Monthly Archives: November 2021

Wild Authors: Emma Reynolds

Artists and Climate Change

By Mary Woodbury

I was thrilled to talk with Emma Reynolds, author of the just-out children’s book Amara and the Bats, a beautifully written and illustrated story that reminds us of the determination of youth and the importance of bats. Emma Reynolds is an illustrator and author based in Manchester, UK. Her debut author-illustrator picture book Amara and the Bats is out July 20, 2021 with Atheneum – Simon & Schuster. Emma started the #KidLit4Climate illustrated campaign, bringing together over 3,000 children’s illustrators and authors from over 50 countries in solidarity with the youth climate strikes. She is inspired by nature, animals, adventure, and seeing the magic in the everyday.

You can order Amara and the Bats from Simon & Schuster. You can also follow Emma on Twitter, Instagram, and her website, and subscribe to her newsletter.

Hi, Emma! Tell us about yourself – your life so far and how you got started in writing.

Hello! My name’s Emma, and I’m a children’s author and illustrator from Manchester, UK. I’ve always loved drawing and writing stories as far back as I can remember. When I was five, I would make my own books by stapling together square pieces of paper – I’ve been dreaming of making my own books since then.

I studied illustration at Uni and graduated into the recession, did a load of service and retail work, then after a few years as a character designer for kid’s TV I started to pursue my dream of being an author-illustrator. I spent my evenings and every other weekend working on my portfolio and creating a dummy book of Amara and the Bats – and this is the very book that got me my agent in 2018 and is going to be my author-illustrator debut. It feels so wonderful to have come this far.

Tell us something about your newest novel. Who is the intended audience, and what’s going on in the story?

Amara and the Bats is a picture book all about a little girl called Amara who LOVES bats, and when she moves house she is sad to find there are no bats in her local area. So, inspired by real life youth activists such as Tokata Iron Eyes and Greta Thunberg, she rallies her new friends and her community to save the bats. It’s all about bat conservation, community action, and hope!

Bat facts are weaved in throughout the story, and there are practical ways to help bats in the back too as well as useful links.

It is a picture book, so aimed towards children – but I could talk for hours about how picture books are for everyone of any age to enjoy, and for anyone who loves bats.

What got you interested in the wonderful world of bats?

I’ve always loved bats! I also used to have a pen with bats on – that was my first fountain pen, and I made this kit with my Mum when I was a kid, and put Velcro on the underside so they could hang under my bunk bed. Amara has a bat plushie in the book, and if you look carefully you can see the plushie hanging from her bed in the book as a special nod to my childhood.

What sorts of other ecological themes does your novel have?

It was inspired by creeping urbanization, rapid luxury flat development, and the destruction of the last green spaces in central Manchester. Amara and the Bats touches on the pressures of land being sold, and how this affects animals and nature through habitat fragmentation. On the positives, the book talks about the power of peaceful protest, rewilding, and how to make your garden or community green space bat friendly.

That’s interesting because a relative recently talked about making his yard bat-friendly, and we’ve been thinking of doing the same, so thank you! After publication, did you plan on doing any book fairs or talks? Is it hard to market during the pandemic?

I have indeed! I have a lot of things planned, both online and in person. I’ll keep my social media and website updated with these, and a great way to get all the news in one place is my newsletter.

I was at the Power of Words literary festival in Crowle, UK on Saturday, July 3, and I’ll be doing a Bat Conversation series over on my Instagram Live, with bat scientists and conservationists on Tuesdays at 6pm UK time, so keep an eye out for that as well.

COVID has been a challenge in more ways than one for sure – but I think the positive that has come out of adapting to online events is that more people can join from around the world, and disabled and chronically ill people have more access than ever before. I plan to keep on doing a combination of online and in person events going forward.

Are you working on anything else right now, and do you want to add other thoughts about your book?

I am! A very exciting project that I think you will like the theme of. It’s not been announced yet but I am very excited to talk about it when I can.

I hope that Amara will inspire a new generation of kids to get out into nature and enjoy our amazing bats!

Thanks so much, Emma. I’m so excited about your next project – and happy pub day!

This article is part of our Wild Authors series. It was originally published on Dragonfly.eco.

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Mary Woodbury, a graduate of Purdue University, runs Dragonfly.eco, a site that explores ecology in literature, including works about climate change. She writes fiction under pen name Clara Hume. Her novel Back to the Garden has been discussed in Dissent Magazine, Ethnobiology for the Future: Linking Cultural and Ecological Diversity (University of Arizona Press), and Uncertainty and the Philosophy of Climate Change (Routledge). Mary lives in Nova Scotia and enjoys hiking, writing, and reading.

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Artists and Climate Change is a blog that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to the Artists and Climate Change Blog

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Seas of the Outer Hebrides creative practitioners appointed!

Creative Carbon Scotland

We’re excited to announce that artists Dr Saoirse Higgins and Jonathan Ford have been appointed as creative practitioners with the Seas of the Outer Hebrides project. 

In August we launched an open call for creative practitioners of any discipline to work with the MarPAMM – Seas of the Outer Hebrides (SEASOH) project to support the development of a powerful, community-led vision for marine stewardship in the Outer Hebrides.

Saoirse and Jonathan were appointed, after a competitive application process, to work with the SEASOH team between now and December this year.

Since 2019 Creative Carbon Scotland has partnered with SEASOH to support collaborations with artists and the use of creative approaches in engagement activities, which have explored what is important to Outer Hebrides residents about their seas and their visions for its future.

Cultural heritage and the connections between Gaelic language and the sea as a living, working and cultural landscape have been strong themes throughout our creative work and link to marine conservation and management through a sense of place, home and identify in the Outer Hebrides.

We are now entering the phase of the project that will bring together community priorities and recommendations into a powerful message, which aims to inform future policy and action.

About the creative practitioners 

Artist Dr Saoirse Higgins and artist Jonathan Ford have been living and making work on and about the islands on Papa Westray in the north of the Orkney archipelago for over seven years. As a collaborative duo they are interested in developing projects that relate to the island-sea interface, working together with diverse island communities both young and old.

The Seas of the Outer Hebrides project provides Saoirse and Jonathan with an opportunity to continue to explore their interest in islands and islander environmental concerns and fits with their desire to make a positive impact on the future sustainability of island life, and planetary life as a consequence.

Another project they are currently are working on, S-ØY-S (save-our island-seas), explores the future environmental and economic viewpoints of the Marine Protected Area surrounding Papay and how island communities will deal with this challenge. S-ØY-S involved collaborating with multiple partners including the British Science Association, local creel fishermen, young Papay islander students and Joanne Porter, marine scientist, International Centre for Island Technology, Heriot-Watt University.

Artist Dr Saoirse Higgins and artist Jonathan Ford said: “We are really looking forward to creatively engaging with other diverse island communities on our voyage through the connecting seas that make us who we are as islanders. We hope to create and encourage a visual dialogue with the sea, and fathom out how we can work together to save and protect this vital asset for our global survival.”

SEASOH Project Officer Dr Charlie Main said “It’s been a pleasure to meet Saoirse and Jonathan and draw on their rich imaginations and expertise to help us to engage with Outer Hebrides communities.”

Creative Carbon Scotland and the SEASOH project team are thrilled to be working with Saoirse and Jonathan and looking forward to developing our plans together over the coming weeks.

Keep an eye on the Creative Carbon Scotland website, as well as the Seas of the Outer Hebrides Facebook page for project updates and opportunities to get involved.

We are collaborating with MarPAMM – Seas of the Outer Hebrides is part of our culture/SHIFT programme, which supports collaborations between arts and sustainability practitioners to address the climate emergency.

MarPAMM is a cross-border environment project, funded by the EU’s INTERREG VA programme, to develop tools for monitoring and managing a number of protected coastal marine environments in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Western Scotland.

Marpamm and interreg logos for Seas of the Outer Hebrides project
Seas of the Outer Hebrides

Image credit: Monitoring the South Wick shoreline, Papay Intrepid Explorers, Papay Probe, 2017, Copyright Saoirse Higgins and Jonathan Ford

The post Seas of the Outer Hebrides creative practitioners appointed! appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

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Coping with Climate Despair in Four Steps

Artists and Climate Change

By Jennifer Atkinson

With the urgency of our climate crisis increasing by the day, many scientists and climate leaders are calling for global action on the scale of World-War II mobilization: a swift and comprehensive overhaul of our existing consumer economy and the energy systems driving us off a cliff. And yet as the planetary fires close in, many people remain paralyzed by fear, hopelessness or cynicism.

Luckily, there are steps we can all take to overcome despair and start contributing to solutions. This episode outlines 4 basic strategies to beat the climate blues and become an agent of change.

(Top image by Appolinary Kalashnikova via Unsplash.)

Facing It is a podcast about climate grief and eco anxiety. It explores the psychological toll of climate change, and why our emotional responses are key to addressing this existential threat. In each episode of Facing It, I explore a different way we can harness despair to activate meaningful solutions.

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Dr. Jennifer Atkinson is an Associate Professor of environmental humanities at the University of Washington, Bothell. Her seminars on Eco-Grief & Climate Anxiety have been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, NBC News, the Seattle Times, Grist, the Washington Post, KUOW and many other outlets. Jennifer is currently working on a book titled An Existential Toolkit for the Climate Crisis (co-edited with Sarah Jaquette Ray) that offers strategies to help young people navigate the emotional toll of climate breakdown.

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Artists and Climate Change is a blog that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to the Artists and Climate Change Blog

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Call for Artists – The Nature of Cities Festival 2022

Open Calls

The arts program, curated by the Forum for Radical Imagination on Environmental Cultures (FRIEC), is calling for artists of all disciplines who seek to radically imagine sustainable cities for the future. This year, artists will have opportunities both to present their work, and also to interact with the global interdisciplinary audience of ecological changemakers through artist-led sessions. All work and sessions will be presented in an imagined virtual world, built by The Nature of Cities for this global conference.

Last year’s festival welcomed 2200 participants from 72 countries, including exhibiting artists from 33 countries. The artists who take part in this festival have the opportunity to play a critical role in this truly global, transdisciplinary meeting of thought and action leaders, and we hope you will join us. If you are unfamiliar with the festival, or where to start, we recommend exploring the 2021 Festival and thenatureofcities.com to get an idea of our approach. We will be accepting work on a rolling basis until 30 November 2021.

Yours in Art and Nature,
Patrick M. Lydon (Daejeon) & Carmen Bouyer (Paris)
TNOC Arts Editors

IMPORTANT DATES
30 November 2021 (Midnight EST) — Submission deadline
Early December — Notifications of acceptance sent to applicants
January 2022 — Festival program to be announced
29-31 March 2022 — The Nature of Cities Festival

WHAT TO SUBMIT
There are multiple categories for submissions, including Art Happenings, Short Documentary, and Sessions, as described below:

ART HAPPENINGS
We welcome Art Happening submissions as video files (including Film, Music, Animation, Poetry, Spoken Word, Theater, Performance, Dance, or any other genre as expressed through video). We are looking specifically for works that will nurture The Nature of Cities Festival programming with unique viewpoints that consider how humans and our cities can be woven together with the rest of nature.

Artworks in this category will be presented to global audiences at The Nature of Cities Festival, during the main plenary talks, as well as within various virtual arts spaces during the conference.

Accepted file formats: A single MPEG or MOV video file, in SD or HD resolution
Length: 3 to 6 minutes
File size: less than 500MB

SHORT DOCUMENTARY
Short documentaries to be exhibited virtually in the Festival lobby or virtual garden space. Documentaries may be on any subject within the broad mission of The Nature of Cities, including but not limited to science, design, equity, planning, community, climate, resilience, food, art, and so on. Both short films and excerpts of longer works are accepted, although excerpts must be able to stand alone as a work on their own.

Accepted file formats: A single MPEG or MOV video file, in SD or HD resolution
Length: less than 10 minutes
File size: less than 750MB

SESSIONS
Separately from the Art Happenings and Documentary categories, all artists working in any medium are welcome to submit session proposals. Accepted sessions will be part of the main conference programming, alongside sessions from various other practitioners and experts in all fields. Your session can be practical (skills session) or exploratory (seed session) or anything in-between. Click here to learn more about session types.

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All submissions can be made directly through the festival website: https://www.thenatureofcities.com/artistcall2022/