Richard Mabey

Welcome to episode 129 with Richard Mabey, a writer and broadcaster who has been writing about the natural world for more than 50 years and is considered by many to be the father of modern nature writing.

His first book Food for Free was published in 1972 and has never been out of print.  He has written over 30 books since.

At the age of 61 Richard endured a series of life events that led to a breakdown and a period of depression that lasted for two years.  He fell out of love with the natural world and was unable to write.

After some time in hospital, Richard moved to Norfolk to be cared for by friends and slowly started to write about his new surroundings, and his recovery, in real time.  This work became the memoir Nature Cure which was published in 2005.

In this episode I chat to Richard about his early years and how his interest in the natural world began.

We chat about his life and his experiences with mental ill health and we chat about the series of events that led to his two years of depression and how he came back from it.

We also chat about the association between nature and mental health and how we could be in danger of degrading nature in to a form of green anti-depressant.

Richard’s books are available everywhere and you can learn more about his work via his website www.richardmabey.co.uk

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast and you can connect with me via the website here: www.propermentalpodcast.com

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Thanks for listening!