Associate Fellow Professor Charles Foster shortlisted for Wainwright Prize

Associate Fellow Professor Charles Foster’s book ‘The Screaming Sky’ has been shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing.

The awards are named after the nature writer Alfred Wainwright and celebrate books which inspire readers to explore the outdoors and nurture a respect for the natural world.

Charles’ book ‘The Screaming Sky’, published by Little Toller, is a study of Common Swifts. It documents Charles’ journey as he follows them across the world, exploring their movements.

The full shortlist of books can be found on the Wainwright Prize website.

This year’s Nature Writing judging panel is chaired by TV presenter Julia Bradbury. The winners’ ceremony will be held on 7 September at The London Wetlands Centre. Alongside the UK Nature Writing prize winner, the winner of the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation will also be announced.

In addition to being an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton, Charles is a Visiting Professor at the Oxford Law Faculty, Senior Research Associate at the Uehiro Institute for Practical Ethics and a Research Associate at the Ethox Centre and the Helex Centre.

He is a qualified veterinarian, practising barrister and writer of both fiction and non-fiction.

Charles’ new book, ‘Being a Human: Adventures in 40,000 Years of Consciousness’ is published on 26 August. In this book, Charles sets out to understand what a human is, inhabiting the sensory worlds of humans at three pivotal points in history from hunter-gatherers to the Neolithic to the Enlightenment.