If trees have memories, respond to stress, and communicate, what can they tell us? And will we listen?
A stunning international collaboration that reveals how trees make our world, change our minds and rewild our lives - from root to branch to seed.
In this beautifully illustrated collection, artist Katie Holten gifts readers her visual Tree Alphabet and uses it to masterfully translate and illuminate pieces from some of the world's most exciting writers and artists, activists and ecologists.
Holten guides us on a journey from prehistoric cave paintings and creation myths to the death of a 3,500 year-old cypress tree, from Tree Clocks in Mongolia and forest fragments in the Amazon to the language of fossil poetry. In doing so, she unearths a new way of seeing the natural beauty that surrounds us and creates an urgent reminder of what could happen if we allow it to slip away.
Printed in deep green ink, The Language of Trees is a celebratory homage filled with prose, poetry and art from over fifty collaborators, including Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Macfarlane, Zadie Smith, Radiohead, Elizabeth Kolbert, Amitav Ghosh, Richard Powers, Suzanne Simard, Gaia Vince, Tacita Dean, Plato and Robin Wall Kimmerer.
Publisher: Elliott & Thompson Limited
ISBN: 9781783967483
Number of pages: 320
Dimensions: 216 x 138 mm
‘A hit far beyond these shores, this compendium … sparked something of a movement with its ingenious, affection-laden “tree alphabet”.’ Irish Independent, Books of the Year 2023 ‘A thing of beauty… visually and cerebrally immersive.’ Sunday Independent ‘immersive, celebratory and timely … beautifully illustrated by Holten’ The Observer ‘A masterpiece’ Max Porter ‘A visual reminder that, like strong oaks from little acorns, we still can create the world in which we wish to live.’ Kerri ní Dochartaigh ‘A thoughtful and incisive view of Nature across the globe.’ The Countryman ‘One of the most inspired items of environmental literature in recent years.’ Irish Independent ‘an exceptional compendium of arboreal art, prose and poetry. In exploring what could be a weighty issue in the current climate emergency, the tone is awe, not doom … A forest of writing to be cherished’ Irish Times
Well this was absolutely beautiful.
Katie Holten has compiled the most perfect collection of poems, stories, songs, recipes, art, indigenous wisdom, history, folklore, and science, celebrating just how wonderful...
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Getting to read this book is a treat. It offers poems, excerpts, thoughts, moments of human interacting, reacting to trees.
It is a book that inspires, that can offer a thought, an idea, a moment of relaxation and...
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