In Conversation with Claire Dunn
Castlemaine
We’re a famously nature-loving nation, yet 86 per cent of Australians call the city home. Amid the concrete and the busyness, how can we also answer the call of the wild?
Join Claire Dunn at Castlemaine Coworking to launch her latest book Rewilding the Urban Soul.
About the Book
Once upon a time, a burnt-out Claire Dunn spent a year living off the grid in a wilderness survival program. Yet love and the possibilities of human connection drew her back to the city, where she soon found herself as overscheduled, addicted to her phone, and lost in IKEA as the rest of us. Given all the city offers — comfort, convenience, community, and opportunity — she wants to stay. But to do so, she’ll have to learn how to rewild her own urban soul.
Join Claire as she sits by and swims in the brown waters of the Yarra River, forages for undomesticated food in the suburbs, and explores many other practices in a quest for connection. To make our human hearts whole, she realises, we’ve all got to pay attention and learn to belong to our cities — our land. This is where change begins. For ourselves and for the world.
About Claire
Claire Dunn is a writer and a passionate advocate for rewilding our inner and outer landscapes. She worked for many years as a campaigner for the Wilderness Society and now facilitates nature-based reconnection retreats and contemporary wilderness rites of passage. In 2010, Claire lived in the bush for a year as part of a wilderness survival program, an experience she wrote about in My Year Without Matches. She currently lives in Melbourne.
Book Reviews
‘Love makes us move to the city. Duty makes us stay. But how do we create a livable habitat for our bodies and spirits and relations in these murderous places? You might find the answer in this book.’
TYSON YUNKAPORTA, AUTHOR OF SAND TALK
‘In Rewilding the Urban Soul, Claire asks an important question, “How can I expect us to fall in love with the world in the way that’s so needed if it’s dependent on going bush for a year? No, it has to be possible, right where we are.” A cliffhanger from that point on, Claire’s wonderful storytelling, research, and perspectives make it clear it’s not only possible, but it’s incredibly healing and fun! This book is essential for our times.’
JON YOUNG, AUTHOR OF COYOTE’S GUIDE TO CONNECTING WITH NATURE AND WHAT THE ROBIN KNOWS