With Hannah Stowe on World Ocean Day
Such a beautiful June evening celebrating the publication of Move Like Water by Hannah Stowe…
The harbourside setting was perfect for Hannah’s debut, the supper colourful and delicious, the readings and conversation inspiring, and Watchet even treated us to one of its renowned sunsets. Our venue and hosts were the vibrant team at East Quay - a very serendipitous location as several aspects within Hannah's book link directly to Watchet. Her wonderful illustrations are painted on traditional handmade paper produced by Two Rivers whose workshop is in the studio and gallery complex. While Romantic Poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, was inspired when walking the West Somerset coast and his infamous 'Ancient Mariner' set sale from here. Hannah met her own 'Ancient Mariner' while crewing for The Balaena, and writes tenderly of this less than likely friendship, cleverly focusing on the magnificent wandering albatross that bewitch her dreams.
Hannah's writing and descriptions of being at sea are immersive, she captures a luminescent beauty, the sounds of the ocean - land smells that welcome you home. It is a joy to read how her home on the Pembrokeshire coast and her observations from tiny, studying rock pools, watching for the turning tide, the rhythmic flash of the lighthouse beam, seeped into her bones and drew her adventures further from shore.
Thank you to Hannah, for joining us, we wish you well on your next voyage and that Move Like Water inspires many to take more care of our precious ocean and its creatures.
While Hannah was staying in Exmoor Christopher took the opportunity to take her portrait with his scratch built large format camera.
'Exquisite in its intelligence and boundless in the fetch of its wave.' Jay Griffiths
Signed copies of Move Like Water
are available to purchase from Seven Fables, in store or via our website here
Price £16.99
Delivery within the UK £4.00
Overseas £25
'The shelves are awash with sea books. But Stowe is different. She doesn't just watch and describe the sea; she's part of it. It surges inside her and crashes out onto the page. The book's drenched with salt water. It fizzes, clicks, booms and screams. Tremendous.'
Charles Foster
To discover how you can contribute to the health of our sea do visit World Ocean Day.Org
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