James Rebanks

James Rebanks (born 1974)[1] is an English sheep farmer and author, from Matterdale in Cumbria.[2] His first book was The Shepherd's Life, published in 2015,[3] and he published English Pastoral in 2020.[4][5] He also published The Illustrated Herdwick Shepherd in 2015[6] and The Shepherd's View: Modern Photographs from an Ancient Landscape in 2016.[7]

James Rebanks
Born1974 (age 46–47)
EducationUniversity of Oxford (BA)
AwardsWainwright Prize for Nature Writing (2021)
Writing career
GenrePastoral
Notable worksThe Shepherd's Life
Websitetwitter.com/herdyshepherd1

Early life and education

Rebanks left school at the age of 16 to work on his family's farm with two GCSEs in woodworking and religious studies[3] and then did A levels at evening classes in Carlisle before studying at the University of Oxford where he achieved a double first in history.[8] He was a student at Magdalen College, Oxford.[3][9]

Career

Following his degree, Rebanks returned to farming, which he continues to do, specialising in Herdwick sheep but moving towards a more mixed farm. He has also run a consultancy based at his farm.[10][11] He was involved in the bid for the Lake District to receive World Heritage status (which was approved by UNESCO in 2017),[12][13] and as of December 2020 had a following of 141,667 on Twitter as "Herdwick Shepherd".[14]

In 2018 he resigned from a government panel set up by Michael Gove and also took a break from Twitter after the composition of the panel was criticised by environmentalists as being biased towards the farming community.[15]

In 2019 he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. His chosen music included tracks by Rachmaninoff, Nina Simone, and Kirsty MacColl (the choice he would rescue from the waves); his chosen book was The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, and his luxury was pen and paper.[1] He has also appeared on BBC Radio 3's Private Passions[16] and Radio 4's On Your Farm.[17]

In 2021 English Pastoral won the Wainwright Prize in the Nature Writing category.[18]

Selected publications
  • The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District. London: Allen Lane. 2015. ISBN 978-1846148545.
  • The Illustrated Herdwick Shepherd. London: Penguin. 2015. ISBN 9781846148903.
  • The Shepherd's View: Modern Photographs from an Ancient Landscape. London: Flatiron. 2016. ISBN 978-1250103369.
  • English Pastoral: an inheritance. London: Allen Lane. 2020. ISBN 9780241245729. (published in North America as Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey. 2021. Custom House. ISBN 978-0063073272)

References
  1. Laverne, Lauren (2019). "James Rebanks, Shepherd and Writer: Desert Island Discs". bbc.co.uk. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  2. Moran, Caitlin (4 September 2020). "Caitlin Moran meets James Rebanks, Lake District sheep farmer turned Twitter activist". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  3. Rebanks, James (2015). The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-1846148545.
  4. Rebanks, James (2020). English Pastoral: an inheritance. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 9780241245729.
  5. Morrison, Blake (3 September 2020). "English Pastoral by James Rebanks review – how to look after the land". theguardian.com. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  6. Rebanks, James (2015). The Illustrated Herdwick Shepherd. London: Penguin. ISBN 9781846148903.
  7. Rebanks, James (2016). The Shepherd's View: Modern Photographs from an Ancient Landscape. London: Flatiron. ISBN 978-1250103369.
  8. Carter, Helen (2 May 2015). "The farmer and best-selling author of The Shepherd's Life talks about dealing with new-found fame". The Independent. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  9. "James Rebanks: One shepherd and his beloved Herdwick sheep". bbc.co.uk. People think travel broadens the mind, I'm not so sure. I think a focus on, and love of, one place can make people rather sensible, decent, and wise
  10. "Rebanks Consulting". Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  11. Kellaway, Kate (3 May 2015). "Shepherd James Rebanks: 'My ambition is to be a really good nobody'". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  12. Fraser, Harriet (8 March 2014). "The hill farmers fighting for their livelihoods". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  13. Sulcas, Roslyn (5 June 2015). "James Rebanks, Man of Sheep, Man of Letters (Published 2015)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  14. "Herdwick Shepherd". Twitter. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  15. "Twitter's favourite shepherd quits government review of National Parks after three days due to 'cretinous attacks' from environmentalists". The Telegraph. 24 June 2018. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  16. "BBC Radio 3 - Private Passions, James Rebanks". BBC. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  17. "BBC Radio 4 - On Your Farm, James Rebanks, the Herdy Shepherd". BBC. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  18. Flood, Alison (2021-09-07). "Wainwright prize for nature writing goes to James Rebanks for English Pastoral". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
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