Julia Hollander - Why We Sing

Isn't it amazing that humans can make music with nothing but our own bodies? That's one of the marvels that Julia Hollander delves into during this hour of conversation - and singing - getting to the heart of what it means to be human. Song inspires, assists, and forms us from cradle to grave. We sing to our babies, unite as singing communities, and incorporate singing into religious worship. Singing's being used to rehabilitate Long Covid sufferers; it boosts infant development, and there are cases where people who've lost the power of speech are still able to sing. What alchemy is this? Hollander offers an inspiring celebration of song-making, with a hearty helping of scientific research thrown in.

About the author: Julia Hollander is a singing therapist, teacher and performer based in Oxford.

Livestream content for this event will be available until the end of Wigtown Book Festival 2023.

Monica Macias - Black Girl from Pyongyang

Monica Macias's life has been anything but ordinary. When she was only seven, her father, the president of Equatorial Guinea, sent her from West Africa to North Korea, to be educated by his ally, Kim Il Sung. Within months, her father was executed in a coup and her mother became unreachable. Effectively orphaned, she and two siblings had to make their life in Pyongyang, where she attended military boarding school, learning to speak fluent Korean and handle weapons. As an adult she went in search of her roots in Madrid, Malabo, New York, Seoul and finally London. She'll share her remarkable story of discovery.

About the author: Monica Macias is the daughter of Francisco Macias, the first president of Equatorial Guinea following its independence from colonial Spanish rule. She has lived in several countries around the world and now resides in south London. Black Girl from Pyongyang is her first book to be published in English, and she will be the subject of a forthcoming documentary film.

Charles Foster - Cry of the Wild

The natural world is under siege but the threats - such as climate change, extinction, loss of habitat - can feel too big to grasp. In his new book, Charles Foster seeks to counter that by telling little and local stories from the perspective of the besieged: the urban fox subsisting on pepperoni pizza, the orca mourning the loss of her mother. In doing so, he offers new perspectives on the complexity, beauty and fragility of animal lives in a world dominated by humans. Can these fresh narratives reignite our compassion and capacity for alarm?

This event will be chaired by Polly Pullar.

About the author: Charles Foster is a writer, barrister, traveller, and veterinarian. His books include the New York Times bestseller, Being A Human, A Little Brown Sea (longlisted for the 2023 Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award), and The Screaming Sky. His work has been long listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize, shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for nature writing, and has won the IgNobel Prize for Biology and the 30 millions d'Amis Prize.