Paul Kingsnorth (born 1972) is an English writer who lives in the west of Ireland. He is a former deputy-editor of ''
The Ecologist'' and a co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project.
Kingsnorth's nonfiction writing tends to address macro themes like environmentalism, globalisation, and the challenges posed to humanity by civilisation-level trends. His fiction, notably the Buckmaster Trilogy, tends to be mythological and multi-layered.
Biography
Kingsnorth spent his childhood in southern England with two younger brothers (one went on to work with
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split with ...
, the other for
Citibank
Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...
). His father was a passionate
Thatcherite, a businessman, and a mechanical engineer. Kingsnorth describes his father's background as "working-class," and he says that his father pushed Kingsnorth to go to university. He was the first in his family to do so.
Kingsnorth was educated at the
Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, and
St Anne's College, Oxford
St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...
, where he studied modern history. During this period he became involved in the
Dongas road protest group at sites including
Twyford Down,
Solsbury Hill
Little Solsbury Hill (more commonly known as Solsbury Hill) is a small flat-topped hill and the site of an Iron Age hill fort, above the village of Batheaston in Somerset, England. The hill rises to above the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon ...
, and the
M11 link road protest in east London. After chaining himself to a bridge alongside fifty others, Kingsnorth was arrested, an event that solidified the importance of protest for him.
[Paul Kingsnorth's official website](_blank)
/ref>
At Oxford, Kingsnorth edited the University's longest-running student newspaper, '' Cherwell''. With this background, he started working on the comment desk of ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' in 1994. But he found this work frivolous and uninspiring, so after less than a year Kingsnorth left to join the environmental campaign group EarthAction. He has subsequently worked as commissioning editor for openDemocracy, as a publications editor for Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
and, between 1999 and 2001, as deputy editor of '' The Ecologist''. He was named one of Britain's "top ten troublemakers" by the ''New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' magazine in 2001. In 2020, he was called "England’s greatest living writer" by Aris Roussinos
Aristeides John Roussinos is a British journalist and author. He was formerly a war reporter working for Vice News.
Early life and education
Roussinos was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Durham University (BA Anthropology, 200 ...
.[
]
In 2004, he was one of the founders of the Free West Papua Campaign
Benny Wenda is a West Papuan independence leader and Chairman of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). He is an international lobbyist for the independence of West Papua from Indonesia. He lives in exile in the United Kingdom. ...
, which campaigns for the secession of the provinces of Papua and West Papua from Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, where Kingsnorth was made an honorary member
An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. In syst ...
of the Lani tribe in 2001.
In January 2021 he was baptised in the Romanian Orthodox Church at the Romanian Monastery in Shannonbridge
Shannonbridge () is a village located on the River Shannon, at the junction of the R444 and R357 regional roads in County Offaly, Ireland. It lies within the townland of Raghra (), at the borders of counties Offaly, Galway and Roscommon, with ...
, Ireland. He wrote about his spiritual journey and conversion to Christianity in a June 2021 essay in First Things
''First Things'' (''FT'') is an ecumenical and conservative religious journal aimed at "advanc nga religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society". The magazine, which focuses on theology, liturgy, church history, religio ...
.
The Dark Mountain Project
Kingsnorth announced retirement from journalism in late 2007 in a blog post.[ In 2009, with writer and social activist Dougald Hine, Kingsnorth founded the Dark Mountain Project, "a network of writers, artists, and thinkers who have stopped believing the stories our civilisation tells itself". Since 2009 it has run a series of summer festivals and smaller events, produced bi-annual anthologies of "uncivilised" writing and art, and built up an international collection of writers and artists who aim to "offer up a challenge to the foundations of our civilisation". One Uncivilization festival described by the New York Times in 2014 included sessions on contemporary nature writing, a panel describing criticisms of psychiatric care, a reading by Kingsnorth from his book '' The Wake'', and a midnight ritual. The ritual involved the burning of a wicker effigy of a tree.] He was one of the Project's directors until stepping down in 2017.
Writing
After travelling through Mexico, West Papua, Genoa in Italy, and Brazil, Kingsnorth wrote his first book in 2003, ''One No, Many Yeses''. The book explored how globalisation played a role in destroying historic cultures around the world. The book was not successful on initial printing, in part because it came in the first week of the Iraq war. It was published in 6 languages in 13 countries.
Kingsnorth's second book, '' Real England'', was published by Portobello Books in 2008. In this book, he reflected on how those same forces of globalisation affected England, his own country, in the homogenization of culture. This was Kingsnorth's first successful book, resulting in reviews by all major newspapers and citation in speeches by both David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
and the archbishop of Canterbury. Writing the book involved travelling for months to interview Englishmen working in traditional institutions, including pubs, shops, and farms. The research process left Kingsnorth ambivalent after facing the forces of development, privatization, and conglomeration.
He has contributed to ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'', ''Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
'', ', ''New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'', ''London Review of Books
The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews.
History
The ''London Review of ...
'', '' Granta'', '' The Ecologist'', '' New Internationalist'', '' The Big Issue'', Adbusters, BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
, BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...
, BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 , ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
, and Resonance FM.
His first collection of poetry, ''Kidland and other poems'', was published by Salmon in 2011. In 2012, he won the Wenlock Prize for "Vodadahue Mountain". His second collection, ''Songs From The Blue River'', was published by Salmon in 2018.
His first novel, '' The Wake'', published via crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
by Unbound in April 2014, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...
and the Folio Prize
The Rathbones Folio Prize, previously known as the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2015. Starting in 2017 the sponsor is ...
, shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize, and won the Gordon Burn Prize
Gordon Burn (16 January 1948 – 17 July 2009) was an English writer born in Newcastle upon Tyne and the author of four novels and several works of non-fiction.
Background
Burn's novels deal with issues of modern fame and faded celebrity as l ...
. Film rights to the novel were sold to a consortium led by the actor Mark Rylance
Sir David Mark Rylance Waters (born 18 January 1960) is a British actor, playwright and theatre director. He is known for his roles on stage and screen having received numerous awards including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Laurenc ...
and the former president of HBO Films
HBO Films (formerly called HBO Premiere Films and HBO Pictures) is an American production and distribution company, a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. The division produces fiction and non-fi ...
Colin Callender.
Kingsnorth's second novel, ''Beast'', was published in 2016 by Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...
and was shortlisted for the Encore Award
The £10,000 Encore Award for the best second novel was first awarded in 1990. It is sponsored by Lucy Astor. The award fills a niche in the catalogue of literary prizes by celebrating the achievement of outstanding second novels, often neglecte ...
for the Best Second Novel in 2017. His third novel, Alexandria, was published by Faber in 2021, completing a loose thematic trilogy, beginning with ''The Wake'', which was eventually christened the Buckmaster Trilogy. Announcing the deal, Faber's editorial director, Lee Brackstone, said: "We are welcoming to Faber a writer who belongs in the tradition of past greats like William Golding
Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel ''Lord of the Flies'' (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980 ...
, Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...
, David Peace
David Peace (born 1967) is an English writer. Best known for his UK-set novels Red Riding Quartet (1999–2002), '' GB84'' (2004), ''The Damned Utd'' (2006), and '' Red or Dead'' (2013), Peace was named one of the Best of Young British Novel ...
and Ted Hughes
Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...
. His sensibility sits comfortably with theirs and his literary achievement could well go on to be their equal. He is that good".
In 2022, Kingsnorth self-published ''The Vaccine Moment'', a collection of his essays criticising public health mitigation of COVID-19.
Books
As editor
* ''Dark Mountain: issue 1'', (2010, Dark Mountain Project)
* ''Dark Mountain: issue 2'', (2011, Dark Mountain Project)
* ''Dark Mountain: issue 3'', (2012, Dark Mountain Project)
* ''Dark Mountain: issue 4'', (2013, Dark Mountain Project)
* ''Dark Mountain: issue 5'', (2014, Dark Mountain Project)
* ''Dark Mountain: issue 6'', (2014, Dark Mountain Project)
* ''The World-Ending Fire: the essential Wendell Berry'', (2017, Penguin Press)
References
External links
The Dark Mountain Project
The Abbey of Misrule
Kingsnorth's blog on Substack
Interview with Paul Kingsnorth, from ''3AM'' magazine
''New Statesman'' review of ''Uncivilisation: the Dark Mountain Manifesto''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingsnorth, Paul
1972 births
Living people
Writers from Worcester, England
Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford
English male journalists
English environmentalists
People educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe
The Guardian journalists
English male poets
Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy