The British Library is running an online event next month as part of their springtime season of events exploring nature writing and reflecting on the urgent need to reimagine our relationship with the environment.
Bird is the Word, hosted by Unique Media in partnership with Penguin Live, brings together 3 writers, Bill Bailey, Helen Macdonald and Sam Lee, to celebrate all things avian.
These authors all share a fascination with birds and have spent hours in their company, studying their weird and wonderful ways, musing on the melodic beauty of their songs or reflecting on their place in human memory, love and loss.
Bill Bailey is perhaps best known for his stand-up comedy shows such as Qualmpeddler, Limboland, and Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra, but he’s also entertained on television in programmes including Never Mind the Buzzcocks, the Channel 4 sitcom Black Books and QI. He is also a passionate musician, author and director and supports a number of charities. In 2020 over 11 million people watched as Bill was crowned the winner of Strictly Come Dancing.
Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, naturalist and Affiliated Research Scholar at the University of Cambridge, Department of History and Philosophy of Science. Her book H Is for Hawk won the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize and Costa Book Award. Her collection of essays Vesper Flights was voted a book of the year in the Guardian, Financial Times and Daily Telegraph as well as being a Sunday Times bestseller and Radio 4 Book of the Week.
Sam Lee is a folk singer, conservationist, broadcaster and activist. His first album, Ground of Its Own, was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize in 2012. As a song collector he is dedicated to gathering, sharing and interpreting ancient oral music from Britain and Ireland. Sam’s singing has been heard in films and TV shows from Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword to Peaky Blinders. His first book, The Nightingale: Notes on a Songbird, is published by Penguin.
The event takes place on Friday the 9th April at 7.30 pm. A ticket costs £7.50 and you’ll be able to watch it at any time for 48 hours after the start time.
Find out more and book tickets here.
