Ouseburn Wild Talks | An Evening with Sophie Yeo, author of Nature’s Ghosts

We’re very excited to welcome North East author, Sophie Yeo, for an evening discussion on her 2024 book, Nature’s Ghosts: The World We Lost and How to Bring it Back.

Plenty of festive treats and nibbles will be available too!

Part of the Ouseburn Wild Talks series, hosted in collaboration with Ouseburn Farm and the Ouseburn Trust, as part of the Wild Ouseburn project.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sophie Yeo is a writer and journalist based in Durham. She is the author of Nature’s Ghosts: The World We Lost and How to Bring it Back, which was shortlisted for the 2024 Wainwright Prize for writing on conservation.

Sophie is also the founder and editor of Inkcap Journal, a publication about conservation in Britain, which won the Press Gazette Newsletter of the Year award in 2022. She has written about nature and climate change for publications including The Washington Post, The Guardian and BBC Future. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

For thousands of years, humans have been the architects of the natural world. Our activities have permanently altered the environment – for good and for bad.

In Nature’s Ghosts, award-winning journalist Sophie Yeo examines how the planet would have looked before humans scrubbed away its diversity: from landscapes carved out by megafauna to the primeval forests that emerged following the last Ice Age, and from the eagle-haunted skies of the Dark Ages to the flower-decked farms of more recent centuries.

Uncovering the stories of the people who have helped to shape the landscape, she seeks out their footprints even where it seems there are none to be found. And she explores the timeworn knowledge that can help to fix our broken relationship with the earth.

Along the way, Sophie encounters the environmental detectives – archaeological, cultural and ecological – reconstructing, in stunning detail, the landscapes we have lost.

Today, the natural world is more vulnerable than ever; the footprints of humanity heavier than they have ever been. But, as this urgent book argues, from the ghosts of the past, we may learn how to build a more wild and ancient future.

ABOUT THE EVENT & VENUE

STRUCTURE:

Sophie will join Heather Devey (Wild Intrigue) to discuss her journey as an environmental writer, exploring topics such as researching her book, her perspective on landscape-scale nature restoration and other intriguing pathways to be explored during the discussion.

The event will include an opportunity for the audience to engage in the discussion, and will feature a Q&A session.

TICKETS:

Wild Ouseburn Talks are a welcoming place for everyone to come and discover all things wild. Talks are free and open for all to attend, complimentary hot drinks & biscuits too! Please RSVP your free place(s), you will be sent a reminder email a couple of days before the event.

In previous years we’ve had requests from attendees to make donations, so this year there’ll be a contactless payment machine to make a donation if you want to. Donations will support the Wild Ouseburn project.

DATE & TIME:

Thursday 12th December. 6.30pm start – arrive from 6.15pm to find a seat and make a hot drink and grab a mince pie! We’ll finish at around 8pm.

LOCATION:

Ouseburn Farm, Ouseburn Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 2PA. Talks take place in Ouseburn Farm’s lovely, warm event space.

ACCESSIBILITY:

Ouseburn Farm, including access to the event space and toilets, are wheelchair accessible. If you would like to discuss other accessibility requirements, please feel welcome to contact us and we’ll be very happy to help.