The Raven’s Nest

We are thrilled to welcome bookseller favourite Sarah Thomas for a discussion and reading from her ecological memoir The Raven’s Nest: An Icelandic Journey Through Light and Darkness, set in Iceland’s otherworldly Westfjords.

This beautifully vivid book is an exploration of how chance can change the course of a life, of forging belonging in another culture, and of Sarah’s falling in love with the light and language of Iceland, and a man, and the old wooden house they make their home. It is a profoundly moving meditation on place, identity and how we might live in an era of environmental disruption.

As we enter autumn, this event takes inspiration from the Icelandic tradition of kvöldvaka. On farms as the days grew shorter, thoughts and hands turned to the indoor work of the making and repair of clothing, tools, utensils. Gathered in a single room, someone would read aloud to the household while they did this. You are invited to bring along any quiet handiwork – for example knitting, mending, whittling, sketching – to do during the event. Or just sit back and enjoy an evening of conversation between Sarah and Hunting Raven’s Tina Gaisford-Waller.

“The Raven’s Nest is a deeply thoughtful, vivid, enquiring, genre-traversing book, closely attentive to the people and the landscapes with which it dwells. It asks hard questions – and offers no easy answers – about what it means to belong to a place, and to live well upon a part of the earth. Sarah’s writing – crisp in its details, patient in its rhythms – draws its readers northwards and inwards upon a fascinating journey.”

Robert Macfarlane

ESSENTIAL INFO:

• There will be a Q&A and book signing after the event. Copies of the book will be available to buy on the night.
• There is disabled parking only at the venue and strictly no on-street parking. There are several public car parks within short walking distance of the venue.
• There is level access to the venue but less us know ahead if you need extra assistance.