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The musician Ayanna Witter-Johnson has written a song to frame our ‘Into The Forest’ spoken word commissions – constructed as a walk through a ‘world forest’ . Ayanna’s lyrics were inspired by the the work of Lithuanian novelist Kristina SabaliauskaitÄ—, and make references to the flora and fauna of the Ankonty forest. Ayanna recalls her childhood experience of Epping Forest and a recent performance in woodland, where she took her cello along ( called Reuben ) for a walk and improvised alongside nightingales. Ayanna has been nominated for a MOBO award and has worked alongside the London Symphony Orchestra and the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Symphony Orchestra as an arranger and orchestrator.

Iona Lee is a poet, visual artist and performer. Her poem written especially for The Verb is infused with the myths and legends her father taught her on family walks in Pitlochry. Despite being a reluctant forest walker as a teenager, Iona now spends a lot of time walking in the forest, as she says ‘everything makes sense there’. Her debut pamphlet ‘Iona Lee’ is out now as part of the Polygon New Poets Series. 

The novelist, poet and essayist Patrick McGuinness lived in Bouillion in Belgium near The Ardennes until he was ten years old – his award winning memoir ‘Other People’s Countries’ (Vintage) is a lyrical exploration of these early years. As a child, The Ardennes was a scary forest for Patrick, as well as a source of wonder, and a place where rabies was a still a real danger. The Walloon and French words associated with these early memories of forest seem to allow him to access the feelings of being that child, they are not simply an alternative vocabulary. Patrick discusses his worry that as the forest diminishes in scale, and the animals are driven away, we may lose our fear of the forest. 

The most celebrated Lithuanian novelist of our times, Kristina Sabaliauskaitė is the author of the ‘Silva Rerum’ series of historical novels, which translates as ‘Forest of Things’. The ‘Silva Rerum’ is a family archive book, in which different generations save recipes, poems, and other ephemera. Kristina grew up in a forest, where she was given free rein – as long as she was back for tea. Kristina lets us into some of the idiosyncrasies of Lithuanian forests and forest literature, from the presence of the bison to the qualities that different trees are imbued with – for example the ‘male’ oak and the ‘female’ linden.