Directory of Research and Expertise

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Research Summary and Profile

Research interests:

Cultural memory, Culture, English Literature, History, Literatures in a modern language, Music, Neuroscience, Politics

Research keywords:

Nature, Natural History, Environment, Environmental History, Wildlife, Place, Travel and Travel Writing, Landscape and Language, Climate, Culture and Cultural History, Time and Memory, Creative Writing, Life Writing, Journalism, Medical Humanities, Mental Health, Trauma, Emotion, Emotional Labour, Indentured Labour, Race and Racism, Class, Intersectionality, Geographical inequality and the North/South divide, devolution. Manchester and northern UK. The global South.

Summary of research interests and expertise:

Dr Anita Sethi was born in Manchester, UK and is an award-winning writer, journalist and broadcaster, and a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow.

She is author of the acclaimed book I Belong Here: a Journey Along the Backbone of Britain which won a Books Are My Bag award, and was nominated for the Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing, the Great Outdoors Award and Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje Prize for outstanding books evoking ‘the spirit of a place’. I Belong Here was praised as a “thing of beauty” by the Sunday Times, “a memoir of rare power” by the Guardian, and “an amazing odyssey: inspiring, powerful, encouraging and incredibly brave” by the Independent. It was selected as Stanfords Book of the Month, chosen as a Hottest Book of the Year by the Guardian and one of the best travel books by Wanderlust and the Telegraph. It was selected as the Best Travelogue of the Year by the Independent.

She has also been published in the anthologies Women on Nature edited by Katharine Norbury, The Wild Isles, Common People, the Seasons nature writing anthology, Seaside Special: Postcards from the Edge, We Mark Your Memory and Solstice Shorts among others.

She has written columns, features and reviews for newspapers and magazines including the Guardian and Observer, the i paper, Independent, Sunday Times, Telegraph, FT, Sydney Morning Herald, BBC Wildlife, Vogue, New Statesman, Granta, Harpers Bazaar, Times Literary Supplement, Stylist and BBC Travel among others. In broadcasting she has appeared on several channels including BBC Radios 2, 3, 4 and 5, the BBC World Service, ITV, Times Radio, Sky News, and ABC Australia. Programmes she has written for, presented for or appeared as a speaker/panellist on include The Essay, Front Row, The Today Programme, The Verb, The Midnight Debate and more.

She has appeared as a speaker at many venues including Cheltenham Literature Festival, Hay Festival, Southbank Centre, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Latitude Festival, Green Man Festival, Manchester Literature Festival, Ideas Festival, the British Library, Foyles, Daunts and other bookshops. She has participated in festivals around the world including in Trinidad & Tobago, Kerala, Nairobi, the Maldives and Melbourne, Australia, where she was an International Writer in Residence and Ambassador for Journalism at the Emerging Writers Festival and a writing fellow at the Wheeler Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas.

She has been a Judge of the Women’s Prize, British Book Awards, Costa Book Awards, Society of Authors Awards, Orwell Prize 2025 and is an Academician in the Folio Academy of the Rathbones Folio Prize and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

She has interviewed leading writers, musicians, artists, politicians and public figures including Dolly Parton, Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith, Billy Bragg, Louis de Bernieres, Anne Michaels, Ian Rankin, Tracey Thorn, Michael Nyman, Antonio Carluccio and Caroline Lucas and has worked as a columnist, critic and feature writer. Her career highlights include going birdwatching with Margaret Atwood in the UK’s oldest nature reserve.
 

Publication Details

Related publications/articles:

Date	Details
31-Aug-2025	BBC Radio 4, 'Tweet of the Day' - 'Anita Sethi on the Yellow Wagtail' Wrote and presented an episode of BBC Radio 4 programme, 'Tweet of the Day'

Publications available in Senate House Libraries

Professional Affiliations

Professional affiliations:

Name	Activity
British Academy	Award - British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship
Royal Geographical Society	Fellow
Royal Society of Literature	Award - Literature Matters Award / Nominated for Ondaatje Prize for ‘outstanding books evoking the spirit of a place’
Books Are My Bag Readers Award	Winner
Wainwright Prize	Shortlisted for Wainwright Prize
Orwell Prize	Judge
Women’s Prize	Judge
British Book Awards	Judge
The Arts Foundation	Judge - Place Writing Award

Relevant Events

Related events:

Date	Details
25-Nov-2025	Speaker, The Natural History Consortium's Communicate Conference
09-Nov-2025	Speaker, Todmorden Book Festival
20-Sep-2025	Speaker and chair, 'Thirst symposium', Wellcome Collection

Consultancy & Media

Available for consultancy:

Yes

Media experience:

Yes

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