Angela Harding

We are very excited to welcome author and much-loved printmaker Angela Harding to Ely, to talk us through her new book, Wild Light, which details 24 hours in nature through exclusive lino cut prints and pen and ink drawings. 

With over 70 original illustrations, Angela Harding invites you to look at how the light changes the world around us, and how that changes us in its turn. 

‘I, like many other people, find great inspiration in the way mornings, evenings or bright midday light changes the way we see the things around us. The bouncing light of a cloud- filled storm sky can change a seascape through a palette of blues, greys, and turquoises. The cool summer moonlight that crosses my back garden sends long shadows that change the mood of the garden from homely to unfamiliar. And whether it's the low light of an English February afternoon or the sharp, bright mid-morning light of the Cornish seaside, the light and dark we experience affects our moods.’

‘But life is busy, and I am guilty as anyone of being too preoccupied by daily life to just stop and look. This book is a collection of illustrations from those moments when I have stopped and looked; when a particular encounter with nature has been highlighted by the time of day or the time of night, becoming a strong image long remembered and one that I wish to illustrate.’

Angela is the bestselling author of A Year Unfolding and has worked on the covers for several books: she created the image for the now-iconic cover of The Salt Path, her children's book for the RSPB has been longlisted for the Klaus Flugge prize, and her work is regularly featured in magazines like Country Living, Countryfile and Gardens Illustrated.