Biodiversity for Literature: An interview with Jessica J. Lee
Nature writing has often been white and male, and at times explicitly fascist. What would it mean to diversify the genre, in terms of race and gender? This week, Tom Overton talks to Jessica J. Lee, editor of The Willowherb Review (https://www.thewillowherbreview.com) about the journal and her book 'Turning: A Swimming Memoir' (2017), as well as her collaboration with The People's Forest project (https://wfculture19.co.uk/peoplesforest) and how we might imagine different kinds of nature writing. SELECTED REFERENCES Alliance for Freshwater Life - https://allianceforfreshwaterlife.org/ MARGARET ATWOOD, Surfacing (1972) - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/sep/20/fiction.margaretatwood Gary Budden - http://www.newlexicons.com/about CATHERINE BUNI, ‘Towards a Wider View of Nature Writing’ (LARB, 2016) - https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/toward-a-wider-view-of-nature-writing Carolyn Finney - http://carolynfinney.com/about.html THEODOR FONTANE, Rambles Through the March of Brandenburg - https://www.roughguides.com/destinations/europe/germany/berlin-and-brandenburg/theodor-fontane-and-his-brandenburg-wanderings JESSICA J. LEE, Turning (2017) - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/02/turning-swimming-memoir-jessica-j-lee-review Ursula K. LeGuin ANNA LOWENHAUPT TSING, The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins (2017) - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/19/mushroom-end-world-anna-lowenhaupt-tsing-review Ingrid Pollard – ‘Pastoral Interlude’ (1988) - http://www.ingridpollard.com/pastoral-interlude.html Lauret Savoy – https://www.mtholyoke.edu/people/lauret-savoy Richard Smyth, ‘The Dark Side of Nature Writing’ - https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/5331/the-dark-side-of-nature-writing Unearthly (BBC radio documentary) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09tds6x HENRY WILLIAMSON, Tarka the Otter (1927) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Williamson Dorothy Wordsworth - https://fivebooks.com/best-books/william-dorothy-wordsworth-lucy-newlyn William Wordsworth