CAUGHT BY THE RIVER HIGHLIGHTS CINEMA & THE RIGHT TO ROAM

View this email in your browser On the site this week Caught by the River Day Out 2026 - We invite everyone to join us once more to celebrate the start of summer in Sussex at the Caught by the River Day Out on May 2nd. Now in its fifth year, it is a unique day of talks, music, food and beer spread across the Downland village of Kingston, just a few miles from both Lewes and Brighton. Tiny Gardens Everywhere - 'Working-class gardeners built with their hands the idea that cities could be more than stone and brick, more than markets and factories.' Read an extract from Kate Brown's Tiny Gardens Everywhere, our March Book of the Month. Imperfect - In Imperfect, his most significant book to date, photographer David George brings together some 200 unpublished photographs – striking night-time colour images, and fine monochrome photogravures using the century-old intaglio method. Out now: Underland film + score - Happy release day to Underland — Rob Petit’s cinematic documentary based on Robert Macfarlane’s 2019 book of the same name — out in UK cinemas today. We are thrilled that Hannah Peel’s original score for the film is also out in the world today via our Rivertones label. Our Land - Released in UK & Irish cinemas on 8th May, Orban Wallace’s Our Land follows the Right to Roam movement, asking the timely question: who has the right to roam in the English countryside? Now Playing - After the Solstice by Clémentine March. Taken from the excellent recent album Powder Keg, out now on PRAH. Clémentine plays our weekend event at Elmley Nature Reserve in May. More information/tickets here. Antidotes WATCHING Borrowed Pasture (1960) - Richard Burton narrates this stunning film of two Polish soldiers struggling to make a living from a derelict farm in Carmarthenshire. Thanks to Benjamin Myers for the tipoff. LISTENING Florian's World of Sound 006 - Adam Higton's latest radio show features a bunch of weird finds from his local record shops. Thirty minutes of swinging space age, esoteric exotica and flipped out field recordings. LateNightTales - Barry Can't Swim READING 'In death, as in life, different tree species support different insects and fungi, so a greater diversity of logs means more diversity of those that use them.' Kate Bradbury writes about her log pile, teeming with life, for the Guardian's Country Diary Competition Are you a culture vulture? Where do you stand in the pecking order? Author of the bestselling Our Garden Birds Matt Sewell brings his signature whimsical artistry to the world of language in A Little Bird Told Me, newly published by HarperNorth. We have three copies of the book to give away, each with some postcards and a badge illustrated by Matt. To be in with the chance of winning one of the bundles, just answer the following question correctly: First published in 2009, what was the name of Matt's long-running Caught by the River column? Answers to competitions@caughtbytheriver.net. Good luck! Subscriber Content ‘I love the dirt. I love the redness, the depth of its colour. I love that it stains. I love that it can travel with me across the ocean. That the crumbly layers of the breadnut bark I bring back to England with me can fall off onto my neat, clean IKEA couch.’ In our latest subscriber exclusive, Jason Allen-Paisant speaks to Tallulah Brennan about the poetic impulses of the Caribbean, vernacular intimacy with plants, and soil as an emblem of life & death. As you likely already know if you’re reading this, we are and have always been an independent publication run by a tiny staff, publishing weird, wonky and full-hearted DIY coverage of arts, nature and culture since 2007, unbeholden to shareholders, advertisers or big media companies. Whilst the main site and newsletter will always be free to read and share, all memberships, past, present and future — alongside purchases from our Bandcamp shop or Bookshop.org page — contribute to our maintenance, independence, longevity and ability to pay for commissions. Subscribe here Caught by the River Event Tickets are now on sale for our May weekend event at Elmley Nature Reserve. Book tickets here. Find further lineup, accommodation and travel info, as well as other FAQs here. For the diary Until 12th April - THE SINGH TWINS: Botanical Tales and Seeds of Empire showcases a striking new collection of fabric light boxes from the internationally acclaimed artist duo, revealing how plants such as cotton, spices and dyes played a pivotal role in colonial expansion. Kew Gardens, London. Details here 16th April - Jon Woolcott launches his latest book, The Tattooed Hills. Across southern England and beyond, the land bears the marks of centuries – white horses, giants, crosses, badges, even a lost panda – cut into the chalk and exposed to the sky. In The Tattooed Hills, Jon travels to these remarkable sites, exploring their history and the deep cultural roots that link landscape to identity. The White Horse Bookshop, Marlborough, Wiltshire. Details here Until 26th April - For its first UK presentation, the Museum of Edible Earth comes to Somerset House, inviting visitors to explore geophagy; the practice of eating earth for health, ritual and culinary benefit. Created by artist and researcher masharu, the internationally touring museum brings together edible samples of clay, chalk and mineral-rich earths from around the world, offering a rare sensory encounter with soil. Somerset House, London. Details here Until 17th May - Ilana Halperin: What is Us and What is Earth. An exhibition of sculpture, drawing and photography from Glasgow based artist Ilana Halperin, whose art seeks to make geological time human; to map the incomprehensible vastness of geological time and the natural world through the knowable familiarity of human experience. Fruitmarket, Edinburgh. Details here Until 21st June - Tracing the rich history of Liberty Fabrics, on the occasion of the design house’s 150th anniversary, Women in Print: 150 Years of Liberty Textiles surveys the evolving influence and status of women in textiles over the past 150 years. Women in Print brings together iconic patterns by designers such as Althea McNish, Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell, and Lucienne Day, alongside previously overlooked names, celebrating how women have been — and continue to be — at the heart of Liberty’s creative innovations and ongoing relevance today. It features over 100 works, spanning garments, fabric, original designs, film and historic photographs. William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, London. Details here Until 6th September - Explore how Ladybird Books has continued to evolve since its centenary in 2015. Discover how Ladybird continues to meet the needs of modern audiences, from reviving classic books to releasing new series. Museum of English Rural Life, Reading. Details here The Ever-Expanding Spoken Word & Nature Disco Listen here Rivertones From the archive All That You Love, Shimmering - 'You are so other; arms like hooks with lycra skins, movements like trying to sweep holding the very end of a broomstick. Ungainly like a heavy bird, penguin-like posture, face of fox. What if in the near-future we have no comparative animals left to describe the remaining ones?' With help from ecologist/anthropologist Deborah Bird Rose and a flying-fox called Triggy, Abi Andrews finds hope in the brilliant shimmer of the biosphere. First published April 2022. Thanks for reading, Andrew, Diva, Jeff and Robin. Facebook Website Email Twitter Instagram Spotify Threads Copyright © Caught by the River 2021. All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.