THE BUSINESS OF WRITING
WRITING THE LANDSCAPE
There’s more to landscape and nature writing than correctly identifying flora and fauna. Simon Whaley chats to one award-winning nature-writer to find out more.
Simon Whaley
Ten years ago, Frances Lincoln, publishers of the Alfred Wainwright pictorial guides to the Lake District, launched a brand new literary prize for published nature writing books.
Now managed by an independent marketing agency and The National Trust, and sponsored by a Lake District-based paper manufacturer, the James Cropper Wainwright Prize has expanded into three prize categories: nature writing, writing on conservation, and children’s writing on nature and conservation.
Nominations for this year’s awards close in April, but the growing popularity of nature, landscape, and conservation writing means the market for this genre is blooming. But what exactly is nature or landscape writing, and how can writers break into this market? Nicola Chester (https:// nicolachester.wordpress.com/) is a columnist for the RSPB, Countryfile magazine, a regular contributor to the Guardian’s Country Diary series, and author of On Gallows Down: Place, Protest and Belonging, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Wainwright Prize for nature writing.
She believes there are two reasons this genre is growing in popularity.
‘I think we are all becoming increasingly aware of the peril our wildlife and planet are in, and how we’re actually reliant on it all for our own health and survival,’ she says.
‘We’ve lost almost 70% of the earth’s wildlife in the last fifty years, and are living through the largest loss of life on earth since the existence of dinosaurs, and this is taking place on our watch. As a species, most of us are as far removed from nature as we’ve ever been, in where our food comes from, in experiencing its awe, wonder and abundance, and in our connection with it.’