Rob Macfarlane

British academic and travel writer Robert Macfarlane is known for his thought-provoking explorations of the relationship between people and place.

He is the author of Mountains of the Mind, The Wild Places, The Old Ways and Landmarks. Mountains of the Mind won the Guardian First Book Award and the Somerset Maugham Award and The Wild Places won the Boardman-Tasker Award. Both books have been adapted for television by the BBC.

He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and writes on environmentalism, literature and travel for publications including the Guardian, the Sunday Times and The New York Times.

He is currently working on an illustrated children’s book about the natural world in collaboration with illustrator Jackie Morris.

Sunday 12th June

14:00 Excavating the myth of the Green Man

Nina Lyon, Robert Macfarlane and China Miéville in conversation with Ellah Allfrey

How do we react to mythical men, whether in non-fiction such as Nina’s which traces the history of the Green Man, or in fiction like China’s This Census Taker which creates a new legendary father figure? And how does our vocabulary reflect and refract our myths? Three outstanding writers explore.

Price: £15

Sunday 12th June

16:00 Deep into the English Eerie

Robert Macfarlane, Andrew Michael Hurley chaired by Stephanie Cross

Andrew Michael Hurley won the Costa First Novel Award with his atmospheric evocation of horror The Loney, and Robert Macfarlane captured a nation’s imagination with both his exceptional book The Old Ways and his astonishing essay for The Guardian on The English Eerie. Here they discuss the conjunction of fact and fiction, a contemporary take on this phenomenon.

Price: £15