Dr Anita Sethi

Dr Anita Sethi Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Masters (Hons), Bachelor of Arts (Hons), FRGS

Author

Award-winning writer, journalist, critic, author of 'I Belong Here: a Journey Along the Backbone of Britain'

Find out more about:

My profile
Impact
Teaching and supervision
Research outputs
Press and media

Biography

Dr Anita Sethi was born in Manchester, UK and is an award-winning writer and author of the acclaimed book I Belong Here: a Journey Along the Backbone of Britain which won a Books Are My Bag Readers 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 writing evoking a strong sense of 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, Way Makers, Common People, 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 Times, Sunday Times, the i paper, Independent, Telegraph, FT, Sydney Morning Herald, BBC Wildlife, Times Literary Supplement, New Statesman, Granta, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, 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, Charleston, Wealden, 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 for Fiction, British Book Awards, Costa Book Awards, Society of Authors Awards, Place Writing Awards of The Arts Foundation, and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. She has worked as a columnist, critic and feature writer and interviewed leading writers, musicians, artists, politicians and public figures including Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith, Billy Bragg, Louis de Bernieres, Anne Michaels, Ian Rankin, Tracey Thorn, Michael Nyman, Antonio Carluccio and Caroline Lucas. Her career highlights include going birdwatching with Margaret Atwood in the UK’s oldest nature reserve.

QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) - English (University of Cambridge, UK)

Masters (Honours) - English (University of Cambridge, UK)

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) - Creative Writing (York Centre for Writing, YSJ, York, UK)

Impact

Winner – Books Are My Bag Readers Award
Winner - Literature Matters Award, Royal Society of Literature
Shortlisted for Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing
Nominated for Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje Prize for writing evoking ‘a strong sense of place’
Shortlisted for the Great Outdoors Award
Shortlisted for Northern Writer of the Year at the Northern Soul Awards
Shortlisted for Journalist of the Year at the Asian Media Awards
Recipient of Society of Authors grant.

Teaching

Courses

Creative Writing

Postgraduate

BA (Hons)

Creative Writing

Undergraduate

BA (Hons)

English and Creative Writing

Undergraduate

Supervision

I teach on MA Creative Writing / English and BA Creative Writing / English.

Research outputs

Key works by the Author / Selected Publications

Sethi, Anita, I Belong Here: A Journey Along the Backbone of Britain

Sethi, Anita, Extracted in Way Makers: An Anthology of Women’s Writing About Walking

Sethi, Anita, Extracted in Awe and Wonder: An EMC (English and Media Centre) Anthology of Nature Writing

Sethi, Anita, contributor to Radical Landscapes

Sethi, Anita, ‘Flight: On Nature in the City’ - in Women on Nature

Sethi, Anita, ‘On Class and the Countryside’ - in Common People

Sethi, Anita, ‘Escape from El Dorado: A bittersweet journey through my Guyanese history” – published in We Mark Your Memory: Writing From the Descendants of Indenture

Sethi, Anita, ‘Blackpool Lights’ – short story in Seaside Special: Postcards from the Edge

Sethi, Anita, ‘Before the First Frost’ – in Winter: An Anthology for the Changing Seasons

Sethi, Anita, ‘Anita Sethi on Anne Brontë: Journeys to the Grave’, The Essay, broadcast on BBC Radio https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00182c5

Selected articles by the author

Sethi, Anita. “Birdwatching with Margaret Atwood.” FT Magazine

Sethi, Anita, “Travel writing is still dominated by male voices.” i News

Sethi, Anita. “Nature Should Be For Everyone – Not Just the Privileged Few.” British Vogue

Sethi, Anita. “I was victim of a hate crime - I can’t stay silent” The Guardian

Sethi, Anita. “Walking back to happiness”, The Observer

Selected literary journalism / cultural criticism

I have interviewed many cultural figures, and written essays, columns and reviews including:

Tribute to Toni Morrison

Birdwatching adventure and interview with Margaret Atwood in the UK’s oldest nature reserve

Interview with Booker Prize winner, Bernardine Evaristo

Interview with bestselling novelist, Matt Haig

Review of The Overstory by Richard Powers

Review of The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

Selected columns

‘How a racist taunt prompted me to reclaim Britain’s countryside’ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/07/racist-taunt-reclaim-britain-countryside-prejudice

‘I was the victim of race hate crime but by speaking up I felt empowered’ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/23/victim-race-hate-crime

On feminism and geographical equality: ‘The new Pankhurst statue makes me proud of the Manchester I grew up in’ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/16/pankhurst-statue-manchester-suffrage-feminism-history

‘This Anti-Bullying Week, let’s encourage empathy and kindness’ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/16/anti-bullying-week-children-empathy

‘Dear Prince Charles, do you think my brown skin makes me unBritish?’ https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2018/apr/19/prince-charles-brown-skin-british-people-head-of-commonwealth

‘Blue Monday isn’t the only day depression can strike. Here’s how I cope’ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/15/blue-monday-depression-january-mental-health

Press and media

From BBC Radio

Sethi, Anita, ‘Anita Sethi on Anne Brontë: Journeys to the Grave’, The Essay, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 (BBC, 2022) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00182c5

Interview with the author: “Hope Valley with Anita Sethi”, BBC Radio 4, Ramblings, 28^th October 2023 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001rq4p