Sheldrake, Sethi and Attenborough longlisted for Wainwright Prizes

Merlin Sheldrake, Anita Sethi and David Attenborough are among authors to be longlisted for the Wainwright Prizes this year.

Named after nature writer Alfred Wainwright and held in association with the National Trust, the Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing is awarded annually to the book which most successfully inspires readers to explore the outdoors and to nurture a respect for the natural world.

This year's longlist features Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald (Vintage), The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn (Michael Joseph) and Sethi's I Belong Here (Bloomsbury) among others.

For the second year, the 2021 prize includes a second category for books on global conservation and climate change, with titles by Attenborough and Sheldrake making the longlist.

Shortlists will be announced on 4th August and the winners’ announcement will be made live on 7th September at a venue still to be confirmed. This year’s marketing campaign will be produced in partnership with author and illustrator Dorien Brouwers.

Brouwers commented: "My creative work, both as an illustrator and picture book author, is highly influenced by our natural environment. Mother Nature surely is the best designer and should be an inspiration to us all. It is wonderful to be using my creativity for a prize that encourages more people to love and protect our home."

The prize is supported by Frances Lincoln, publisher of the Wainwright Guides, the Wainwright Estate and in partnership with the National Trust. A £5,000 prize fund will be shared and presented to the authors of the two winning books.

The 2021 Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing longlist:

Vesper Flights - Helen Macdonald (Vintage)
The Stubborn Light of Things: A Nature Diary - Melissa Harrison (Faber)
Seed to Dust - Marc Hamer (Vintage)
The Screaming Sky - Charles Foster (Little Toller Books)
English Pastoral: An Inheritance - James Rebanks (Penguin Press)
Into The Tangled Bank Lev Parikian (Elliott & Thompson)
Thin Places - Kerri ní Dochartaigh (Canongate Books)
Birdsong in a Time of Silence - Steven Lovatt (Penguin Press)
I Belong Here - Anita Sethi (Bloomsbury)
Featherhood - Charlie Gilmour (Orion Publishing Group)
The Circling Sky - Neil Ansell (Headline)
The Wild Silence - Raynor Winn (Michael Joseph)
Skylarks with Rosie - Stephen Moss (Saraband)

The 2021 Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation longlist:

Entangled Life - Merlin Sheldrake (Vintage)
A Life on Our Planet - David Attenborough (Penguin Random House)
Islands of Abandonment - Cal Flyn (HarperCollins)
What If We stopped Pretending - Jonathan Franzen (HarperCollins)
NET ZERO: How We Stop Causing Climate Change - Dieter Helm (HarperCollins)
Under a White Sky - Elizabeth Kolbert (Vintage)
A World on the Wing - Scott Weidensaul (Pan Macmillan)
Riders on the Storm - Alastair McIntosh (Birlinn Ltd)
Fathoms - Rebecca Giggs (Scribe)
The Reindeer Chronicles - Judith D Schwartz (Chelsea Green Publishing)
Ice Rivers - Jemma Wadham (Penguin Press)
The New Climate War - Michael E Mann (Scribe)