Friends, Breconians, Book-lovers...
This Summer we are committed to bringing you Author events that enlighten, enthuse and perhaps most importantly, soothe. The world is a tricky, testing and tenuous place right now (to put it lightly) and we hope to provide you with a still-point, a haven, a spot to sit, listen, breathe and think (or not think!). And all our Author events are free - there shouldn't be any barriers to healing should there?
So...
On Thursday June 26th at 6.30pm we are thrilled to be hosting Jay Griffiths for the next in our series of Summer Author events to discuss her new book How Animals Heal Us (Penguin).
Originally from Manchester but a long-time resident of Mid Wales, Jay is an award-winning Author of Fiction, non-Fiction, Memoir and Journalism. A fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Jay is a recipient of the Hay Festival International fellowship, a member of Academi and is a Tutor and Reader across many disciplines.
Pet-owners and animal-lovers instinctively know that animals heal. This new book offers the evidence, drawing widely on scientific discoveries, history, and Indigenous knowledge...
We meet a pot-bellied pig who saved her owner's life, lions who guarded a girl from kidnappers, dolphins and whales rescuing people in danger, and dogs who can smell cancer and phone the Emergency Services.
Animal sounds, from insects to birdsong and the purring of cats, are directly medicinal and their presence can heal the pain of loneliness. Animals, including donkeys, can be natural therapists for the hurt psyche, alleviating trauma, fear and depression. In this original, revelatory and exuberant book, Jay Griffiths explores how animals can have a role in every level of healing, from the individual to the collective, guiding us in how we might create societies that are healthier, fairer and kinder.
Wolves may be teachers of ethics; monkeys and dogs can object to unfairness and bees take collective decisions. Animals are irresistible medicine for a healthy culture, animating the arts with spectacular vitality and verve, as poetry knows.
Open-hearted, playful and wise, How Animals Heal Us puts animals at the heart of a restorative vision of health.
We do hope you will join us
Leigh & Nicky Xx
Praise for How Animals Heal Us
'No book has changed my thinking about Nature more quickly and more fundamentally than this moving, essential work. Nobody writes about Nature - the world and us in it - with more beauty and grace than Jay Griffiths. She senses connections so deep and so resonant that they ring on and on in my mind.'
- Brian Eno
‘A wise, deep, and tender account of animal healing for humans, written in lyrical language that sings with compassion. This is one of my favourite books of all time’
-Pascale Petit
'A pure praise poem to the more than human world, a poem filled with love, respect and joy. It thrums with wit, wisdom, understanding and research. But mostly the joy of being connected to life, from the smallest insect to the great whales.'
-Jackie Morris
How Animals Heal Us is a book of boundless passion and compassion. As she explores the worlds of animals, Jay Griffiths make the case for a different way of living: a joyous, vital inclusivity. This is how a book should be - genuinely mind-expanding.'
- Tom Bullough, author of Sarn Helen