Cal Flyn talks to Charles Foster | The Savage Landscape
RISE, Frome, BA11 3BY
Sunday 20th September 2026
In The Savage Landscape Cal Flyn goes in search of wildness “because I wanted to live my life more intensely... tap into a rawer, more authentic, more capable, part of myself.”
She meets gorillas in Uganda, blue sheep in Nepal, and writes luminously of the terror and fascination of the new world created in front of her eyes by a volcanic eruption in Iceland. But she travels into thought and ideas as well as landscape, exploring the historical and political context of what she sees. Everywhere, she encounters the contradictions of wildness on a crowded planet – the clutter of research bases in the pure whiteness of Antarctica, a ‘Welcome’ sign in an officially designated ‘wilderness’, the shocking but commonplace eviction of people from their ancestral lands in the name of nature conservation. Nonetheless, again and again there is astonishment. “Within each landscape one might hit a bedrock of pure feeling... This is freedom. This is awe. This is horrified delight.”
Savage Landscapes is Cal Flyn's triumphant follow-up to her wildly bestselling book Islands of Abandonment, which marked her out as one of the brightest talents in writing about place and people. She will be in conversation with Charles Foster, who you can catch
This event is kindly sponsored by Sherlock & Pages
www.sherlockandpages.com
The event takes place in our venue for the weekend, RISE. So come on along early, enjoy coffee (or brunch) onsite at the wonderful Rye Bakery and launch into the second full day of our festival.
Please note: there is no parking at the venue itself, but there is plenty of long-stay public parking within close walking distance to the venue at Cattle Market Car Park or Merchants Barton Car Park. We are pleased to say the venue is fully accessible for wheelchair users.
She meets gorillas in Uganda, blue sheep in Nepal, and writes luminously of the terror and fascination of the new world created in front of her eyes by a volcanic eruption in Iceland. But she travels into thought and ideas as well as landscape, exploring the historical and political context of what she sees. Everywhere, she encounters the contradictions of wildness on a crowded planet – the clutter of research bases in the pure whiteness of Antarctica, a ‘Welcome’ sign in an officially designated ‘wilderness’, the shocking but commonplace eviction of people from their ancestral lands in the name of nature conservation. Nonetheless, again and again there is astonishment. “Within each landscape one might hit a bedrock of pure feeling... This is freedom. This is awe. This is horrified delight.”
Savage Landscapes is Cal Flyn's triumphant follow-up to her wildly bestselling book Islands of Abandonment, which marked her out as one of the brightest talents in writing about place and people. She will be in conversation with Charles Foster, who you can catch
This event is kindly sponsored by Sherlock & Pages
www.sherlockandpages.com
The event takes place in our venue for the weekend, RISE. So come on along early, enjoy coffee (or brunch) onsite at the wonderful Rye Bakery and launch into the second full day of our festival.
Please note: there is no parking at the venue itself, but there is plenty of long-stay public parking within close walking distance to the venue at Cattle Market Car Park or Merchants Barton Car Park. We are pleased to say the venue is fully accessible for wheelchair users.
