Moving Mountains: Writing Nature through Illness and Disability

(Paperback)

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'An anthology to treasure and return to' ELINOR CLEGHORN
'Uniquely compelling, dynamic and powerful' LUCY JONES
'Deeply affecting' TOM SHAKESPEARE
'Promises to change the landscape of nature writing' LIZZIE HUXLEY-JONES

A first-of-its-kind anthology of nature writing by authors living with chronic illness and physical disability

WITH A FOREWORD BY SAMANTHA WALTON

Through twenty-five pieces, the writers of Moving Mountains offer a vision of nature that encompasses the close up, the microscopic, and the vast.

From a single falling raindrop to the enormity of the north wind, this is nature experienced wholly and acutely, written from the perspective of disabled and chronically ill authors.

Moving Mountains is not about overcoming or conquering, but about living with and connecting, shifting the reader's attention to the things easily overlooked by those who move through the world untroubled by the body that carries them.

Contributors: Isobel Anderson, Kerri Andrews, Polly Atkin, Khairani Barokka, Victoria Bennett, Feline Charpentier, Cat Chong, Eli Clare, Dawn Cole, Lorna Crabbe, Kate Davis, Carol Donaldson, Alec Finlay, Jamie Hale, Jane Hartshorn, Hannah Hodgson, Sally Huband, Rowan Jaines, Dillon Jaxx, Louise Kenward, Abi Palmer, Louisa Adjoa Parker, Alice Tarbuck, Nic Wilson

Reviews

'Bringing together startlingly original voices, Moving Mountains invites us not only to look at nature, but to live alongside it in community and collaboration. Privileging the experiences, perceptions, and perspectives of disabled and chronically ill writers and poets, this anthology is both an urgent call for justice, and an endlessly moving exploration of what it means to be human. Compelling, challenging, contemplative and curious, Moving Mountains is an anthology to treasure and return to'--Elinor Cleghorn, author of UNWELL WOMEN
'Some of my favourite writers and artists are collected here. Together they present a strong argument for the expansion of nature writing into the realm of illness and disability - whether from bed, chair, balcony or close neighbourhood. What if your illness and/or disability - or for that matter ableism and lack of access - restricts your capacity to "immerse" yourself in nature What can experiencing nature through an unsteady, uneven body reveal In Eli Clare's words, a world that "relishes crookedness, wholeness and brokenness"

--Alice Hattrick, author of ILL FEELINGS

Author Bio

Louise Kenward is a writer, artist and psychologist. Her writing has featured in Women on Nature, The Polyphony, The Clearing and Radio 3 (Landscapes of Recovery). In 2020, she set up ZebraPsych with the aim of raising awareness of energy limiting chronic illness, and she co-produced the anthology Disturbing the Body (Boudicca). Louise was Writer in Residence with Sussex Wildlife Trust (2021-2022) and is a postgraduate researcher at the Centre for Place Writing, Manchester Metropolitan University.