Bookshop Talk: The Tree Climbing Cure
Event WebsiteOur relationship with trees is a lengthy, complex one. Since we first walked the earth we have, at various times, worshiped them, felled them and even talked to them. For many of us, though, our first memories of interacting with trees will be of climbing them.
Join author Andy Brown in conversation with poet and naturalist Anna Selby, as they discuss his new book, ‘The Tree Climbing Cure’.
Bringing together research into poetry, novels, and paintings with the science of well-being and mental health and engaging with myth, folklore, psychology and storytelling, Andy examines the close relationship between tree climbing and imagination.
He explores how tree climbers have been represented in literature and art in Europe and North America over the ages, unpacking the curative value of tree climbing, examining when and why tree climbers climb, and what tree climbing can do for (and say about) the climber’s mental health and wellbeing.
‘The Tree Climbing Cure’ stands out as an almost encyclopaedic examination of cultural representations of this quirky and ultimately restorative pastime.
The conversation will be followed by a Q&A, after which Andy will be signing copies of his book.
Andy Brown is Director of Creative Writing, University of Exeter, UK. A widely published poet and critic, his previous poetry books include Exurbia (2014), The Fool and the Physician (2012) and Goose Music (with John Burnside, 2008) and, as editor, The Writing Occurs As Song: a Kelvin Corcoran Reader (2014).
Anna Selby is a poet and naturalist. Her poetry often explores our connection with water and the natural world. She works collaboratively with dancers, choreographers and conservationists, writes poetic-studies of different species in the field, directly from life, often underwater, and aims for these poems to share a sense of compassion and attentiveness to the environment.
Field Notes, her new collection, is published by Hazel Press.
