The shortlist for the best nature writing published in 2023 was announced on 26 January 2023.
Many congratulations to:
The winner will be announced on Friday 3 May 2024.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL.
There were 49 nominations in all, reflecting the increasing interest in books about the natural world.
The judges welcome writing that invites reflection on the sense of place that is so strong in Jefferies' works and, perhaps, demonstrated by this quote from his 'Wildflowers' article published in The Open Air in 1885:
'If
we had never before looked upon the earth, but suddenly came to it man or woman
grown, set down in the midst of a summer mead, would it not seem to us a
radiant vision? The hues, the shapes, the song and life of birds, above all the
sunlight, the breath of heaven, resting on it; the mind would be filled with
its glory, unable
to grasp it, hardly believing that such things could be mere
matter and no more. Like a dream of some spirit-land it would appear, scarce
fit to be touched lest it should fall to pieces, too beautiful to be long
watched lest it should fade away.'
Forty nine titles were nominated: a very fine year!
