Robert Macfarlane: Is a River Alive?

This week, poet and nature writer Robert Macfarlane joins Prospect’s Ellen Halliday and Imaan Irfan to explore the ideas in his new book Is a River Alive? They each share what ‘their rivers are’ and the waterbodies they feel most connected to.

Robert discusses his travels to Ecuador, India and the Canadian wilderness: places that rivers are being defended from threat, and where our relationship with the natural world is being reimagined. He talks about writing a song with a cloud forest (and the legal battle to have it recognised as a co-writer) and the power of storytelling. He discusses challenges, policy and progress in the UK: is there hope for our rivers? And how do we save them?

Plus, stay until the end to listen to “The Song of the Cedars” by Robert Macfarlane, Cosmo Sheldrake, Giuliana Furci and César Rodríguez-Garavito, in collaboration with the Los Cedros Cloud Forest.

Robert’s book ‘Is a River Alive’ (2025) is published by Penguin

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