THIS WEEK


Black Focus Nature writing


RHIANE FATINIKUN


CLAIRE RATINON


The rise of Black nature writers comes as a welcome change in publishing


‘‘‘‘ I 24


31st May 2024 Niellah Arboine


suppose it’s just the kind of lone white male maraud- ing through the landscape, you know, surveying the kingdom,” says Claire Ratinon, grower, columnist and author of Unearthed: On race and roots and how the soil taught me I belong (Vintage). She ruminates on who comes to mind when we think of a nature writer. There is no doubt that nature writing oſten evokes images of rolling hills and green pastoral scenes, but most of all, it’s a way to delve into how we as humans connect to the great outdoors. While this umbrella genre holds a multitude of stles and subjects, there still feels like there is a certain tpe of person who we think of as a nature writer. There is now a growing appetite for nature writing that moves beyond a solely romanticised version of the rural idyll and encompasses both the personal and political. These nature writers are traversing through timelines and borders and asking: how do we connect to land that, for many, has been a site for violence? How do we unpack natural history’s roots in colonisation? What does it mean to find joy and a connection to nature? And how can we do


so while dreaming up alternative avenues to address the climate crisis? “Nature isn’t the propert of a hallowed few,” explains Caro Clarke, literary agent and co-founder of the Nan Shepherd Nature Writing Prize, which aims to platform voices underrepresented in nature writing. “If everyone can enjoy nature, then everyone’s perspective should be represented in nature writing—it’s that simple.” A frustration with the same “white, privileged, cis, straight, able-bodied” perspective of nature became a catalyst for the bi-annual prize, which started in 2019 and has gone on to launch and foster the careers of a number of writers from marginalised backgrounds, such as Marchelle Farrell and Nina Mingya Powles. “The prize has also been an indicator of the popularit of nature writing,” Clarke explains. “The engagement we had, both from writers and readers, showed publishers that there’s a real appetite for more varied perspectives in nature writing,” As a child of immigrants and a food grower who had previously felt disconnected from nature, Ratinon had


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© Christian Casssiel


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