Amanda Thomson - Belonging

We are delighted to welcome back Amanda Thomson to Kendal. Reflecting on family, identity and nature, Belonging is a personal memoir about what it is to have and make a home. It is a love letter to nature, especially the northern landscapes of Scotland and the Scots pinewoods of Abernethy – home to standing dead trees known as snags, which support the overall health of the forest. Beautifully written and featuring Amanda Thomson’s artwork and photography throughout, it explores how place, language and family shape us and make us who we are.

Amanda will be in conversation with Soraya Abdel-Hadi, founder of All The Elements, a community working to increase diversity in the UK outdoors. 

Amanda's new book Belonging will be available to purchase at the Festival book store over the Festival weekend.

There will be a book signing straight after the event.

Published by Canongate Books.  

About Amanda Thomson

Amanda is Scottish writer and visual artist, and a lecturer at the Glasgow School of Art. Her first book, A Scots Dictionary of Nature, was published in 2018. She has spoken at many book festivals and had her work published in Antlers of Water, Willowherb Review, The Wild Isles, Gifts of Gravity and Light and the Guardian. She lives and works in Strathspey in the Scottish Highlands and Glasgow.

“In belonging, Thomson invites us to think about what living with the land really means: not just beautiful and wild places, but cities, suburbs, old houses, the places that shape us in childhood and beyond, too. This is an evocative, intimate journey through the ways we find home – in family, place, history and language” - Jessica J. Lee

This event is presented by the University of Cumbria and UK Research and Innovation.