Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing, Conservation Writing and Illustrative Books - Shortlist 2025

The Wainwright Prizes are the UK’s foremost awards celebrating nature, conservation, and environmental writing. Named in honour of Alfred Wainwright, writer, walker, and champion of the outdoors, the prizes were established in 2013 to spotlight the growing genre of nature writing and inspire readers to connect more deeply with the natural world. https://wainwrightprize.com/ (books will be added to list as books arrive)

Updated August 6, 2025
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INTERTIDAL : the hidden world between land and sea
AVES, YUVAN.
Paper Book
A deep observation of coast and wetland, climate and self, by a leading Indian ecological activist.
Ingrained: The making of a craftsman
Robinson, Callum.
Paper Book
Ingrained is a love letter to trees, timber and craftsmanship - and to finding your own voice. The eldest son of a Master Woodworker, Callum Robinson spent his childhood surrounded by wood and trees, absorbing craft lessons in his father's workshop, playing amongst the sycamore, oak and...
Our oaken bones : reviving a family, a farm and Britain's ancient rainforests
Hanbury-Tenison, Merlin
Paper Book
SHORTLISED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2025 An enormously moving and inspiring story about war, trauma, nature and rebirth, written with infectious passion and unsparing honesty. I loved it. - DOMINIC SANDBROOK Scholarly, wise, funny, charming, terrifying and...
Raising Hare: The heart-warming true story of an unlikely friendship
Dalton, Chloe.
Paper Book
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERSHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTIONWATERSTONES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTHSHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2025SHORTLISTED FOR THE HATCHARDS AND BIOGRAPHERS' CLUB FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZEA BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR...
The accidental garden : gardens, wilderness and the space in between
Mabey, Richard
Paper Book
The godfather of British nature writing reflects on the conflict between cultivation and autonomous nature
Is A River Alive?
Macfarlane, Robert.
Paper Book
From celebrated writer Robert Macfarlane comes this brilliant, perspective-shifting new book - which answers a resounding yes to the question of its title. At its heart is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings -...
A training school for elephants
Roberts, Sophy
Paper Book
INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR WRITING ON CONSERVATION From the acclaimed author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia, comes a new journey, following four 19th century elephants marched from the East African coast...
What the wild sea can be : the future of the world's ocean
Scales, Helen
Paper Book
The acclaimed marine biologist and author of The Brilliant Abyss examines the existential threats the world's ocean will face in the coming decades and offers cautious optimism for much of the abundant life within in No matter where we live, "we are all ocean people," Helen...

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