A Kent author who walked 1,000 miles in the footsteps of a lone wolf has been shortlisted for one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Ramsgate resident Adam Weymouth trekked through the Alps to northern Italy following the route taken by a wolf whose migration a decade earlier led to a remarkable resurgence in the animal\u2019s numbers.<\/p>\n
As many as 17 wolf packs are now thought to roam northern Italy since Slavc made his now famous journey in 2011. Picture: Adam Weymouth
Adam Weymouth in Slavc’s den during his 1,000-mile trek. Picture: Adam Weymouth<\/p>\n
Adam\u2019s book, Lone Wolf, traces the journey and examines the environmental and political changes facing the wild corners of Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s the true story of a wolf that was born in the south of Slovenia, a wolf that ended up being called Slavc,\u201d said Adam, 41.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2011, at 18 months old, Slavc set out on this epic thousand-mile walk.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe crossed Slovenia, Austria, and ended up becoming one of the first wolves back in the northeast Italian Alps in about 100 years.<\/p>\n
Adam Weymouth encountered stunning vistas on his journey. Picture: Adam Weymouth
Adam Weymouth’s new book, Lone Wolf, has been shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. Picture: Adam Weymouth<\/p>\n
\u201cThere he bumped into a female wolf who was on a walkabout of her own.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only two wolves for thousands of square miles found each other, and when they bred, they became the first wolf pack back in these mountains for a couple of centuries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam says ten years on, 17 wolf packs are now thought to roam the area.<\/p>\n
His book – which has been shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction – explores how wolves are returning to the Alps and how people are navigating those changes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Lone Wolf explores how wolves are returning to the Alps and how people are navigating those changes. Picture: Adam Weymouth
Adam Weymouth walked 1,000 miles researching his new book, Lone Wolf. Picture: Adam Weymouth<\/p>\n
Asked about the stand-out moment of the five-month expedition – which he completed over several legs – the dad-of-two added: \u201cBeing a wolf, he mostly stuck to the mountains, so the paths were 3,000 metres high, all through the really high Austrian Alps and then down through the Dolomites, which were just staggeringly beautiful.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a good path to follow just because wolves are kind of avoiding people – generally, he went through some of the most beautiful landscape in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI went back there several times over the course of a year just to see, kind of in different seasons and following the stories of a couple of farmers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’re living alongside the wolves now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam Weymouth trekked through from Slovenia through the Alps to northern Italy following the route taken by a wolf named Slavc. Picture: Adam Weymouth
Ramsgate author Adam Weymouth’s book \u2018Lone Wolf\u2019 has been shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. Picture: Chris Boulton<\/p>\n
The writer says he uses Margate\u2019s Faith and Strangers restaurant, venue and workspace as a place to get writing done and enjoys cycling along the Thanet coast to help his thinking process.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love living in Thanet,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s really nice to be able to kind of get out on the beach and just, yeah, clear the mind and have a walk before you go back to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find there’s so much kind of on the doorstep as well that is so fascinating to write about in Kent – there\u2019s so many stories here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Lone Wolf\u2019 traces the journey and examines the environmental and political changes facing the wild corners of Europe<\/p>\n
The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language.<\/p>\n
The hardback Lone Wolf from Penguin Books is currently available to buy, with the paperback expected in June next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Kent author who walked 1,000 miles in the footsteps of a lone wolf has been shortlisted for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[192,191,649,90,194,2555,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-235188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-human-interest","9":"tag-kent","10":"tag-quirky","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-syndicate","13":"tag-thanet","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom","17":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}