Richard Mabey

Richard Mabey  worked as a lecturer in Social Studies in Further Education, then as a Senior Editor at Penguin Books. He became a full-time writer in 1974. He is the author of some thirty books, including The Cabaret of Plants: Botany and the Imagination (2015), and Whistling in the Dark: In Pursuit of the Nightingale (1993). His recent memoir Nature Cure (2005), which describes how reconnecting with the wild helped him break free from debilitating depression, was short-listed for three major literary awards, the Whitbread, Ondaatje, and J.R. Ackerley prizes. His latest book is Turning the Boat for Home (2019). He writes for the Guardian, New Statesman and Granta, and contributes frequently to BBC radio.

Lay of the Land
Lay of the Land

Midnight Blooms

In the pale glow of a half-dozen smartphone screens a shadowy figure stands half-buried in monstrous foliage. He has a blunt instrument in his hand and is stabbing it, skewering it, into something hidden in a pool of water. Continue reading