Robert Macfarlane has walked in places I never will and his books about his journeys – most of which take place on foot – have been some of my favourites over the past decade or so; he’s a wonderful writer. Macfarlane described his third book The Old Ways (2012) as being about, “the relationship between paths, walking and imagination”. You can hear him talk about The Old Ways in this London Review Bookshop podcast.

In the summer of 2025 I was fortunate to be in Toronto when Robert Macfarlane was in town to talk about his most recent book Is A River Alive. I attended a live interview and reading, and lined up to meet him and get a signed copy. Hearing him read the final sentence of the book was thrilling. You can follow him on Instagram.