Bob Gilbert
Bob Gilbert is the author of Ghost Trees and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Passion in Plants. Airing on BBC Radio 4, Mon 06 April – Fri 10 April at 9.45am.
Ghost Trees – an urban nature book telling the story of an East London borough through its trees, past and present – is out now.
Bob Gilbert is the author of The Green London Way (Lawrence & Wishart, 2012) and has written a column for Ham & High on urban wildlife for the last twenty years. A regular contributor to TV and radio, including Natural World and BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme, Bob has also been a stand-up comedian, a long-standing campaigner for inner city conservation and chair of ‘The Garden Classroom’, a charity that promotes environmental education in London.
Read an extract
LONGLISTED: Wainwright Golden Beer Prize 2019
LONGLISTED: Rathbones Folio Prize 2019
Even in the brick and concrete heart of our cities, nature finds a way. Birds and mammals, insects, plants and trees – they all manage to thrive in the urban jungle, and Bob Gilbert is their champion and their chronicler. He explores the hidden wildlife of the inner city and its edgelands, finding unexpected beauty in the cracks and crannies, and uncovering the deep and essential relationship that exists between people and nature when they are bound together in such close proximity. Beginning from Poplar, the East End area in which he lives, Bob explores, in particular, our relationship with the trees that have helped shape London; from the original wildwood through to the street trees of today. He draws from history and natural history, poetry and painting, myth and magic, and a great deal of walking, observing and listening. Beautifully written, passionate and defiant, Ghost Trees tells the secrets and stories of the urban wildscape, of glorious nature resilient and resurgent on our very doorsteps.
Prizes and awards
Wainwright Prize, 2019 Longlist; Rathbones Folio Prize, 2019 Longlist
REVIEWS OF Ghost Trees
“Ghost Trees is a reflective book, about personal reaction and engagement. Reading it is like spending time with a knowledgeable uncle who is keen to share his enthusiasms.” Jeremy Crump, Living Maps
“One of the best non-fiction books about London. Bob Gilbert’s gifted style of writing [and] simple, clear but hilarious storytelling helps to make this secret life of trees an unlikely page-turner.” The Londonist
“Absorbing.” Bookseller
“Its tone warm and its content wide-ranging, Ghost Trees spans history and social history, folklore, religion and walking as well as nature – but Gilbert wears his vast knowledge lightly and shares it engagingly and entertainingly.” Clare Wadd, Caught by the River
“Informative, enjoyable, enchanting. A book that, in the best sense, educates. It is well written with the occasional alliterative poetic cast. It is a book full of delights which makes one look again, achieving the mystic’s gift of seeing the ordinary as anything but.” Kevin Scully, Church Times
“This is the book for those that enjoy a…mix of learned natural history, historical anecdotes and dry humour.” Angus Hanton, Living Woods
“A spirited defence of the importance of recognising nature in our cities. This is a lyrical book of great imaginative scope … filled with fascinating nuggets of information.” Country and Town House
‘A joyous hymn to the urban wild and a clarion call for better – greener, wilder – cities.’ Patrick Barkham (author and naturalist)
“Ghost Trees maps in fascinating detail how the trees planted in Poplar have defined each of its contrasting epochs: from the mulberry and apple orchards of the 18th century to the grand ¬avenues of London planes and limes of the Victorian era.” Joe Shute, Sunday Telegraph
“Warm, rich and fascinating… [Gilbert] is a generous guide, with a deep knowledge of plant life and a fine turn of phrase.” Jon Day, Guardian
“Informative, enjoyable, enchanting. A book that, in the best sense, educates. It is well written with the occasional alliterative poetic cast. It is a book full of delights which makes one look again, achieving the mystic’s gift of seeing the ordinary as anything but.” Kevin Scully, Church Times
“Ghost Trees will awaken any Londoner to the plants that cling on in the city’s cracks.” Guardian: Books of the Year
“Lyrical and beautifully evocative … in a language as rich and lilting as the contours of the estuarine land … A delight.” Richard Jones, BBC Countryfile magazine
