Adam Weymouth

Adam Weymouth – Journalist and Speaker on the Natural World

Adam Weymouth is a writer and journalist and speaker. His work has been published widely, including in Granta, The Atlantic, The Observer and the BBC. His features have covered subjects as diverse as illegal cedar logging in Malawi; the politics of oil and climate change in Alaska; migration in Greece; flooding in Wales and the depopulation on the Outer Hebrides – always focusing on the interplay of people, animals and the natural world. He has been named by the National Writing Centre as one of ten writers shaping the UK’s future.

His first book, Kings of the Yukon (Penguin), tells the story of his five month, 2000 mile canoe trip across Canada and Alaska, investigating the crash in salmon numbers, and exploring how their disappearance is impacting on the many communities, and the ecosystems, which depend on it. The book won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, the LonelyPlanet/ Stanfords Adventure Travel Book of the Year, and the Prix Paul-Emile Victor, as well as being shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize.

He spent his twenties heavily involved in climate change activism, including working on the award-winning documentary The Age of Stupid. In 2010 he walked from England to Istanbul, a journey that lasted the best part of a year. It was this experience, taking his time to slowly engage with people and place, that informed much of his later work.

His new book, Lone Wolf, will be published by Penguin in May 2025, as well as being published in the US, Canada and throughout Europe. In it he undertakes a thousand mile walk through the Alps, following in the footsteps of a wolf who had made the same journey a decade before, in order to understand the wolf’s recolonisation of Europe, and how its return is changing the lives of those living alongside it once again. The wolf’s journey opens a window onto the other rapid changes facing these wild corners of Europe where the call to rewild meets the urge to preserve culture; where nationalism and globalisation pull apart; where climate change is radically changing lives; and migrants, too, are on the move.

He lectures, gives talks and runs regular writing courses. After many years on the move, and living on a Dutch barge on the canals of London, he currently lives on the southeast coast of England.

SPEAKING TOPICS

 Taking time: A Life in Journeys – What I learnt from walking to Istanbul, paddling the Yukon and following the footsteps of a wolf across the Alps.

– How Stories Create Lasting Change – drawing on my experiences of activism, travelling, reporting and writing to explore how stories are the most powerful way to inspire people to see the world differently.

– What the disappearance of the salmon and the return of the wolf teach us about sustainability and our future.