Natural light
  • News and Blog

#naturewords make a comeback

26/9/2015

2 Comments

 

A counter-movement to restore nature literacy

kingfisher by Jackie MorrisKingfisher by Jackie Morris
As regular readers will know, the Oxford Junior Dictionary has had over fifty nature words culled, to make room for terms that reflect the indoor lifestyles of today's children: terms like MP3 player and BlackBerry (replacing blackberry).  Earlier this year, 28 prominent writers, artists and broadcasters wrote a letter, coordinated by NATURAL LIGHT, calling on the Oxford University Press to reinstate the lost words.

Now two of them, author Robert Macfarlane and artist Jackie Morris have teamed up to make a new book based on the very words lost from the OJD.  The Lost Words:  a Spell Book will be published by Hamish Hamilton in Spring 2017.

Picture
​This year, Oxford University Press declared hashtag to be children's 'word of the year' based on 120,000 stories written by children.

"Technology is miraculous, but so is nature" says Macfarlane. "Jackie and I wanted to find a way to release these simple wonder-words back into people's stories and dreams."

In her blog Jackie writes: It grew out of a letter I was asked to sign by Laurence Rose and Mark Cocker.  The letter was a request for the words culled from the Oxford Junior Dictionary to be returned.  These words included bluebell, conker, heron, acorn and perhaps the one that cut deepest for me, kingfisher.

She contacted Macfarlane, who coincidentally had been thinking about writing a children's book for some time,  Morris persuaded him it should be a book for all ages.

I contacted Jackie Morris at her home-studio by the sea near St. David's, Pembrokeshire.  She explained that Macfarlane had already started sending her material for what will be "a dazzling full-colour book of spells and spellings that seeks to re-wild the language of readers young and old."

They have chosen around twenty of the lost nature words to "start putting nature back into the mouths and minds' eyes of readers through the magical interplay of artwork and text."

Mark Sears, CEO of The Wild Network, an organisation devoted to reconnecting children with nature that has been collaborating in the #naturewords campaign, sees the new book as "the first sign of a counter-movement, a positive move to restore nature literacy."

"There is a real music in the flow of words Rob has sent me" Jackie told me yesterday, having received texts for otter and kingfisher so far.  And this afternoon a Facebook message:  "He's sent me an acorn piece - pure music!"
​#naturewords
2 Comments
Pernille Smith Larsen
1/12/2015 06:35:31 pm

Hi Laurence!

Thank your for your post about the OJD. I have a question about your uploaded list of words taken out:
http://www.naturemusicpoetry.com/uploads/2/9/3/8/29384149/words_taken_out.pdf

The heading says "Oxford English Dictionary," but I thought the list compiled words which have been taken out and added from the Oxford JUNIOR Dictionary. Is it just a typo in the title?

I'm writing about the changes so I hope you can help me figure this out.

Thanks again for posting about this!

Best,
Pernille

Reply
Laurence
1/12/2015 07:54:13 pm

Hi Pernille!

Thanks for getting in touch. Yes, you're right, I need to amend that.

If you want to tell me more about the thing you're writing, I'd be keen to know more. You can email me via this site.

Best
Laurence

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Welcome

    to 
    NATURAL LIGHT
    a site devoted to nature, and artists who are 
    inspired by it

    editor Laurence Rose

    Follow us on 
    Facebook and Twitter
    Email us

    RSS Feed

    Tweets by @Naturemusicpoet

    Archives

    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All
    Australia
    BBC Proms
    Biodiversity
    Birds
    Campaigns
    Cheltenham Festival
    Conversations
    Endangered Species
    Environment
    Fenland
    Festivals
    Flamenco
    Hear And Now
    Iceland
    Landscape
    Literature
    Moth
    Music
    Norfolk Festival Of Nature
    Olivier Messiaen
    Peter Sculthorpe
    Poetry
    Re:Tweet Of The Day
    RSPB
    Sibelius
    Soundscape
    Spain
    Ted Hughes
    The Long Spring
    Uplands
    Wetlands
    Words
    WW1

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.