6/ I love to feel part of a community of people using their voices to speak up for our interconnectedness, whether that’s writing, reading or activism - and for choosing love over fear.

This is the work 🧡🌱

#naturewriting #HopeInAction #SystemsChange
#BiodiversityMatters #WritersOnClimate

5/It’s a question that science is still wrangling with, she says, telling us about Lynne Margulis’s theory of collaboration versus Darwin’s theory of competition. Like Poppy, she sees the value in the dark and endings as well as in the beginnings, in embracing the gruesome and bizarre.

4/ Sophie, author of To Have or To Hold: Nature's Hidden Relationships, is a science communicator and former zoology student. Researching the book saw her travelling around the British Isles exploring the role and nature of symbiosis - asking is it a mutuality or a parasitism?

3/ Nature - its connection and exchange isn’t always pretty, she says, it can be complex. In indigenous stories and mythologies, the day starts in the evening, the new year starts in the autumn and this idea of new beginnings in dark times resonates.

2/Poppy, author of A Wilder Way, is an ecological gardener and writer writing from a ‘perspective of hope and change’, preferring to inspire and empower rather than add to panic around the climate crisis. She weaves folk stories into her writing, leaning towards stories about the world’s weirdness.

Great photo!

I do like it - it’s so joyful! What is the first bird, I don’t recognise it? I can spot a redwing and a mistle thrush (?) Good to see thrushes, we used to see plenty of them but they’re thin on the ground here in our part of mid Devon. This blackbird is far more ebullient!

Wonderful! What a joy to watch. I love the way each bird brings a different characteristic to its bathing - my favourite, the watchful and considered blackbird. Thanks for this!

Lovely!

Isn’t it wonderful to see them back? We’re in mid Devon and they’re increasing in number each day. The housemartins are back too - just the swifts to go!

Let us know how you get on and any wisdom you have to pass on - I’m still at the proposal stage so always find it inspiring to hear about others’ journeys?

*incredulous and despairing*

Your work sounds fascinating Joanna, right up my street! Good luck with the querying :)