In her new book, To Have or To Hold, Sophie relishes the interconnectedness between species and celebrates the relationships that underpin natural environments. Low-carbon travelling around the British Isles, she presents nature’s frauds, fortune-tellers, misfits and cheaters - examining the lessons they can teach us.
The natural world is built on parasitism, a cunning blend of bargaining and exploitation in the name of survival. In our relationship with the natural world, are we the parasites? Will we continue to exploit nature and its resources? Or will we vow to love and cherish what remains – shaping a more restorative life alongside nature – till death us do part?
‘A beautiful and fascinating exploration of symbiosis’ George Monbiot
About our speaker:
Sophie Pavelle is an author and science communicator and her debut book 'Forget Me Not: finding the forgotten species of climate-change Britain' (Bloomsbury, 2022), won The People’s Book Prize for Non-Fiction (2023) and was longlisted for the 2023 Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing. She worked for conservation charity Beaver Trust, presenting their award-winning documentary 'Beavers Without Borders' (2020), and sat on the RSPB England Advisory Committee. Sophie scripted and narrated the multi-award-winning documentary 'Recovering The Rainforest', as well as co-hosting the popular climate-action podcast 'For What It's Earth.’ She is an Ambassador for the Wildlife Trusts and is a Trustee for UNESCO Exeter City of Literature. Her writing and research appears in New Scientist, National Geographic Traveller, The Guardian, the Independent, Frontiers academic journal and others.
To Have or To Hold has been longlisted for the 2025 Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing.
