Concord’s status as a Mecca for nature writers gains an international dimension this summer. The renowned British writer Robert Macfarlane will accept the 2025 Thoreau Prize on June 7 at the Trinitarian Congregational Church in Concord. The honor is given annually by the Thoreau Society to a writer whose work embodies Henry David Thoreau’s commitment to “speak a word for Nature.” In this year of celebrating the 250th anniversary of Concord’s role in the American Revolution, Robert Macfarlane will visit Concord to spark another revolution in how we see the world around us, calling on all of us to preserve our most precious legacy – the Nature we all call home.
Macfarlane has long relied on Thoreau as a touchstone, drawing on his philosophy of walking and the wild. Both writers combine scientific precision and spiritual insight into a new, interconnected way of being in the world, and then put their newfound wisdom into lyrical, unforgettable prose. Macfarlane’s works, translated into more than thirty languages, have garnered global acclaim and have been adapted for film, music, theater, radio, and dance.
His most recent book, Is a River Alive? parallels Thoreau’s advocacy for a living landscape. Macfarlane braids together his own life with a chalk stream in central England, echoing Thoreau’s exploration of the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and building on Thoreau’s pioneering, long-forgotten environmental advocacy on behalf of the Concord River. Macfarlane explores how people across the world whose lives are interwoven with rivers are fighting to save them from destruction. This is both a political struggle and a spiritual one, and it hinges on whether our modern world can relearn an old truth – that rivers are living beings who demand respect and protection, and that our lives are bound up with theirs.
Is a River Alive? is only the latest in Macfarlane’s acclaimed body of work. His books include the best-selling Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways, The Wild Places, and Mountains of the Mind. Beyond his books, Macfarlane has written operas, plays, and films—such as River and Mountain, both narrated by Willem Dafoe—and collaborated with leading artists, including Olafur Eliasson, Stanley Donwood, and Jackie Morris, with whom he co-created the internationally best-selling illustrated books of nature poetry, The Lost Words and The Lost Spells. His literary achievements have been recognized with numerous honors, including the E. M. Forster Prize for Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Macfarlane joins a distinguished company of Thoreau Prize recipients. Recent honorees include Drew Lanham, Terry Tempest Williams, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Jane Goodall, and Sy Montgomery. The prize was founded in 2010 by Dale Peterson and is administered by the Thoreau Society as part of its commitment to carry forward the legacy of Henry David Thoreau and help transform our understanding of nature.
The Thoreau Society is delighted to offer free admission to this event for all teachers and students. Tickets for others are $20. Please email info@thoreausociety.org to register for free.
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