Women dominate James Cropper Wainwright Prize longlist as prize pot increased

Thirty six books including works by Katherine Rundell, Dara McAnulty and Raynor Winn have been longlisted for The James Cropper Wainwright Prize, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary.

The prize is named after nature writer Alfred Wainwright and aims to inspire readers to connect with nature and explore the outdoors. In celebration of its 10th anniversary, the prize will return to Kendal in the Lake District where Wainwright worked and lived, to host an exclusive festival-style celebration of the prize and its legacy.

It will be held in partnership with the Kendal Mountain Festival on 14th September and feature author events and the announcement of the winners of the 2023 prize. For the first time in the prize’s 10 year history, women dominate all three longlists with 26 of the 36 titles having been written by female authors, including Kerri ní Dochartaigh, Mya-Rose Craig and Kiran Millwood Hargrave. The winning authors will also share an increased prize pot of £10,000 to honour the 10th anniversary. The fund is usually £7,500.

A total of 36 books have been longlisted for the 2023 James Cropper Wainwright Prize with 12 in each category – the Prize for Nature Writing, the Prize for Writing on Conservation, and the Prize for Children’s Writing on Nature and Conservation, the last category was launched in 2022. The longlists were selected from a record number of submissions, the organisers say.

The Nature Writing Prize judging panel is chaired by TV presenter Ray Mears; c.e.o of The Wildlife Trusts Craig Bennett is the chair of judges for Writing on Conservation; and Mark Furnell, communications and campaigns director of National Trust, chairs the prize for Children’s Writing on Nature and Conservation.

Alastair Giles, director of the prize, said: “We’re thrilled to have reached such an important milestone. Reflecting a general drive among the population to reconnect with nature and an upturn in reading in the genre over this period, the prize has also proved a valuable platform for the wonderful flowering of British talent in nature writing over the past 10 years. Bestselling authors such as James Rebanks, John Lewis-Stempel, Raynor Winn, Helen Macdonald, Isabella Tree, Dara McAnulty, Amy Liptrot and Robert MacFarlane are among the many to have been recognised by the prize over the past decade and we can’t wait to see which books from a vintage 2023 longlist will be championed by the judges in the lakes in September.”

Shortlists will be announced on 10th August, and the winners will be announced live on 14th September at the James Cropper Wainwright Prize 10th Anniversary Celebration. Tickets are available here.

The 2023 James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing longlist: 

• The Swimmer: The Wild Life of Roger Deakin, Patrick Barkham (Hamish Hamilton)
• The Flow: Rivers, Water and Wildness, Amy-Jane Beer (Bloomsbury)
• Where the Wildflowers Grow, Leif Bersweden (Hodder)
• Twelve Words for Moss, Elizabeth-Jane Burnett (Allen Lane)
• Cacophony of Bone, Kerri ní Dochartaigh (Canongate)
• Sea Bean, Sally Huband (Hutchinson)
• Ten Birds that Changed the World, Stephen Moss (Faber)
• A Line in the World: A Year on the North Sea Coast, Dorthe Nors, translated by Caroline Waight (Pushkin) 
• The Golden Mole: And Other Living Treasure, Katherine Rundell, illustrated by Talya Baldwin (Faber)
• Belonging: Natural Histories of Place, Identity and Home, Amanda Thomson (Canongate)
• Why Women Grow: Stories of Soil, Sisterhood and Survival, Alice Vincent (Canongate)
• Landlines, Raynor Winn (Penguin) 

The 2023 James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Writing on Conservation longlist: 

• Sarn Helen: A Journey Through Wales, Past, Present and Future, Tom Bullough, illustrated by Jackie Morris (Granta)
• Beastly: A New History of Animals and Us, Keggie Carew (Canongate)
• Rewilding the Sea: How to Save Our Oceans, Charles Clover (Ebury)
• Birdgirl, Mya-Rose Craig (Jonathan Cape)
• The Orchid Outlaw, Ben Jacob (John Murray)
• Elixir: In the Valley at the End of Time, Kapka Kassabova (Jonathan Cape)
• Rooted: How Regenerative Farming Can Change the World, Sarah Langford (Viking)
• Black Ops and Beaver Bombing: Adventures with Britain’s Wild Mammals, Fiona Mathews and Tim Kendall (Oneworld)
• Forget Me Not, Sophie Pavelle (Bloomsbury)
• Fen, Bog, and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and its Role in the Climate Crisis, Annie Proulx (Fourth Estate)
• The Lost Rainforests of Britain, Guy Shrubsole (HarperCollins)
• Nomad Century: How to Survive the Climate Upheaval, Gaia Vince (Allen Lane) 

The 2023 James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Children’s Writing on Nature and Conservation longlist: 

• The Earth Book, Hannah Alice (Nosy Crow)
• The Light in Everything, Katya Balen, illustrated by Sydney Smith (Bloomsbury)
• Billy Conker’s Nature-Spotting Adventure, Conor Busuttil (O’Brien)
• Protecting the Planet: The Season of Giraffes, Nicola Davies, illustrated by Emily Sutton (Walker)
• Blobfish, Olaf Falafel (Walker)
• A Friend to Nature, Laura Knowles, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon (Welbeck) 
• Spark, M G Leonard (Walker)
• A Wild Child’s Book of Birds, Dara McAnulty (Macmillan)
• Leila and the Blue Fox, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, illustrated by Tom de Freston (Hachette Children’s Group)
• The Zebra’s Great Escape, Katherine Rundell, illustrated by Sara Ogilvie (Bloomsbury)
• Archie’s Apple, Hannah Shuckburgh, illustrated by Octavia Mackenzie (Little Toller)
• Grandpa and the Kingfisher, Anna Wilson, illustrated by Sarah Massini (Nosy Crow)