Twelve Words for Moss (Paperback) Elizabeth-Jane Burnett (author)

Shortlisted for the James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2023

Shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize 2024

Glowflake, Rocket, Small Skies, Kind Spears, Marilyn… Moss is known as the living carpet but if you look really closely, it contains its own irrepressible light.

In Twelve Words for Moss, Elizabeth-Jane Burnett celebrates the unsung hero of the plant world with a unique blend of poetry, nature writing and memoir.

Making her way through wetlands from Somerset to County Tyrone, Burnett discovers the hidden vibrancy and luminous beauty of these overlooked places. She also takes strength from them as she recovers from her grief at her father’s death. As she meditates on and renames her favourite species of moss, she finds a healing power in language, and draws inspiration from the resilience and tenacity of her plant – and human – friends.