AustLit

Join award-winning author and art historian Janine Burke in this enchanting and illuminating meander along forest trails within art, myth, history and present day.

The narratives in My Forests are a pleasure to read; like strolling down a meandering track through the trees, you never quite know what you'll discover around that next bend. Travel the ancient Incense Road with the Biblical Magi. Enjoy the dancing Olive groves of Tuscany and read of 'sleeping' Silver Birches. Witness the spectacular tree houses of the Korowai of West Papua. Visit tree sitter Miranda Gibson, whose 449-day protest against clearfelling in Tasmania's Tyenna Valley led to a World Heritage listing. In this enlightening and entertaining book, Janine Burke invites you to accompany her through forests, art and writing, cities and parks, deserts and gardens, rainforests and wetlands, exploring the connections between trees and civilisations, past and present. My Forests: Travels with Trees presents the role of trees in contemporary life in a world where most people don't live in the wild, and their acquaintance with nature comes from many sources.

'As an amateur naturalist and nature lover, Janine Burke, art historian and author, has spent many years observing birds. Nest: The Art of Birds is the story of her passion, a personal, wide-ranging and intimate book - part natural history, part folklore, part exploration of art and aesthetics, part memoir - that will appeal to all those who love nature, literature and art.

'What are nests if not art created by nature? If a nest is not art, how can we account for those exquisite, painstakingly constructed creations that are decorated, or woven through with feathers, or studded with objects of a particular colour or sheen? Nest reveals both the art and mystery found in nature and celebrates them with lyricism, insight and great affection.' (From the publisher's website.)