Nick Hunt and Dark Mountain

Nick Hunt is a freelance writer and storyteller. His first book, Walking the Woods and the Water, tells the story of his eight-month walk from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul in the footsteps of the travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor. It was published by Nicholas Brealey in 2014, and was a finalist for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year in 2015. This was followed by Where the Wild Winds Are, an account of four walks following Europe’s named winds – the Helm, the Bora, the Foehn and the Mistral – to explore their effects on landscapes, people and cultures. Published in 2017 by Nicholas Brealey/Hodder, it made the shortlist of the Stanford Dolman again and was a finalist for the National Geographic Traveller Readers Awards, as well as being named a Book of the Year by the Financial Times and the Spectator. His most recent book is The Parakeeting of London, a work of ‘gonzo ornithology’ that explores the cultural impact of London’s invasive ring-necked parakeets. This was published by Paradise Road in 2019.

He has worked as a freelance journalist, publishing articles and features in The Guardian, The Economist, New Internationalist, Emergence, Resurgence & Ecologist, Caught By the River, Narratively, Political Insight, Geographical and other publications. Much of his work focuses on the links between culture and ecology. In 2010 he was the recipient of the BBC Radio 4/Royal Geographic Society Journey of a Lifetime Award, travelling to Dubai and India to make a radio documentary about South Asian migrant workers in the UAE.

Since 2013 he has worked as an editor for the Dark Mountain Project, and has contributed short stories and essays to many of its issues. Dark Mountain publishes two beautifully made books of ‘uncivilised’ writing and artwork a year and runs events around the country. Nick is now one of the project’s directors and part of its steering group.