The world changed in 2020. Gradually, at first, then quickly and irreversibly, the patterns by which we lived altered completely. Across four seasons and a luminous series of poems and illustrations, Rob Cowen and Nick Hayes paint a picture of a year caught in the grip of history yet filled with revelatory perspectives close at hand. “The Heeding” leads us on a journey that takes its markers and signs from nature and a world filled with fear and pain but beauty and wonder too. Collecting birds, animals, trees and people together, it is a profound meditations to a time no one will forget. At its heart, this is a book that helps us look again, to heed: to be attentive to this world we share, to grieve what’s lost and to hope for a better and brighter tomorrow.

“There’s a realm below the topsoil / Where matted matter matters most.”

Rob Cowen “The Heeding”. Illustrated by Nick Hayes. Published by Elliott&Thompson in 2021. Donated to the Sea Library by the publisher ❤️

Photos by Anna Iltnere / Sea Library