Harrogate's greatest living writer set to inspire new ways of thinking at Berwins Salon North event

The multiple award-winning Rob Cowen is one of three guest speakers to discuss the topic "Take a Second Look" in the latest TED-style talk at The Crown Hotel in a relaxed, cabaret-style setting.

The Otley-born journalist who has written regular columns on nature and travel for the Independent, Independent on Sunday and the Telegraph, was hailed by The Guardian as "one of the UK's most exciting nature writers.

Following award success in 2012 with his debut book non-fiction Skimming Stones and Other Ways of Being in the Wild, Cowen's second book, Common Ground (2015) was hailed as a seminal and genre-defying work redefining writing on people and place.

Set largely in Harrogate and the Nidd Gorge area, the dazzlingly written Common Ground was voted third in a BBC poll in 2018 to find Britain’s favourite nature book of all time.

Inspired by lockdown life in Harrogate, his latest book The Heeding - Cowen's first major venture into poetry - is a profound meditation on the impact of the Covid pandemic and a unique time in all our lives.

Across four seasons and 35 luminous poems, Cowen paints a picture of a year caught in the grip of history, filled with fear and pain, but beauty and wonder, too.

“The influence and inspiration of the Harrogate area on the book was profound and essential," said Rob Cowen.

“Originally the book was going to be called ‘In the Yarden’ because many of the poems are set in the little backyard that was the centre-point of our outside world during the pandemic.

Published by Elliott & Thompson Limited, The Heeding is beautifully illustrated with stark and dazzling drawings by Nick Hayes.

Presented by Harrogate International Festivals and sponsored by Berwins Solicitors, the next Salon North's two other guest speakers - for an event delivered without notes from memory - are equally compelling in their own fields.

Hannah Rose Woods, who has written on history, politics and culture for the New Statesman, the Guardian, History Today, Art UK and Elle magazine, will take a second look at Britain's perennial fixation with its own past, by separating history from fantasy and debunking dangerous and pervasive myths about Britain's past.

Bobby Duffy, who is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute, will explors generational divides and asks whether when we're born determines our attitudes to money, sex, religion, politics and much else.

Common Ground by Rob Cowen was voted third top in the BBC Winterwatch poll in 2018 behind Chris Packham’s book Fingers in the Sparkle and Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson in a national online poll.

At the time, he dedicated the award to Harrogate campaign groups battling to protect Nidd Gorge from the threat of a possible bypass.

The public vote to find the UK’s favourite book about the natural world saw Rob’s book beat the likes of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris in a poll which attracted thousands of votes.

Berwins Salon North: Take a Second Look

Thursday, September, 22, 7.30pm at The Crown Hotel, Harrogate.

For tickets, visit www.harrogateinternationalfestivals.com