Where did you feel separated from during the national lockdowns? Yvonne says that she longed for Kinder Scout in a way she never had before, missing it almost as she would an old friend. 

In this interview, Yvonne reads two of her poems, ‘To a Snow Hare’ and ‘Dear Tor’, while sitting among the boulders of the Woolpacks on Kinder Scout. She chose this setting because of the characterful rocks that resemble living creatures. 

I asked her about her creative process, what she has learnt about protecting mountain hares, how poetry has become part of her life, and why Kinder Scout is a special place to her. I think you’ll really enjoy Yvonne’s eloquent storytelling, fun nature and stirring words.

A mountain hare came hopping past while recording which was only the second time that Yvonne has seen one on Kinder Scout. We were lucky to capture this very special experience while the microphones were on. 

Yvonne Reddick is a poet and researcher. She is the author of Ted Hughes: Environmentalist and ecopoet, 2017 and Burning Season, a collection of poems, 2023. Burning Season won the Laurel Prize for Best UK First Collection of Ecopoetry and was shortlisted for the Saltire Poetry Book of the Year Award 2023. It was a BBC Radio 4 Poetry Extra Book of the Month for January 2024.

With the wildlife filmmaker Aleksander Domanski, she made the film Searching for Snow Hares, shortlisted for the BMC’s Women in Adventure film awards. You can read more about her work here.

Links

Burning Season book by Yvonne Reddick

Anthropocene Poetry: Place, Environment and Planet book by Yvonne Reddick

@yvonnereddickwriter on Instagram

@YvonneReddick on Twitter

Yvonne’s website

References

Ted Hughes

Penny Pot Cafe

Searching for Mountain Hares - Cairngorms on YouTube

BMC

Recording date

This interview was recorded at The Woolpacks on Kinder Scout on 11th May 2024.

Host & Production

By Sarah Lister, About The Adventure

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