Episode 190: Your Wild and Precious Life with Liz Jensen

Across the Margin: The Podcast

This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast presents an interview with novelist and activist Liz Jensen, Liz’s critically-acclaimed work spans black comedy, science fiction, satire, family drama, historical fantasy, psychological suspense, and most recently, a memoir. Beyond her prolific writing output, Liz is a founder member of Extinction Rebelion Writers Rebel, a literary movement using words and actions to highlight the climate and ecological emergency, and in 2023 she launched The Rebel Library, a resource for readers of climate and ecological literature in all genres. She also teaches creative writing in the UK and Denmark and volunteers on the grief helpline run by the Danish National Grief Centre. In her recent memoir, Your Wild And Precious Life: On Grief, Hope and Rebellion (Canongate, 2024) — the focus of this episode — she shares her reflections on personal and ecological grief and finding resilience after the tragic sudden death of her son Raphael in 2020. Liz’s son's death will never make sense to her. But it has taught her that it's possible to find meaning, collectively and individually, in the loss of what we love. Resilience, Liz believes, is a seed that we all bear inside us. It germinates in emergencies. It sets down roots in astonishing and unexpected ways. And if we notice it, and tend to it, it blooms. Liz’s son, a zoologist, conservationist, and ecological activist, was twenty-five when he collapsed and died unexpectedly. She fell apart. As she grieved, forest fires raged, coral reefs deteriorated, CO2 emissions rose, and fossil fuels burned. Your Wild and Precious Life is the story of how a mother rebuilt herself, reoriented her life, and rediscovered the enchantment of the living world. Set against the backdrop of climate and ecological catastrophe, Your Wild and Precious Life is an argument for agency, legacy, and the wild possibility of hope after devastation. Liz’s book is so very special and so many things all at once. It’s a deeply honest handbook encompassing the grief one experiences when they suffer profound loss. It’s a loving ode from a mother to a son. It’s a celebration of activism and a call to action. It’s a story of resilience, and proof that it’s possible to find life beyond the pain.

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