I want to end our #CoReadingVirus journey together by gathering & celebrating some of the creative work that& #39;s arisen in response to Nan& #39;s work/the Cairngorms. Please do add to this thread with anything you think relevant, including your own writing, art, music! Here goes...
...there& #39;s @Jenny_Sturgeon& #39;s forthcoming album The Living Mountain, inspired by Nan& #39;s work, out in autumn this year: Jenny& #39;s put two *beautiful* tracks (recorded in the Cairngorms) up for the group to listen to here (one arising from the & #39;Man& #39; chapter)... https://soundcloud.com/hudsonrecords/sets/jenny-sturgeon-the-living-mountain-reading-group-preview/s-GdGJu888nNH">https://soundcloud.com/hudsonrec...
...then there& #39;s @NapierHamish& #39;s beautiful album The Woods, with Somhairle MacDonald. Just released. I& #39;ve been listening to a lot in these hard weeks, and it& #39;s transported me to the Caledonian pine forest & the Cairngorms. You can listen too, here: https://hamishnapier.bandcamp.com/album/the-woods ">https://hamishnapier.bandcamp.com/album/the...
...and musically I think also of Wounded Knee/Drew Wright& #39;s 2013 album In The Shadow of the Mountain, inspired by a journey "into the heart of the Cairngorms, and by Nan Shepherd& #39;s book". Up on @Bandcamp here. I love it.
https://woundedknee.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-shadow-of-the-good-shepherd-2">https://woundedknee.bandcamp.com/album/in-...
https://woundedknee.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-shadow-of-the-good-shepherd-2">https://woundedknee.bandcamp.com/album/in-...
...& for those who& #39;d like to find out more about Nan& #39;s life and work, there& #39;s @thecpeacock& #39;s wonderful biography of her, Into The Mountain. @thecpeacock also edited Wild Geese, which gathers Nan& #39;s previously uncollected writings. Both are published by @Galileobooks, who also...
...re-published Nan Shepherd& #39;s first & only volume of poetry, In The Cairngorms (1934), which I edited & introduced. There& #39;s some extraordinary work in there, as well as some less sure poems; those who know The Living Mountain will see her testing out images here...
...it also contains & #39;Fires& #39;, which I take to be the stand-out poem of the volume, and which to me resonates powerfully with our current moment: sheltering place from the storm, the comfort of kin, a world in turbulence...I& #39;ve included it below here.
...I last week mentioned @SimoneRKenyon& #39;s performance project, Into The Mountain, and the film arising, "How The Earth Must See Itself", co-created with Lucy Cash. You can watch that film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=Tty8pAPD8HY&feature=emb_logo">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
...and of course there are Nan& #39;s three remarkable novels, for which she was best known in her lifetime, and that together with The Living Mountain form The Grampian Quartet.
The Quarry Wood
The Weatherhouse
A Pass in The Grampians
I love all three & especially The Quarry Wood.
The Quarry Wood
The Weatherhouse
A Pass in The Grampians
I love all three & especially The Quarry Wood.
...then there& #39;s the film-maker Ben Rivers& #39; quiet minor modern classic, Two Years At Sea (2011) about a man living amid the pines of the Cairngorms, which you can now watch in full here. Settle into its rhythms, its gentle & enigmatic intricacies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1McKgFhaKk">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
...well, I could go on, as you can probably tell, but I& #39;ll hand over to you for your recommendations, suggestions, additions, whether it& #39;s your work or that of others, whether directly or obliquely related to the Cairngorms or Nan. I& #39;ll almost-end by thanking Erlend Clouston...
...Nan& #39;s friend & literary executor, who& #39;s been a wonderful, generous support to me over the years in my passion for Nan& #39;s work; & who gave me this: Nan& #39;s linen-paper touring map of the Cairngorms region, with her hand-writing marking it. One of my most treasured things...
...and of course I want *truly* to end by thanking you all for your companionship along the path into #TheLivingMountain. I& #39;ve loved watching friendships, exchanges & conversations spring up; I& #39;ve learned so much. And it& #39;s surely helped me through these hard past few weeks. So...