Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Tekels Park | 20200824 | Helen Macdonald reads from her new collection of essays about "love for the glittering world of non-human life around us."
Vesper Flights is the hotly anticipated essay collection by Helen Macdonald - her first book since the publication of her award-winning and best-selling H is for Hawk. Each essay by the acclaimed nature writer explores humanity's connection with the natural world, our curiosity about it and our love for it, as well as its increasingly urgent fragility. The essays are also a reminder that we inhabit a beautiful world and they celebrate its `quality of wonder".
Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, naturalist and historian of science. H is for Hawk won several prestigious prizes, including the Samuel Johnson and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger in France.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Helen Macdonald's collection of essays about our relationship to the natural world. Helen Macdonald's new collection of essays about our relationship to the natural world. |
| 02 | High Rise | 20200825 | Helen Macdonald reads from her new essay collection. Today, she is on the observation deck at the Empire State Building, and more than a thousand feet up she finds that the skies are 'teeming with unexpected biological abundance.'
Vesper Flights is Helen Macdonald's first book since the publication of the award-winning and best-selling H is for Hawk. Each essay in this collection by the acclaimed nature writer explores humanity's connection with the natural world, our curiosity about it and our love for it, as well as its increasingly urgent fragility. The essays are also a reminder that we inhabit a beautiful world, and celebrate it in all its wonder.
Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, naturalist and historian of science. H is for Hawk won several prestigious prizes, including the Samuel Johnson and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger in France.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Helen Macdonald views an aerial phenomenon from the Empire State Building. Helen Macdonald's new collection of essays about our relationship to the natural world. |
| 03 | Eclipse | 20200826 | Helen Macdonald reads from her new essay collection which explores the wonders to be found in the natural world.. Today, she considers crowds, community and the overwhelming experience of witnessing an eclipse.
Vesper Flights is Helen Macdonald's first book since the publication of the award-winning and best-selling H is for Hawk. Each essay in this collection by the acclaimed nature writer explores humanity's connection with the natural world, our curiosity about it and our love for it, as well as its increasingly urgent fragility.
Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, naturalist and historian of science. H is for Hawk won several prestigious prizes, including the Samuel Johnson and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger in France.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Helen Macdonald on crowds, community and the experience of witnessing an eclipse. Helen Macdonald's new collection of essays about our relationship to the natural world. |
| 04 | Wicken & In Spight of Prisons | 20200827 | Helen Macdonald reads from her new essay collection on nature in all its wonder. Today's themes are nature reserves and our precious relationship with the natural world.
Vesper Flights is Helen Macdonald's first book since the publication of the award-winning and best-selling H is for Hawk. Each essay in this collection by the acclaimed nature writer explores humanity's connection with the planet, our curiosity about it and our love for it, as well as its increasingly urgent fragility.
Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, naturalist and historian of science. H is for Hawk won several prestigious prizes, including the Samuel Johnson and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger in France.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Helen Macdonald on nature reserves and our precious relationship with the natural world. Helen Macdonald's new collection of essays about our relationship to the natural world. |
| 05 | Vesper Flights | 20200828 | Helen Macdonald reads from her eagerly awaited new essay collection. Today, she considers swifts, finding them 'magical in the manner of all things that exist just a little beyond understanding.
Vesper Flights is Helen Macdonald's first book since the publication of the award-winning and best-selling H is for Hawk. Each essay in this collection by the acclaimed nature writer explores humanity's connection with the natural world, our curiosity about it and our love for it, as well as its increasingly urgent fragility. The essays are also a reminder that we inhabit a beautiful world, and celebrate it in all its wonder.
Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, naturalist and historian of science. H is for Hawk won several prestigious prizes, including the Samuel Johnson and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger in France.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Helen Macdonald celebrates and learns life lessons from swifts. Helen Macdonald's new collection of essays about our relationship to the natural world. |