Follow a single raindrop on its journey from cloud to mountain to river to sea and along the way discover a world of astonishing ecological richness and heartbreaking fragility. Stephen Rutt's The Waterlands is a nature-writing tour de force: a precise, poetic call to action.
 
In conversation with local nature-writer Matt Gaw, Stephen will discuss how his book traces the path of water through our landscape, revealing the creatures, habitats and human communities that depend upon it - and the threats they face. Join us to explore what it means to truly know a place, and why water connects us all, whether we notice it or not.
 
Format: Interview & Q&A
Themes: Non-Fiction, Adults, Climate Focus, Festival of Nature
 
Stephen Rutt Books: The Waterlands, Seafarers, Wintering, The Eternal Season
Stephen Rutt is a naturalist and the award-winning author of five books about nature. Birds have been his life’s guiding passion since he was 14 and he can’t remember a time when he wasn’t an obsessive reader. His writing has also been published in The Guardian, The Scotsman, Granta.com and Caught by the River. Despite falling into a river when he was two years old, he has never learned to swim.
He lives in Dumfries, Scotland with his daughter and spends most of his time birdwatching in the rain.
 
Matt Gaw Books: All Weathers, Under The Stars, The Pull of The River
Matt Gaw is a writer and journalist. He studied Philosophy before completing an MA in Aesthetics, both at the University of Sussex. He is the author of three critically acclaimed works of creative non-fiction — The Pull of the River, Under the Stars and In All Weathers, which was shortlisted for the New Angle Prize for Literature in 2025. His journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times and Countryfile Magazine. Alongside his writing, he teaches part time at a state secondary school and runs creative writing workshops and online courses for adults, including for the National Writing Centre. He is currently working on his debut novel.
 
Suffolk Wildlife Trust
Suffolk Wildlife Trust is the nature charity for Suffolk – the only organisation wholly dedicated to protecting the county's wildlife and restoring wild landscapes.