Robert Macfarlane
@robgmacfarlane.bsky.social
Books: Is A River Alive? (May ‘25), Underland, The Lost Words, The Old Ways etc | Films: River, Mountain, Upstream | Music: The Moon Also Rises, Lost In The Cedar Wood, etc
Nature, climate, people.
Prof at Cambridge.
https://linktr.ee/robmacfarlane
Nature, climate, people.
Prof at Cambridge.
https://linktr.ee/robmacfarlane
Pinned
Is A River Alive? is published today, 1 May.
It’s about the lives, deaths & rights of rivers—& how our fate flows with that of water & always has.
To the people, places & rivers whose ideas run through its pages, thank you so much.
I think it’s the book I’ve been learning to write all these years.
It’s about the lives, deaths & rights of rivers—& how our fate flows with that of water & always has.
To the people, places & rivers whose ideas run through its pages, thank you so much.
I think it’s the book I’ve been learning to write all these years.
Ah, thanks so so much Bob! We finished the tour tonight here in Cambridge, and a wild strange celestial thing came powerfully into being. The @brittensinfonia.bsky.social are beyond brilliant: magician-musicians. Weaving a 21st-c Planets with them, Delia and Will was…a joy beyond easy expression.
January 31, 2026 at 1:14 AM
Ah, thanks so so much Bob! We finished the tour tonight here in Cambridge, and a wild strange celestial thing came powerfully into being. The @brittensinfonia.bsky.social are beyond brilliant: magician-musicians. Weaving a 21st-c Planets with them, Delia and Will was…a joy beyond easy expression.
Very happy to share that shelf with you, Ferris!
January 31, 2026 at 1:11 AM
Very happy to share that shelf with you, Ferris!
Hello — your words made me very happy. Thank you. I am so glad the many differently deep times of this book resonated with you, as a climber and maker and world-lover and protestor.
January 31, 2026 at 1:09 AM
Hello — your words made me very happy. Thank you. I am so glad the many differently deep times of this book resonated with you, as a climber and maker and world-lover and protestor.
I have just read your response to IARA?, probably only the second or third review of the book I’ve read. Thank you; it is heartfelt, wise, generous and precise. No writer could wish for more as a mode of engagement.
January 31, 2026 at 1:06 AM
I have just read your response to IARA?, probably only the second or third review of the book I’ve read. Thank you; it is heartfelt, wise, generous and precise. No writer could wish for more as a mode of engagement.
Just overjoyed about this. Old friends meeting new friends weaving with deep time and birdsong. Thank you.
January 31, 2026 at 1:03 AM
Just overjoyed about this. Old friends meeting new friends weaving with deep time and birdsong. Thank you.
Reposted by Robert Macfarlane
We’re pleased to announce that we will be digitally releasing @hannahpeel.bsky.social's score to the film adaptation of @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social’s bestselling UNDERLAND on our Rivertones label on 27th March — the same day the film hits cinemas.
More info: www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/01/unde...
More info: www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/01/unde...
January 21, 2026 at 1:07 PM
We’re pleased to announce that we will be digitally releasing @hannahpeel.bsky.social's score to the film adaptation of @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social’s bestselling UNDERLAND on our Rivertones label on 27th March — the same day the film hits cinemas.
More info: www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/01/unde...
More info: www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/01/unde...
Joyce — thank you
January 31, 2026 at 1:02 AM
Joyce — thank you
Reposted by Robert Macfarlane
To say I enjoyed it might be an understatement.
Thank you for this masterpiece @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social
I picked it up while traveling and the threads of it were woven with uncanny accuracy through my adventures of the past few months. It was everything I needed.
Thank you for this masterpiece @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social
I picked it up while traveling and the threads of it were woven with uncanny accuracy through my adventures of the past few months. It was everything I needed.
January 23, 2026 at 7:25 PM
To say I enjoyed it might be an understatement.
Thank you for this masterpiece @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social
I picked it up while traveling and the threads of it were woven with uncanny accuracy through my adventures of the past few months. It was everything I needed.
Thank you for this masterpiece @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social
I picked it up while traveling and the threads of it were woven with uncanny accuracy through my adventures of the past few months. It was everything I needed.
Bless you, my friend. That’s lovely note to find here about a book I hold dear. Re-reading is a strange and rich and under-estimated/under-analysed experience, in my view.
January 31, 2026 at 1:01 AM
Bless you, my friend. That’s lovely note to find here about a book I hold dear. Re-reading is a strange and rich and under-estimated/under-analysed experience, in my view.
Terrific. And say hi to that grand silver birch at the bottom of your garden from me.
January 22, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Terrific. And say hi to that grand silver birch at the bottom of your garden from me.
Reposted by Robert Macfarlane
Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic.
The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.
The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.
Breaking news: The Justice Department has issued subpoenas for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as part of an investigation alleging that they are impeding federal law enforcement officers’ abilities to do their jobs in the state.
Justice Dept. launches criminal investigation of Minnesota governor
The Justice Department has issued subpoenas for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as part of an investigation into impeding law enforcement.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 16, 2026 at 11:46 PM
Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic.
The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.
The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.
Me too, Shalini
January 18, 2026 at 1:39 PM
Me too, Shalini
I’m touched and very glad to hear that, Ian.
January 18, 2026 at 1:39 PM
I’m touched and very glad to hear that, Ian.
Happy to hear Underland resonated! The film adaptation is out there now, dir. Rob Petit & co-produced by Darren Aronofsky. A very different creature to the book, but richly and strangely so.
January 1, 2026 at 10:17 AM
Happy to hear Underland resonated! The film adaptation is out there now, dir. Rob Petit & co-produced by Darren Aronofsky. A very different creature to the book, but richly and strangely so.
A mighty kind message to find here — thanks, AV! Is A River Alive? begins exactly where Underland ends.
January 1, 2026 at 10:15 AM
A mighty kind message to find here — thanks, AV! Is A River Alive? begins exactly where Underland ends.
Very happy about this, Sophie. Thank you.
January 1, 2026 at 10:15 AM
Very happy about this, Sophie. Thank you.
Reposted by Robert Macfarlane
my list of the finest books of 2025 (Fiction, Non Fiction & Memoir) for Shortlist feat. @vincenzo.bsky.social @olgaravn.bsky.social @benpester.bsky.social @michaelpedersen.bsky.social @leaypi.bsky.social @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social @nicklowles.bsky.social
www.shortlist.com/books/the-be...
www.shortlist.com/books/the-be...
The best books of 2025
We read over 110 books in 2025. Possibly too many? Here’s the top of the tops.
www.shortlist.com
December 30, 2025 at 11:11 PM
my list of the finest books of 2025 (Fiction, Non Fiction & Memoir) for Shortlist feat. @vincenzo.bsky.social @olgaravn.bsky.social @benpester.bsky.social @michaelpedersen.bsky.social @leaypi.bsky.social @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social @nicklowles.bsky.social
www.shortlist.com/books/the-be...
www.shortlist.com/books/the-be...
Of course, Els. Hell of an image, that. The word is “landskein”, which carries a sense of weaving in that “skein”. It was told to me by a painter I met on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides in the early 2010s.
January 1, 2026 at 10:14 AM
Of course, Els. Hell of an image, that. The word is “landskein”, which carries a sense of weaving in that “skein”. It was told to me by a painter I met on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides in the early 2010s.
Fascinating to learn of this urgent work — thank you. I have read this with great interest, and will share onwards
December 28, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Fascinating to learn of this urgent work — thank you. I have read this with great interest, and will share onwards
Ahhhh! Thanks, Nick. I think TDIR may just become a favourite — and as for Luke’s extraordinary copper-plate etchings…
December 28, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Ahhhh! Thanks, Nick. I think TDIR may just become a favourite — and as for Luke’s extraordinary copper-plate etchings…
Thank you for taking the book’s journey(s). I am very happy to hear it’s resonating. As for UKLG: she saw so much, so clearly, so early, right? An immense thinker-writer. Not that she needed or probably the Nobel, but she sure should have won it.
December 23, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Thank you for taking the book’s journey(s). I am very happy to hear it’s resonating. As for UKLG: she saw so much, so clearly, so early, right? An immense thinker-writer. Not that she needed or probably the Nobel, but she sure should have won it.
Reposted by Robert Macfarlane
"Is a River Alive?" by @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social is the most significant book that I read this year. The lyrical writing braids activism, indigenous and western science, and personal narrative, like streams throughout a flood plane joining into one roaring river of a book, full of hope.
💙📚
💙📚
December 23, 2025 at 2:30 PM
"Is a River Alive?" by @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social is the most significant book that I read this year. The lyrical writing braids activism, indigenous and western science, and personal narrative, like streams throughout a flood plane joining into one roaring river of a book, full of hope.
💙📚
💙📚
Those are wonderful words to find here; thank you
December 23, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Those are wonderful words to find here; thank you
Happy to hear that
December 23, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Happy to hear that
Thanks, friends — and thanks for your immense leadership in this area also
December 23, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Thanks, friends — and thanks for your immense leadership in this area also