Michael J. Warren in conversation with Jeremy Mynott

We're so pleased to welcome debut author Michael J. Warren to our bookshop for a discussion on his highly anticipated book, 'The Cuckoo's Lea.' Michael will be joined by fellow author, Jeremy Mynott, author of 'The Story of Nature: A Human History.'

About The Cuckoo's Lea

Birds have long inspired our emotional and imaginative connections to physical environments, but where did it all begin?Hidden in the names of English towns and villages, in copses, fields, lanes and hills, are the ghostly traces of birds conjuring powerful identities for people in ancient landscapes. What are their stories and secrets? How did people encounter birds over a thousand years ago? In The Cuckoo’s Lea, Michael J. Warren sets out on the trail of these ghosts.

Captivated and guided by the secrets of place names, he finds their stories entangled with his own explorations of places through birds all across England. The past is hauntingly and movingly present on timeless marshes where curlews cry, where goshawks are breeding again for the first time in centuries, through silent cuckoo-woods lost under concrete sprawl, in the winter roosts of corvids and an owl village that vanished centuries ago. Weaving together early literature, history and ornithology, this book takes readers on a journey far into the past to contemplate the nature of place and to discover a fascinating heritage that matters deeply to us now when so many places and their birds are threatened or already gone.

About Michael J. Warren

Michael J. Warren is an author, medievalist and naturalist. He teaches English in Chelmsford, was honorary research fellow at Birkbeck College, chair of the steering group for New Networks for Nature, and is currently a trustee for Curlew Action. Michael curates The Birds and Place Project, a website devoted to collecting and recording the birds of English place names.

About Jeremy Mynott

Jeremy worked for most of his professional career at Cambridge University Press, with successive roles as editor, editorial director, managing director, and chief executive. Since retirement he has published several books in the fields of natural history and classics, including Birdscapes: birds in our imagination and experience (Princeton, 2009), Thucydides: edition and translation (CUP, 2013) and most recently Birds in the Ancient World: Winged Words (OUP, 2018).

He is the co-founder and a trustee of New Networks for Nature, an initiative bringing together a wide range of writers, scientists, poets, musicians, and naturalists to explore the diversity of creative responses to the natural world and inspire efforts to promote its importance in our national life.

Jeremy has recently published his book The Story of Nature: A Human History (Yale University Press, 2024).

The talk will be followed by a book signing.

Date: Thursday 17th July

Time: 7pm

Tickets: £5 or £22.50 with a copy of 'The Cuckoo's Lea'

Venue: Maldon Books

Nearest car park: White Horse Lane car park

Tickets include a glass of fizz or non-alcoholic beverage. If you would like a copy of either authors' books but aren't able to attend the event, get in touch with us at maldonbooksltd@gmail.com