James Rebanks (born 1974)[1] is an English sheep farmer and author, from Matterdale in Cumbria.[2] His first book, the autobiography The Shepherd's Life, was published in 2015,[3] and he published English Pastoral in 2020.[4][5] He also published The Illustrated Herdwick Shepherd in 2015[6] and The Shepherd's View: Modern Photographs from an Ancient Landscape in 2016.[7]
James Rebanks | |
---|---|
Born | 1974 (age 49–50) |
Education | University of Oxford (BA) |
Awards | Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing (2021) |
Writing career | |
Genre | Pastoral |
Notable works | The Shepherd's Life |
Rebanks left school at the age of 16 to work on his family's farm with two GCSEs in woodworking and religious studies.[3] He took A levels at evening classes in Carlisle before studying at Magdalen College, Oxford,[3][8] where he achieved a double first in history.[9]
Following his degree, Rebanks returned to farming, which he continues to do, specialising in Herdwick sheep but moving towards a more mixed farm. He has also run a consultancy based at his farm.[10][11] He was involved in the bid for the Lake District to receive World Heritage status (which was approved by UNESCO in 2017),[12][13] and as of December 2020[update] had a following of 141,667 on Twitter as "Herdwick Shepherd" (@herdyshepherd1).
In 2018 he resigned from a government panel set up by Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Michael Gove, and also took a break from Twitter after the composition of the panel was criticised by environmentalists as being biased towards the farming community.[14]
In 2019 he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. His chosen music included tracks by Rachmaninoff, Nina Simone, and Kirsty MacColl (the choice he would rescue from the waves); his chosen book was The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, and his luxury was pen and paper.[1] He has also appeared on BBC Radio 3's Private Passions[15] and Radio 4's On Your Farm.[16] In December 2021 he guest-edited Radio 4's Today programme.[17]
In 2021 English Pastoral won the Wainwright Prize in the Nature Writing category.[18]
People think travel broadens the mind, I'm not so sure. I think a focus on, and love of, one place can make people rather sensible, decent, and wise