Wilderness Tracks // Timber Festival

Raymond Antrobus is a writer, poet, and broadcaster. He is the author of poetry collections, To Sweeten Bitter; The Perseverance and All The Names Given, as well as children’s picture book Can Bears Ski?, illustrated by Polly Dunbar. In 2022 three of his poems were added to the UK’s (GCSE) National Curriculum.At Timber 2023, he sat down with Geoff Bird to discuss his six nature-related tracks as part of Wilderness Tracks, recorded live at the festival.

Actress, presenter and author Janet Ellis joins Geoff Bird for a live recording on our Wilderness Tracks podcast. Janet discusses the six pieces of music that connect her to nature.Janet Ellis trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Best known for presenting Blue Peter, she stars in numerous radio and TV programmes and in 2018 appeared at the Edinburgh Festival. In 2016 Janet was awarded an MBE for services to charities and theatre. A graduate of the Curtis Brown creative writing course, her debut novel, The Butcher’s Hook, was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize.

Raynor Winn, author of the international bestsellers The Salt Path and The Wild Silence, talks to Geoff about her six nature-related tracks. Sharing the inspiration behind her 'Wilderness Tracks', Raynor takes us on a journey through her childhood, into an adulthood peppered with adventure, fulfilment, hardship, and the constant pull of the natural world.Raynor Winn’s first book, The Salt Path, became an international bestseller and sold in twenty countries. It was shortlisted for the 2018 Costa Biography Award; shortlisted for the Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize 2018 and was the winner of the Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Prize 2018. The Wild Silence was shortlisted for the 2021 Indie Book Awards and the 2021 Wainwright Prize. The Salt Path has also been optioned for a film.Raynor Winn is a regular long-distance walker and writes about nature, homelessness, and our relationship to the land. She lives in Cornwall with her husband Moth.

Immerse yourself in the soothing sounds of the great global wildwood in order to ease your mind and calm your senses. Slow down, breathe deeper and find tranquility as you tune in to the harmonies of the natural world.This is the Sounds of the Forest podcast — three episodes welcoming you into a unique soundworld using a carefully selected range of recordings taken from our soundmap, created by hundreds of people all around the world. Another time, perhaps, you can listen to our other tracks - ‘focus’ and ‘meditate’.To find out more about the Sounds of the Forest project — timberfestival.org.uk/soundsoftheforest/Sounds of the Forest Soundscapes was supported by The Space and Arts Council England with funding from the National Lottery.

From the January 10th, Timber Festival will be bringing you three unique tracks featuring sounds of forests and woodlands from around the world. Harness the power of nature to calm your senses, focus your mind and guide you in quiet meditation. These soundscapes have been created using audio recordings from our project Sounds of the Forest, the first ever forest soundmap of the world. Listen to the map and upload your own sounds at timberfestival.org.uk/soundsoftheforest

Natalie Haynes, an award-winning comedian, author, journalist, and broadcaster talks to Geoff Bird about her six nature-related tracks. Although, Natalie claims not to know much about music, her selections paint a vivid picture of her influences. From Tom Waits’ ‘Shiver Me Timbers’ inspiring her writing about Classical Greek characters who live by the sea, walking in nature to find clarity in her writing process, to Steve Earle & The Del McCoury Band’s ‘The Mountain’ evoking grandeur, solace and peril all at the same time. Throughout, she takes us on a whistle-stop tour of Greek mythology in between each track and shows us just why she’s one of our most exciting authors standing up for the Classics.

Hip-Hop MC, writer, theatre maker and world record breaking human beatboxer Testament talks about his six tracks inspired by nature.  He talks about discovering beauty in the banal when doing a English project in rural Suffolk, the poetic power found in MCs who come from the countryside and the eternal value of creative engagement with young people. Recorded live at Timber Festival 2022.— In the Wilderness Tracks, writers, artists, scientists and thinkers talk with producer Geoff Bird about six pieces of music that somehow connect them to nature.

Chumbawumba-star turned author Boff Whalley talks about fell-running, the arthouse film Koyaanisqatsi and Philip Glass’ seminal soundtrack, the right to roam, the power of art and music to galvanise social change and even performing his own song ‘These Hills are Ours’. Recorded live at Kendal Mountain Festival 2021.— In the Wilderness Tracks, writers, artists, scientists and thinkers talk with producer Geoff Bird about six pieces of music that somehow connect them to nature.

Broadcast journalist Gavin Esler discusses his politically charged book How Britain Ends - how he travelled across the devolved four nations of Britain in writing the book, a chance encounter with Native American flutist Carlos Nakai, the evocative power of Bob Dylan, and a broad and beautiful selection of music from far flung places.

After a brilliant 2021 Timber Festival, we're back with another episode from this year's celebration in the National Forest. Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, joins his old friend Geoff to talk about his shifting relationship with nature, gushing over his encounter with Iceland and Björk's serene 'The Anchor Song',  performing poetry up and down the Pennine Way and amongst other things, the magnificent invention of the CD Walkman and the portability of music.— In the Wilderness Tracks, writers, artists, scientists and thinkers talk with producer Geoff Bird about six pieces of music that somehow connect them to nature.