John Murray Press celebrates nature writer Blythe’s 100th birthday with new collection

John Murray Press has acquired Next to Nature: A lifetime in the English Countryside by Ronald Blythe, to be published in November 2022 shortly ahead of his 100th birthday.

M.d. Nick Davies bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Ed Wilson at Johnson & Alcock and the Canterbury Press for publication on 27th October.

The publisher describes the collection as “a celebration of one of our greatest living writers” and “an inspiration to a generation of nature writers, social historians, diarists, believers and non-believers alike”.

Its synopsis goes on: “From his home in Bottengoms Farm on the Suffolk/Essex border, Ronald Blythe has spent almost half a century observing the slow turn of the agricultural year, the church year, and village life in a series of rich, lyrical rural diaries.

“Beginning with the arrival of snow on New Year’s Day and ending with Christmas carols sung in the village church, Next to Nature invites us to witness a simple life richly lived. With gentle wit and keen observation Blythe meditates on his life and faith, on literature, art and history, and on our place in the landscape."

It includes an introduction from Blythe’s close friend Richard Mabey, as well as shorter contributions from Julia Blackburn, Mark Cocker, Ian Collins, Maggi Hambling, Alexandra Harris, Richard Holloway, Olivia Laing, Robert Macfarlane, James Hamilton-Paterson, Hilary Spurling, Frances Ward and Rowan Williams. The cover features two oils by the British artist John Nash.

Blythe was born in Acton, Suffolk in 1922. He served briefly during the Second World War before working as a reference librarian in Colchester. Through his work at the library he met Christine Nash, wife of the artist John Nash, who encouraged him to pursue his ambitions to be a writer. His writing brought him to work with Benjamin Britten, E M Forster, Patricia Highsmith and many others.

He is best known for Akenfield (Penguin), his "powerful and poetic" account of life in a Suffolk farming community which was published in 1969 and was adapted into a feature film by Peter Hall. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literary and was awarded its Benson Medal in 2006. In 2017, he was appointed a CBE for services to literature. He turns 100 on 6th November 2022.

Davies said: “The writer Adam Nicholson once asked of Ronnie: ’Why is this great man not more feted? It would be difficult to find a sensibility which is richer or better fed, more deeply watered and manured, more drenched in Englishness’. Adam is right, of course. I hope this collection – which has been a pure joy to edit – will cement Ronnie’s reputation and find him a new generation of readers.”

Blythe said: “A poet friend once advised me to ‘Put everything down. The total will surprise you.’ I took him at his word. For over 25 years I kept a day-book – a journal of life in a quiet corner of the English countryside. The total must run to over one million words. It has been a joy to revisit those diaries for this selection. My thanks to John Murray for preparing the book and to my friends for their generous contributions.”