5.2 Amy-Jane Beer: The Flow
Welcome to series 5, episode 2 of the Prompted by Nature podcast.
Action point: Find out more about the Right to Roam campaign www.righttoroam.org.uk that Amy speaks about.
Amy-Jane Beer is a biologist and nature writer. She earned a doctorate studying sea urchins before swapping the microscope for a keyboard. She was editor of Wildlife of Britain magazine, and of Wildlife World magazine for the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, and is author of several non-fiction books on science and natural history. She writes regularly for The Guardian, BBC Wildlife and Countryfile magazines, and is working on her first, nature-inspired novel. She contributed to the 2018 People’s Manifesto for Wildlife, commissioned by Chris Packham and sits on the steering group of Networks for Nature. She lives in North Yorkshire with her husband, nature- and Lego-obsessed son and turbo-charged Border Collie.
In this episode, we discuss:
How Amy’s work and writing practice has shifted in recent years
Amy’s relationship with water and kayaking
The inspiration behind her book, The Flow
Water and stories
Water as shapeshifter
How writing the book strengthened her connection to the land
How Amy connects to nature
Access to nature and creativity
Amy’s work with the Right to Roam Campaign
How nature interacts with her creativity and vice versa
What she’s learnt on her path that she wants to pass on
Her vision for the future
You can find Amy on social media @AmyJaneBeer on both Instagram and Twitter. Her book The Flow, is out now wherever you get your books - and you know we love an independent bookshop! Remember you can purchase any books discussed don this podcast and lots more in the Prompted by Nature Bookshop over on bookshop.org - I get a little kickback when you buy through the bookshop, which helps me to fund all the things on the pod! The address is: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/promptedbynature
As always, I’m on the website www.promptedbynature.co.uk , on Twitter @promptedxnature and Instagram @prompted.by.nature
Happy listening!
Helen x
—————————————
In this writing prompt I invite you to write with water. You will need to be in a quiet space in which you feel comfortable to take some time for yourself. We begin with a short breathing practice to get you feeling a little more relaxed and to help release off any tension.
You will then hear a soundtrack of a stream running through a forest. This last for about 10 minutes.
Please feel free to write as you listen or wait until the end to start writing.
Enjoy!
Helen x
