Field Ramble with Noreen Masud

Field Ramble

On this episode we sit down with Noreen Masud to hear more about her incredible memoir A Flat Place. Shortlisted this year for both the Women’s Prize for Non Fiction and the Jhalak Prize, it is an exploration of both the flat landscapes Noreen loves and ‘the flat place’ she identifies within herself.

Taking in the Fens, the Orkneys, Morecombe Bay and more Noreen writes on the contradictions of these places, their stark beauty, immediacy and evasive nature. And through them she finds a way to explore the symptoms of childhood trauma buried deep within her.

A Flat Place is a moving and frank account of colonial legacy, neglect and forced movement. It is provocative and purposefully inconclusive. Preti Taneja's description of it as both revealing and refusing in the best ways is perfect.

In our wide ranging interview Noreen discusses de-romanticising nature writing, writing as a call to action and her ongoing work with Fossil Free Books.

A Flat Place is published by Penguin.

‘Noreen Masud fathoms the depths of flat landscapes, and their curious abilities to archive and to erase, to unsettle and to console.’ Robert Macfarlane
Music featured on this episode
The Kimba Unit - Two Voices
Ian Hawgood Upward Eyes

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