JAY GRIFFITHS

Kith is a passionate examination of what it means to be a child, by Jay Griffiths, the award-winning author of Wild. While travelling the world in order to write her award-winning book Wild, Jay Griffiths became increasingly aware of the huge differences in how childhood is experienced in various cultures. One central riddle, in particular, captured her imagination: Why are so many children in Euro-American cultures unhappy - and why is it that children in many traditional cultures seem happier? In Kith, Jay Griffiths explores these questions and many more. Moving from communities in West Papua and the Arctic to the ostracised young people of contemporary Britain, she asks why we have enclosed our children in a consumerist cornucopia but denied them the freedoms of space, time and deep play. She uses history, philosophy, language and literature to illustrate children's affinity for the natural world and the essential quest element of childhood. Kith is Jay Griffiths' impassioned, illuminating analysis of a universal rite of passage. In its urgent defence of the rights and needs of every child, it is a journey into the heart of human experience.

'I took seven years over this work, spent all I had, my time, money and energy. Part of the journey was a green riot and part a deathly bleakness. I got ill, I got well. I went to the freedom fighters of West Papua and sang my head off in their highlands. I met cannibals infinitely kinder and more trustworthy than the murderous missionaries who evangelize them. I anchored a boat to an iceberg where polar bears slept; ate witchetty grubs and visited sea gypsies. I found a paradox of wildness in the glinting softness of its charisma, for what is savage is in the deepest sense gentle and what is wild is kind. In the end - a strangely sweet result - I came back to a wild home...'

If bravery itself could write it would write like she does John Berger Why rebel Because our footprint on the Earth has never mattered more than now How we treat it in the spirit of gift or of theft has never been more important Because we need a politics of kindness but the very opposite is on the rise Libertarian fascism with its triumphal brutalism its racism and misogyny a politics that loathes the living world Because nature is not a hobby It is the life on which we depend as Indigenous societies have never forgotten Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars and they are lining up now to write rebellion across the skies From the author of Wild this passionate poetic manifesto for urgent rebellion is also a paean to the deep and extraordinary beauty of the natural world Jay Griffiths helped redefine activism for a generation combining detailed research with a poet s flair for language Her works defy categorisation and fizz with original ideas and excitement Byline Times Jay s writing has reduced me to hot throbs of grief through beauty and subtlety to the depths of the hurt of these times and what a liberation to express this to free the space in my chest to feel the love that propels me forwards Gail Bradbrook Che

A moving essential book Nobody writes about Nature with more beauty and grace than Jay Griffiths Brian Eno From celebrated author Jay Griffiths comes a unique and heartfelt insight into the healing nature of our relationship with animals Pet owners and animal lovers instinctively know that animals heal This book offers the evidence drawing widely on scientific discoveries history and Indigenous knowledge We meet a pot bellied pig who saved her owner s life lions who guarded a girl from kidnappers dolphins and whales rescuing people in danger and dogs who can smell cancer and phone the Emergency Services Animal sounds from insects to birdsong and the purring of cats are directly medicinal and their presence can heal the pain of loneliness Animals including donkeys can be natural therapists for the hurt psyche alleviating trauma fear and depression In this original revelatory and exuberant book Jay Griffiths explores how animals can have a role in every level of healing from the individual to the collective guiding us in how we might create societies that are healthier fairer and kinder Wolves may be teachers of ethics monkeys and dogs can object to unfairness and bees take collective decisions Animals are irresistible medicine for a hea

A stark, lyrical and personal account of the psyche in crisis from the bestselling author of Wild and Kith"I want to describe it for those who have never experienced it but who perhaps know someone with it. If this book can befriend just one person in that terrifying loneliness, it will be worth writing."Tristimania tells the story of a devastating year-long episode of manic depression, culminating in a long solo pilgrimage across Spain. Recording the experience of mania as has rarely been done before, Jay Griffiths shows how the condition is at once terrifying and also profoundly creative, both tricking and treating the psyche. An intimate and raw journey of mental health and recovery, Tristimania illuminates something of the universal human spirit.Profoundly poetic. A glimpse of madness from inside the eye of the stormObserver

A moving, essential book . . . Nobody writes about Nature with more beauty and grace than Jay Griffiths Brian EnoFrom celebrated author Jay Griffiths comes a unique and heartfelt insight into the healing nature of our relationship with animalsPet-owners and animal-lovers instinctively know that animals heal. This book offers the evidence, drawing widely on scientific discoveries, history, and Indigenous knowledge.We meet a pot-bellied pig who saved her owners life, lions who guarded a girl from kidnappers, dolphins and whales rescuing people in danger, and dogs who can smell cancer and phone the Emergency Services.Animal sounds, from insects to birdsong and the purring of cats, are directly medicinal and their presence can heal the pain of loneliness. Animals, including donkeys, can be natural therapists for the hurt psyche, alleviating trauma, fear and depression.In this original, revelatory and exuberant book, Jay Griffiths explores how animals can have a role in every level of healing, from the individual to the collective, guiding us in how we might create societies that are healthier, fairer and kinder. Wolves may be teachers of ethics; monkeys and dogs can object to unfairness and bees take collective decisions. Animals are irresistible medicine for a healthy culture, animating the arts with spectacular vitality and verve, as poetry knows.Open-hearted, playful and wise, How Animals Heal Us puts animals at the heart of a restorative vision of health.A wild and vital treasure trove of stories, woven together with Griffiths s characteristic exuberance and joyfully untamed mind Helen Jukes, author of A Honeybee Heart Has Five Opening

If bravery itself could write, it would write like she does John BergerWhy rebel?Because our footprint on the Earth has never mattered more than now. How we treat it, in the spirit of gift or of theft, has never been more important.Because we need a politics of kindness, but the very opposite is on the rise. Libertarian fascism, with its triumphal brutalism, its racism and misogyny - a politics that loathes the living world.Because nature is not a hobby. It is the life on which we depend, as Indigenous societies have never forgotten.Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars, and they are lining up now to write rebellion across the skies.From the author of Wild, this passionate, poetic manifesto for urgent rebellion is also a paean to the deep and extraordinary beauty of the natural world.Jay Griffiths helped redefine activism for a generation, combining detailed research with a poets flair for language. Her works defy categorisation and fizz with original ideas and excitement Byline TimesJays writing has reduced me to hot throbs of grief; through beauty and subtlety, to the depths of the hurt of these times . . . and what a liberation to express this, to free the space in my chest to feel the love that propels me forwardsGail BradbrookChewy, erudite, filled with swing: this is a dazzling book, urgent without ever being worthy, a book that crackles.Why Rebel is a Tardis, to read it is to enter the massive, a deep interior that hydrates vocation in a time of troubleMartin ShawThis short book is beautifully written, and packs a powerful emotional punch. I found myself welling up as I reached the end. At this desperate moment in human history, Why Rebel is surely part of the wake-up call we needProf. Rupert ReadTheres a book called Life and Fate and in it, it says that when surrounded by death and destruction the most human thing to do is to engage in an act of kindness. Jays book is such an actRoger Hallam

WINNER OF THE ORION BOOK AWARD Part travelogue, part manifesto for wildness as an essential character of life, Wild is a one-of-a-kind book from a one-of-a-kind authorUndefinable, untameable, profound and extraordinaryObserver_________________________I took seven years over this work, spent all I had, my time, money and energy. Part of the journey was a green riot and part a deathly bleakness. I got ill, I got well. I went to the freedom fighters of West Papua and sang my head off in their highlands. I met cannibals infinitely kinder and more trustworthy than the murderous missionaries who evangelize them. I found a paradox of wildness in the glinting softness of its charisma, for what is savage is in the deepest sense gentle and what is wild is kind. In the end - a strangely sweet result - I came back to a wild home.Wild describes an extraordinary odyssey, courageous and sometimes dangerous. It is by turns funny, touching and harrowing, and offers a poetic consideration of the tender connection between human society and wildlands. _________________________Easily the best travel book that I have read in the last ten yearsGuardianWild is likenothing else Ive ever read: thrilling, troubling, frightening, exhilarating. This is a truly necessary book, and we are all lucky that the subject found a writer worthy of it Philip PullmanPassionate, rigorous and utterly honest, Griffithss remarkable book is written in a style as wild and exciting as its subject Robert Macfarlane

A brilliant and poetic exploration of the way that we experience time in our everyday lives.Why does time seem so short? How does womens time differ from mens? Why does time seem to move slowly in the countryside and quickly in cities? How do different cultures around the world see time? In A Sideways Look at Time, Jay Griffiths takes readers on an extraordinary tour of time as we have never seen it before.With this dazzling and defiant work, Griffiths introduces us to dimensions of time that are largely forgotten in our modern lives. She presents an infectious argument for other, more magical times, the diverse cycles of nature, of folktale or carnival, when time is unlimited and on our side. This is a book for those who suspect that theres more to time than clocks.Irresistible and provocative, A Sideways Look at Time could change the way we view time-forever.

Um mergulho nas conexões profundas entre humanos e outras espécies, mostrando como esses vínculos podem restaurar corpo, mente e espírito.A partir de descobertas científicas, histórias reais e sabere

From Jay Griffiths, the author of the award-winning Wild comes a passionate polemic defence of childhood Her work isnt just good -- its necessaryPhilip PullmanIn Kith, Jay Griffiths seeks to discover why we deny our children the freedoms of space, time and the natural world. Visiting communities as far apart as West Papua and the Arctic, as well as the UK, and delving into history, philosophy, language and literature, she explores how childrens affinity for nature is an essential and universal element of childhood. It is a journey deep into the heart of what it means to be a child, and it is central to all our experiences, young and old.An impassioned, visionary plea to restore to our children the spirit of adventure, freedom and closeness to nature that is their birthright. We must hear it and act on it before it is too lateIain McGilchristJay Griffiths writes with such richness and mischief about the one thing that could truly save the world: its childrenKT Tunstall