Weinrebe Lecture: Jenny Uglow, ‘A Year with Gilbert White’

Weinrebe Lecture:

Jenny Uglow, ‘A Year with Gilbert White’

This annual lecture is a collaboration between OCLW and the University of Birmingham’s ‘Arts of Place’ research network.  

In this lecture, Jenny Uglow OBE will discuss her new book, A Year With Gilbert White: The Story of a Nature Writer (to be published by Faber this September). Jenny is the author of highly acclaimed biographies and histories, including the classic of Midlands history, The Lunar Men: The Friends Who Made the Future. The talk forms part of our ‘Pioneers of Local Thinking’ series.

A Year With Gilbert White

In 1781, the year this talk springs from, Gilbert White was a country curate in the Hampshire village he had known all his life. He kept journals for many years and was now halfway through completing his Natural History of Selbourne - in print since 1789 , paving the way for later naturalists. No one had written like this before, with such close observation, humour, and sympathy.

Often called ‘the father of ecology’, White noted the results of ‘watching narrowly’ in his Naturalist’s Journal. Through this we follow the seasons, from frost to drought, noting everything from the migration of birds to the sex lives of snails, and the vagaries of village life—a determined local record, imbued with a profound sense of place.  

Credit: Cassie Marendziuk-Uglow

Speaker Details:

A former editorial director of Chatto & Windus, and previous Chair of the Council of the Royal Society of Literature, Jenny Uglow is a biographer and historian. Her books on scientists, writers and artists include The Lunar Men: The Friends Who Made the Future, In These Times: Living in Britain through Napoleon’s Wars  and Nature’s Engraver: A Life of Thomas Bewick, as well as Edward Lear: A Life of Art and Nonsense - her book on Gilbert White will be published in September 2025.

About the ‘Arts of Place’ Research Network:

Based in the Department of English at the University of Birmingham, Arts of Place is led by Alexandra Harris and Jessica Fay. The Network is interested in how places are imagined and represented; why ‘sense of place’ matters to individuals and communities; how responsiveness to a particular patch of ground, or a view, or a building, or the route of a journey can open up powerful ideas that connect people across time and across the world. Further details about the ‘Arts of Place’ research network can be found here.

Further Details and Contacts:

After the event, join us for a complimentary wine reception.

This is an in-person event that is free and open to all. Registration is not required.

Information for visitors: The University of Birmingham Arts Building is in the red zone on this Campus map. Trains run regularly from Birmingham New Street to ‘University’ rail station, bringing you right onto campus. For drivers, we recommend the multi-storey North-East Car Park, off Pritchatt’s Road. Visitors might like to leave time to explore the university buildings, for example, the public sculpture on this trail.

Queries regarding this event should be addressed to Niamh Lawlor or Alexandra Harris.