryside – Finding Home in an English Garden, Marchelle Farrell (Canongate)
● Bothy: In Search of Simple Shelter, Kat Hill (William Collins)
● Local: A Search for Nearby Nature and Wildness, Alastair Humphreys (Eye Books)
● Dispersals: On Plants, Borders and Belonging, Jessica J. Lee (Hamish Hamilton)
● The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise, Olivia Laing (Picador)
● Late Light: The Secret Wonders of a Disappearing World, Michael Malay, illustrated by Andy Lovell (Manilla Press, Bonnier Books)
● Rural: The Lives of the Working Class Countryside, Rebecca Smith (William Collins)
The 2024 Wainwright Prize for Writing on Conservation shortlist (listed alphabetically by author surname):
● Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World, Helen Czerski (Torva, Transworld)
● Wasteland: The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, and Why It Matters, Oliver Franklin-Wallis (Simon & Schuster Ltd)
● Groundbreakers: The Return of Britain’s Wild Boar, Chantal Lyons (Bloomsbury Wildlife)
● It’s Not Just You: How to Navigate Eco-Anxiety and the Climate Crisis, Tori Tsui (Simon & Schuster, Gallery Books)
● Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World, John Vaillant (Sceptre, Hodder & Stoughton)
● Nature’s Ghosts: The World We Lost and How to Bring it Back, Sophie Yeo (HarperNorth/ HarperCollins)
The judging panels for the three categories bring together industry expertise, experience from some of the UK’s largest nature charities, authors, activists, booksellers, and scientific researchers.
The Nature Writing Prize judging panel is chaired by Biologist and Natural History Museum Podcaster, Dr Khalil Thirlaway; Joycelyn Longdon, PhD student at Cambridge University and Founder of Climate in Colour is the Chair of Judges for Writing on Conservation; and Roisin Taylor, Co-Director at UK Youth for Nature, chairs the Prize for Children’s Writing on Nature and Conservation.
On the shortlist, Lee Schofield, Judge for the Nature Writing Prize says:
"This year's Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing Shortlist is nothing less than extraordinary. The shortlisted authors bring uniquely diverse perspectives, exploring our relationship with the non-human world in genuinely breathtaking ways."
On the shortlist, Mark Funnell, Judge for the Writing for Conservation Prize says:
“Any one of these books would be a worthy winner. Not only do they speak to some of the most pressing crises facing humanity today, but they also pack a real punch – white-knuckle page turners, deeply affecting testimonies, excoriating exposes. Buckle up.”