Dr David Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at Manchester Metropolitan University where he is the Founding Co-Director of the Centre for Place Writing. His current academic research includes the writing of a book on the immersiveness of contemporary place writing for Liverpool University Press and the co-editing of The Routledge Handbook of Literary Geographies. His recent creative-critical publications include the pamphlet, The Duddon Estuary: The Myriad Lines of its Relations (2022), and an essay, ‘The Most Mancunian of Trees’, in Saraband’s North Country anthology (2022) edited by Karen Lloyd.

Marchelle Farrell is a writer, medical psychotherapist, and amateur gardener. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, she has spent over 20 years attempting to become hardy here in the UK. She is deeply curious about the relationship between our external and internal landscapes, the patterns we re-enact in relation to the land, and how they might be changed. When not neglecting it for the care of her young children, or her work in the community, Marchelle spends much of her time getting to know her country garden in Somerset, and writing about the things the garden teaches her about herself. Her debut book, Uprooting, won the Nan Shepherd Prize for nature writing and will be published by Canongate in August 2023.

Kim Kremer is the Managing Director of Notting Hill Editions, an independent publisher specialising in literary essays. Notting Hill Editions has over 60 collections to its name, its most recent publication being Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World by the late, acclaimed nature writer Barry Lopez. In 2013, Notting Hill Editions launched its inaugural Essay Prize, which Kim continued to run until 2017. After starting her publishing career in London, Kim took a break from publishing to pursue an interest in environmental issues and spent two years working at the Centre for Alternative Technology, an eco-centre in Powys, Wales, dedicated to demonstrating and teaching sustainable development.

As Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s Learning and Development Manager, Jamie works to inspire others about nature and taking action for wildlife. In 2019, he embarked on a 200-mile coast-to-coast walk, armed with Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’s book The Lost Words, and called in at primary schools and community centres to speak about the book’s ideas. He has written regular columns for regional papers ranging from Poland’s Trybuna Opolska to the Brighton Argus; appeared on BBC radio and television; and most recently contributed to the BTO’s Into the Red book about endangered wildlife.

Photograph: Terry Abraham