Wild: An Elemental Journey

Jay Griffiths is a British writer. She read English Literature at Oxford University. She has written for the London Review of Books and contributed to programmes on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and the World Service. As a journalist, she has published columns in The Guardian, The Ecologist, Orion, and Aeon.[1] Her non-fiction books include Pip Pip: A Sideways Look at Time (1999), Kith: The Riddle of the Childscape (2013), and Tristimania (2016).[2]

On publication in the UK, Wild was praised widely in major newspapers; it was described as "part travelogue, part call to arms and wholly original... A vital, unique and uncategorisable celebration of the spirit of life".[8] The Independent called it "remarkable" and "stupendous"[9] while Mark Cocker of The Guardian wrote: "Jay Griffiths is a five-star, card-carrying member of the hellfire club... a strange, utterly compelling book, Wild is easily the best, most rewarding travel book that I have read in the last decade."[5] In The Sunday Times, Anthony Sattin wrote "There is no getting away from the book's brilliance".[10] The Independent on Sunday described Wild "as a song of delight, and a cry of warning, poetic, erudite and insistent… a restless, unstintingly generous performance..."[11] The wildlife author Richard Mabey in The Times wrote of its "kaleidoscopic narrative" and "exhilarating prose".[12] In the Sydney Morning Herald, Bruce Elder describe Wild as "The best book I read all year".[13]

During an interview about the experiences she described in Wild, Griffiths said, "To my mind, at worst, the West operates a kind of 'intellectual apartheid' – the idea that our way of thinking is the only one. Really, there are more ways of living and thinking than we could ever imagine."[14]

Wild is quoted on KT Tunstall's album Tiger Suit; she called it her favourite book.[15] The Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture reads from Wild during their documentary for their album Angles, and comments: "Jay Griffiths's works are original, inspiring and dare you to search beyond the accepted norm."[16] The Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien posted a recommendation of Wild on the band's blog, stating that it was "an astonishing piece of writing " and that "it was exactly what I needed to read".[17]