Why Write?

Robert Macfarlane opening this morning in Munich at the British Council Nature Writing Seminar.

This morning British author Robert Macfarlane tweeted serendipitously that he would be going on live at an event in Munich in a little while: WHAAA?   I look forward to his "Word of the day" tweets and this was almost unbearable.  That he would be curating a nature writing conference live in a few minutes with some of my favorite authors - holy wombat!  

Day 1 and Macfarlane read from published and unpublished work, opening with the otter passage from "The Lost Words," sumptuously illustrated by Jackie Morris, published in 2017.

He went on to speak of landscapes and the human heart, how writing in first person reveals vulnerability, of stories as trails.  "We live by the stories we tell," he said.  Speaking of writing, walking, and telling, his voice brought an urgency to the necessity for it all.  "It feels impossible to live in these times and not to write in response in some way." 

He described nature writing at its best as being unruly, not fitting in to any specific genre, not conforming...reminding me of the Elwha River.

Olympic National Park and the Salish Sea are beautiful places to roam but these iconic landscapes are also visible signifiers of climate change. 

 

The Elwha River brings fresh hope, now running unruly and free since the largest dam removal anywhere in the world opened up 70 miles of pristine habitat beginning in 2011.  She's creating new life from within her undammed self.

Stories abound.

To tune in to live streaming of the British Council Nature Writing Seminar with Robert Macfarlane use the hashtag #BritLitMunich on Twitter.