Wainwright prize for nature writing awarded to memoir about raising a hare during lockdown

Debut author Chloe Dalton’s ‘dream-like’ book Raising Hare follows the writer from London to the countryside

A memoir about a woman who rescued a hare during the pandemic has won this year’s Wainwright prize book of the year.

Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton follows the author from London to the countryside, where she looked after a leveret during lockdown.

Meanwhile, the Wainwright children’s book of the year prize went to Lanisha Butterfield for Flower Block, illustrated by Hoang Giang. The story, which Butterfield describes as “a love letter to my working-class childhood”, is set in a city tower block, and finds a young boy, Jeremiah, planting a packet of sunflower seeds in memory of his father. The seeds sprout overnight, taking over the apartment block.

The Wainwright prizes, named after the famed author and fell walker Alfred Wainwright, celebrate nature and conservation writing. Each of the two main prizes comes with a £2,500 award.