The Guardian ·
Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’ guide to 49 threatened British birds wins Wainwright book of the year
The Book of Birds is a twist on classic field guides from the creators of bestseller The Lost Words
The Book of Birds by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, an illustrated guide to Britain’s threatened bird species, has been named as the Wainwright prize book of the year.
Meanwhile, the prize’s children’s book of the year award went to Otherlands: An Illustrated Journey Through Earth’s Lost Worlds by Thomas Halliday, illustrated by Gavin Scott.
The Book of Birds features 49 species of declining or endangered birds, with text by Macfarlane alongside artwork by Morris. It’s a “twist on the classic field guides that inspired both authors, evoking the spirit and poetry of birds from avocet to yellowhammer”, wrote Patrick Barkham in a Guardian interview with the author-illustrator pair in May.
