Wild Seas, Wilder Cities book cover © Pens of the Earth
Wild Seas, Wilder Cities: Pens of the Earth raise money for Solent Seagrass Restoration Project
Driven by a shared passion for environmental conservation, Pens of the Earth - a collective of writers, poets, artists, and environmental advocates - has launched Wild Seas, Wilder Cities, a publication supporting the Solent Seagrass Restoration Project. This project, led by the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, aims to protect and restore vital seagrass habitats in the Solent.
Pens of the Earth was founded by a team of Portsmouth creatives. Inspired by the positive changes happening in Portsmouth and Hampshire as a result of initiatives such as Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Wilder campaigns, Liveable Cities campaigns, Plastic Free Portsmouth and School Streets, they started publishing stories and poems online which celebrated local environmentalism. They set themselves the challenge of bringing a message of hope and empowerment through imagined encounters, actions, events and settings.
“Our intention was to increase awareness of our surroundings, our connections, and our ability to effect change.” Pens founder, Helen Salsbury explains. “We’d always hoped to publish a book once we felt we were ready and had something worth offering. Three years into the project we learnt about the vital work of Seagrass Restoration in the Solent and decided it was time. Our purpose was to fundraise for this project as well as to celebrate it and spread awareness of this and other initiatives through our words.”
Pens of the Earth started their publication journey by working collectively to raise the necessary funds to publish Wild Seas, Wilder Cities. This would allow the publication to directly raise money for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Solent Seagrass Restoration Project. Once their target was reached, the group got to work making the book a reality.
The aim of Wild Seas, Wilder Cities was to curate a tangible and impactful collection of literature which allows people toconnect to the environment in a unique way. Whilst we are often overwhelmed by news about the environment in the media, Wild Seas, Wilder Cities offers an insight into how nature impacts us in our day to day lives, why it is so crucial to protect our wildlife and how easy it is to take small steps to do so.
The book launch took place on 21st October 2024 at Portsmouth Guildhall, with all proceeds also being donated to the Solent Seagrass Restoration Project. The Pens of the Earth launch blog reflects on the successful launch, noting the challenges of promoting environmental events. Despite these challenges, the launch was a resounding success, drawing a diverse audience of writers, poets, environmental activists, and artists.
Marine display table © Emma Struckman
The event featured talks, including one by Ellie Parker, the Trust’s Marine Officer, along with readings of poetry and short stories from the book.
This gathering celebrated the hard work behind the publication and raised an incredible £1,620.
The book is now available at various retailers, and we are deeply grateful to Helen Salsbury and her dedicated team for their contributions to seagrass protection in the Solent.
Ellie Parker, Marine Officer, shared her thoughts on the successful launch event: "We had a brilliant time at the launch event of "Wild Seas, Wilder Cities" and are so grateful to the local writers, poets and artists who donated their time and work freely to this incredible book, which is bursting with environmental positivity and hope.
The stories, poems and articles in the book beautifully remind us that we all can take action to work towards a vision of a wilder future for people and wildlife. We are so thankful and deeply touched that the proceeds from the book will be used to support our Solent Seagrass Restoration work and want to say a huge congratulations to Helen and the Pens of the Earth team for bringing this together!"
Helen Salsbury, Founder of Pens of the Earth said: “The launch was an incredible celebration of all those people who are involved in using their diverse skills to help protect the world we live in. We are hugely grateful to the Portsmouth Guildhall for their generous and unstinting support which made it possible to raise such a wonderful amount.”
To find out more, head to https://pensoftheearth.co.uk/the-book/. The generous donations from this project will significantly aid our mission to create a wilder Hampshire and Isle of Wight by 2030.
A huge thank you to everyone who supported and worked on the publication of Wild Seas, Wilder Cities.
If you’re interested in fundraising for the Trust, please reach out to our Fundraising team at fundraising@hiwwt.org.uk.