Green Man revival for Faber

Faber has acquired a new book following author Nina Lyon as she attempts to revive the cult of the Green Man, Britain’s ancient emblem of man’s relationship with nature.

Editor Dave Watkins acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to Into the Woods: On the Trail of the Green Man from Rupert Heath at the Rupert Heath Literary Agency.

The book will be published on the Faber Social list.

Watkins said Lyon’s proposal was “brimming with intelligence and ambition, and presented in the most beautifully sculpted prose”.

“The figure of the Green Man - that ancient symbol of the balance between man and nature, order and anarchy - could not be more relevant in an age of tempestuous climate change and crumbling dogma,” he added.

Lee Brackstone, Faber's creative director, said: “Writing her way into and through the many pagan mysteries and rituals that still define us, as a post-Christian secular society, Nina Lyon is a fearless and pioneering spirit.

“And yet ironically, for all its impulse towards the past and rediscovery of pre-Christian nature myths, Into the Woods is as fiercely contemporary and compelling as the personal journeys undertaken by the likes of Olivia Laing, Robert Macfarlane, and Roger Deakin, in their literature.”

Lyon was recently a runner-up in the Financial Times/Bodley Head essay prize for her piece Mushroom Season.

Faber plans to publish Into the Woods in spring 2016.