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
Hello—I’m hanging up my boots here on BlueSky for the summer.
Come find/follow me on Instagram instead, perhaps, where I’m @robgmacfarlane.
👇👇👇
Come find/follow me on Instagram instead, perhaps, where I’m @robgmacfarlane.
👇👇👇
June 26, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Hello—I’m hanging up my boots here on BlueSky for the summer.
Come find/follow me on Instagram instead, perhaps, where I’m @robgmacfarlane.
👇👇👇
Come find/follow me on Instagram instead, perhaps, where I’m @robgmacfarlane.
👇👇👇
Here’s where I’ll be!
May 28, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Here’s where I’ll be!
G, by Zaffar Kunial
May 26, 2025 at 12:08 PM
G, by Zaffar Kunial
Hello—Is A River Alive? is published today in the US by @wwnorton.com.
The beautiful jacket of living, writhing rivers is based on art by the great @stanleydonwood.bsky.social.
I feel deeply committed to the rivers, people & ideas in this book—& can’t wait to come to North America with it next week.
The beautiful jacket of living, writhing rivers is based on art by the great @stanleydonwood.bsky.social.
I feel deeply committed to the rivers, people & ideas in this book—& can’t wait to come to North America with it next week.
May 20, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Hello—Is A River Alive? is published today in the US by @wwnorton.com.
The beautiful jacket of living, writhing rivers is based on art by the great @stanleydonwood.bsky.social.
I feel deeply committed to the rivers, people & ideas in this book—& can’t wait to come to North America with it next week.
The beautiful jacket of living, writhing rivers is based on art by the great @stanleydonwood.bsky.social.
I feel deeply committed to the rivers, people & ideas in this book—& can’t wait to come to North America with it next week.
Hello––Is A River Alive? is published in the US & Canada on 20 May.
I am coming on tour––dates & locations below––& would love to speak of the book’s ideas, people & rivers to as many folk as possible while I'm out there.
Please let anyone know who you think might want to come to an event.
Cheers!
I am coming on tour––dates & locations below––& would love to speak of the book’s ideas, people & rivers to as many folk as possible while I'm out there.
Please let anyone know who you think might want to come to an event.
Cheers!
May 11, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Hello––Is A River Alive? is published in the US & Canada on 20 May.
I am coming on tour––dates & locations below––& would love to speak of the book’s ideas, people & rivers to as many folk as possible while I'm out there.
Please let anyone know who you think might want to come to an event.
Cheers!
I am coming on tour––dates & locations below––& would love to speak of the book’s ideas, people & rivers to as many folk as possible while I'm out there.
Please let anyone know who you think might want to come to an event.
Cheers!
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.
May 1, 2025 at 1:59 PM
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.
Hello—on Wed evening I’ll be at Ely Cathedral for the first event in a reading/speaking tour for Is A River Alive?
Then around & about through May.
Dates & places below in case you might make it.
On the lives, loves, deaths & rights of rivers…
Ely tickets here! www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/ely/r...
Then around & about through May.
Dates & places below in case you might make it.
On the lives, loves, deaths & rights of rivers…
Ely tickets here! www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/ely/r...
April 29, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Hello—on Wed evening I’ll be at Ely Cathedral for the first event in a reading/speaking tour for Is A River Alive?
Then around & about through May.
Dates & places below in case you might make it.
On the lives, loves, deaths & rights of rivers…
Ely tickets here! www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/ely/r...
Then around & about through May.
Dates & places below in case you might make it.
On the lives, loves, deaths & rights of rivers…
Ely tickets here! www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/ely/r...
Hello—Is A River Alive? is out a week today, on 1 May.
I went to Clays the printer to see how my books are made (many marvellous machines!) & to sign 3000 special editions.
Here’s what happened in 40 seconds.
Here are the indie bookshops who have the specials for pre-order: linktr.ee/Is_A_River_A...
I went to Clays the printer to see how my books are made (many marvellous machines!) & to sign 3000 special editions.
Here’s what happened in 40 seconds.
Here are the indie bookshops who have the specials for pre-order: linktr.ee/Is_A_River_A...
April 24, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Hello—Is A River Alive? is out a week today, on 1 May.
I went to Clays the printer to see how my books are made (many marvellous machines!) & to sign 3000 special editions.
Here’s what happened in 40 seconds.
Here are the indie bookshops who have the specials for pre-order: linktr.ee/Is_A_River_A...
I went to Clays the printer to see how my books are made (many marvellous machines!) & to sign 3000 special editions.
Here’s what happened in 40 seconds.
Here are the indie bookshops who have the specials for pre-order: linktr.ee/Is_A_River_A...
This–– @robcowen.bsky.social’s The North Road––is out today.
It's magnificent: one of the best books you'll read this year.
A polyphonic walking-up of the ghosts & lives of the Great North Road; a bravura act of imagining in which RC seems to slip supernaturally between times & minds.
So, so good.
It's magnificent: one of the best books you'll read this year.
A polyphonic walking-up of the ghosts & lives of the Great North Road; a bravura act of imagining in which RC seems to slip supernaturally between times & minds.
So, so good.
April 17, 2025 at 11:28 AM
This–– @robcowen.bsky.social’s The North Road––is out today.
It's magnificent: one of the best books you'll read this year.
A polyphonic walking-up of the ghosts & lives of the Great North Road; a bravura act of imagining in which RC seems to slip supernaturally between times & minds.
So, so good.
It's magnificent: one of the best books you'll read this year.
A polyphonic walking-up of the ghosts & lives of the Great North Road; a bravura act of imagining in which RC seems to slip supernaturally between times & minds.
So, so good.
Hello––my book Underland has been adapted into a feature film & the world premiere is at Tribeca in June.
It's taken 4.5 years––& the team’s created something astonishing.
A documentary that's groundbreaking in form, voice & tone.
I hope you might see it one day.
Full account on IG (@robgmacfarlane)
It's taken 4.5 years––& the team’s created something astonishing.
A documentary that's groundbreaking in form, voice & tone.
I hope you might see it one day.
Full account on IG (@robgmacfarlane)
April 16, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Hello––my book Underland has been adapted into a feature film & the world premiere is at Tribeca in June.
It's taken 4.5 years––& the team’s created something astonishing.
A documentary that's groundbreaking in form, voice & tone.
I hope you might see it one day.
Full account on IG (@robgmacfarlane)
It's taken 4.5 years––& the team’s created something astonishing.
A documentary that's groundbreaking in form, voice & tone.
I hope you might see it one day.
Full account on IG (@robgmacfarlane)
Hello—I’m trying to help heal a river: the wild, spectacular Mutehekau Shipu in Nitassinan/Quebec.
We're raising funds to clean up a junk-heap we found c.100 miles up the system. Stove, fridge, oil drums...gah.
Images of river + junk below.
Details & fundraiser here: www.gofundme.com/f/mutehekau-...
We're raising funds to clean up a junk-heap we found c.100 miles up the system. Stove, fridge, oil drums...gah.
Images of river + junk below.
Details & fundraiser here: www.gofundme.com/f/mutehekau-...
April 8, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Hello—I’m trying to help heal a river: the wild, spectacular Mutehekau Shipu in Nitassinan/Quebec.
We're raising funds to clean up a junk-heap we found c.100 miles up the system. Stove, fridge, oil drums...gah.
Images of river + junk below.
Details & fundraiser here: www.gofundme.com/f/mutehekau-...
We're raising funds to clean up a junk-heap we found c.100 miles up the system. Stove, fridge, oil drums...gah.
Images of river + junk below.
Details & fundraiser here: www.gofundme.com/f/mutehekau-...
An Teallach horseshoe today.
Nine glittering hours on 400-million-year-old sandstone.
White-tailed eagle riding the thermals; ptarmigan on quartzite; raven gleaming silver.
Blue ridgelines receding; next stop Newfoundland for the eye looking westwards.
But June conditions in April; where is winter?
Nine glittering hours on 400-million-year-old sandstone.
White-tailed eagle riding the thermals; ptarmigan on quartzite; raven gleaming silver.
Blue ridgelines receding; next stop Newfoundland for the eye looking westwards.
But June conditions in April; where is winter?
April 6, 2025 at 7:46 PM
An Teallach horseshoe today.
Nine glittering hours on 400-million-year-old sandstone.
White-tailed eagle riding the thermals; ptarmigan on quartzite; raven gleaming silver.
Blue ridgelines receding; next stop Newfoundland for the eye looking westwards.
But June conditions in April; where is winter?
Nine glittering hours on 400-million-year-old sandstone.
White-tailed eagle riding the thermals; ptarmigan on quartzite; raven gleaming silver.
Blue ridgelines receding; next stop Newfoundland for the eye looking westwards.
But June conditions in April; where is winter?
“Grief, like an apple tree, grows crooked not straight.”
Each year I mark the day when this little apple tree first flowers, & remember my friend the writer Roger Deakin, who brought it back as a pip from Kazakhstan, then died soon after.
Full story here:
emergencemagazine.org/essay/east-t...
Each year I mark the day when this little apple tree first flowers, & remember my friend the writer Roger Deakin, who brought it back as a pip from Kazakhstan, then died soon after.
Full story here:
emergencemagazine.org/essay/east-t...
April 4, 2025 at 7:22 AM
“Grief, like an apple tree, grows crooked not straight.”
Each year I mark the day when this little apple tree first flowers, & remember my friend the writer Roger Deakin, who brought it back as a pip from Kazakhstan, then died soon after.
Full story here:
emergencemagazine.org/essay/east-t...
Each year I mark the day when this little apple tree first flowers, & remember my friend the writer Roger Deakin, who brought it back as a pip from Kazakhstan, then died soon after.
Full story here:
emergencemagazine.org/essay/east-t...
Recently taught this, one of Hopkins’ so-called “Terrible” or “Desolation” sonnets.
An astonishing, shattering poem; the self splitting & re-splitting; self-invigilating, self-flagellating.
A syntax of contortion & depression; words eliding, consuming—until, oh, that wild (“betweenpie”!) ending…
An astonishing, shattering poem; the self splitting & re-splitting; self-invigilating, self-flagellating.
A syntax of contortion & depression; words eliding, consuming—until, oh, that wild (“betweenpie”!) ending…
March 29, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Recently taught this, one of Hopkins’ so-called “Terrible” or “Desolation” sonnets.
An astonishing, shattering poem; the self splitting & re-splitting; self-invigilating, self-flagellating.
A syntax of contortion & depression; words eliding, consuming—until, oh, that wild (“betweenpie”!) ending…
An astonishing, shattering poem; the self splitting & re-splitting; self-invigilating, self-flagellating.
A syntax of contortion & depression; words eliding, consuming—until, oh, that wild (“betweenpie”!) ending…
Hello US readers––we've made a special limited edition hardback of my new book Is A River Alive?
It’s only available to pre-order from 60 US indie bookstores & comes with a 48-page @fieldnotesbrand.bsky.social "river" notebook.
Artwork by the great Stanley Donwood!
Orderable here: isariveralive.com
It’s only available to pre-order from 60 US indie bookstores & comes with a 48-page @fieldnotesbrand.bsky.social "river" notebook.
Artwork by the great Stanley Donwood!
Orderable here: isariveralive.com
March 29, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Hello US readers––we've made a special limited edition hardback of my new book Is A River Alive?
It’s only available to pre-order from 60 US indie bookstores & comes with a 48-page @fieldnotesbrand.bsky.social "river" notebook.
Artwork by the great Stanley Donwood!
Orderable here: isariveralive.com
It’s only available to pre-order from 60 US indie bookstores & comes with a 48-page @fieldnotesbrand.bsky.social "river" notebook.
Artwork by the great Stanley Donwood!
Orderable here: isariveralive.com
Happy publication day to @danzep.bsky.social for this banger of a book.
It's funny & moving & generously various in its voices –– a journey after dark in two senses.
It's funny & moving & generously various in its voices –– a journey after dark in two senses.
March 27, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Happy publication day to @danzep.bsky.social for this banger of a book.
It's funny & moving & generously various in its voices –– a journey after dark in two senses.
It's funny & moving & generously various in its voices –– a journey after dark in two senses.
Spring at the King of Limbs: the tree that is a forest.
March 23, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Spring at the King of Limbs: the tree that is a forest.
Hello—in May I will be talking about & reading from Is A River Alive?
Dates & places below.
I actually can’t wait.
Please come along!
Summer & autumn dates to follow, including Scotland in August.
Dates & places below.
I actually can’t wait.
Please come along!
Summer & autumn dates to follow, including Scotland in August.
March 21, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Hello—in May I will be talking about & reading from Is A River Alive?
Dates & places below.
I actually can’t wait.
Please come along!
Summer & autumn dates to follow, including Scotland in August.
Dates & places below.
I actually can’t wait.
Please come along!
Summer & autumn dates to follow, including Scotland in August.
Hello—we’ve made a special limited first edition of Is A River Alive?, exclusive to UK independent bookshops.
Signed by me, stamped w/ a Stanley Donwood ink-print, w/ “Riversong” by me & Nick Hayes & glowing LiDAR endpapers.
Pre-orderable now from 80 indies. Might go fast.
👉 linktr.ee/robmacfarlane
Signed by me, stamped w/ a Stanley Donwood ink-print, w/ “Riversong” by me & Nick Hayes & glowing LiDAR endpapers.
Pre-orderable now from 80 indies. Might go fast.
👉 linktr.ee/robmacfarlane
March 20, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Hello—we’ve made a special limited first edition of Is A River Alive?, exclusive to UK independent bookshops.
Signed by me, stamped w/ a Stanley Donwood ink-print, w/ “Riversong” by me & Nick Hayes & glowing LiDAR endpapers.
Pre-orderable now from 80 indies. Might go fast.
👉 linktr.ee/robmacfarlane
Signed by me, stamped w/ a Stanley Donwood ink-print, w/ “Riversong” by me & Nick Hayes & glowing LiDAR endpapers.
Pre-orderable now from 80 indies. Might go fast.
👉 linktr.ee/robmacfarlane
The chiffchaffs are really kicking off at the moment, aren't they?
Seesaw song-notes from seemingly every tree, including (yesterday evening) this magnolia.
Seesaw song-notes from seemingly every tree, including (yesterday evening) this magnolia.
March 13, 2025 at 5:53 PM
The chiffchaffs are really kicking off at the moment, aren't they?
Seesaw song-notes from seemingly every tree, including (yesterday evening) this magnolia.
Seesaw song-notes from seemingly every tree, including (yesterday evening) this magnolia.
River-lovers: the Riverfly initiative is a brilliant way to help protect your local river.
Get trained as a citizen-scientist: learn to monitor your local river via key inverts, report pollution, create data-sets: riverflies.org
Get hands-on, get wet, make a difference!
@paulpowlesland.bsky.social
Get trained as a citizen-scientist: learn to monitor your local river via key inverts, report pollution, create data-sets: riverflies.org
Get hands-on, get wet, make a difference!
@paulpowlesland.bsky.social
March 9, 2025 at 9:40 PM
River-lovers: the Riverfly initiative is a brilliant way to help protect your local river.
Get trained as a citizen-scientist: learn to monitor your local river via key inverts, report pollution, create data-sets: riverflies.org
Get hands-on, get wet, make a difference!
@paulpowlesland.bsky.social
Get trained as a citizen-scientist: learn to monitor your local river via key inverts, report pollution, create data-sets: riverflies.org
Get hands-on, get wet, make a difference!
@paulpowlesland.bsky.social
Young people, teachers, parents: Action for Conservation, where I'm a founding trustee, runs free Summer Camps to inspire 12-16 year olds to a lifelong love of nature & conservation.
They’re really fun.
Applications now open:
www.actionforconservation.org/camp
Pls help spread the word/RT!
They’re really fun.
Applications now open:
www.actionforconservation.org/camp
Pls help spread the word/RT!
March 6, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Young people, teachers, parents: Action for Conservation, where I'm a founding trustee, runs free Summer Camps to inspire 12-16 year olds to a lifelong love of nature & conservation.
They’re really fun.
Applications now open:
www.actionforconservation.org/camp
Pls help spread the word/RT!
They’re really fun.
Applications now open:
www.actionforconservation.org/camp
Pls help spread the word/RT!
Today my dad & brother walked together, in fierce winds, to the Pools of Dee––high in the Lairig Ghru, the great glacier-carved glen that cuts the Cairngorms N-S.
The Pools hold a special place in our family.
Know them?
Lucid water; a young river, forming.
They filled a bottle for me up there.
The Pools hold a special place in our family.
Know them?
Lucid water; a young river, forming.
They filled a bottle for me up there.
March 6, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Today my dad & brother walked together, in fierce winds, to the Pools of Dee––high in the Lairig Ghru, the great glacier-carved glen that cuts the Cairngorms N-S.
The Pools hold a special place in our family.
Know them?
Lucid water; a young river, forming.
They filled a bottle for me up there.
The Pools hold a special place in our family.
Know them?
Lucid water; a young river, forming.
They filled a bottle for me up there.