Dark Mountain Project Books

Issue 1  Summer 2010

Dark Mountain: Issue 1 is a book-length collection of new writing that goes deep into the roots of our culture, addressing the questions raised by the Dark Mountain manifesto: what do we do after we stop pretending that our way of living can be made ‘sustainable’? And where do we find new stories with which to ground ourselves, as that way of living passes?

The book brings together a remarkable combination of thinkers, writers and artists whose work engages with these questions. Their essays, stories, poems and images are woven into a conversation which draws on a range of cultural and intellectual traditions. Contributors include John Michael Greer, Jay Griffiths, Ran Prieur, Alastair McIntosh, Maria Stadtmueller, Simon Fairlie, Rupert Cathles, Chris Pak and Jeff Ollerton.

There is new fiction from Nick Hunt, Simon Lys, and Paul Kingsnorth, alongside celebrations of great writers whose work offers possibilities for the unknown world ahead – Robinson Jeffers, Ursula le Guin, and John Berger.

Poetry from Melanie Challenger, Mario Petrucci, Glynn Hughes, Louis Jenkins, JD Whitney, Adrienne Odasso, Mark Waters, Dan Grace, Charles Davies, Tony Walton, Seamus Brady, Tom Scott, Christine Bousfield, William Haas and Lewis Bassett.

And the first in a series of Dark Mountain dialogues, with Anthony McCann interviewing Derrick Jensen and Vinay Gupta in conversation with Dougald Hine.

Issue 3 Summer 2012

We came to this issue of Dark Mountain with a question, how do we begin to find our way home? When our stories have failed us and our maps have led us astray, how do we get our bearings? And what remnants might we find of the meaning and security for which a human home, if we are lucky, might stand?

We live in a time of loss. Think of the species which have passed out of being since you were born, the languages, the multitudes of ways of being and knowing. It is a time of lost certainties and lost people, falling through the patterns of pain, denial, anger, bargaining and despair that mark the experience of loss. Directly or indirectly, often serendipitously, the writing and art collected here offers a space within which to begin facing our situation and finding what paths remain open to us.

In this issue, we also welcome the third member of our editorial team, the poet Adrienne Odasso. She has contributed greatly to what we believe is the strongest collection of poems yet in an issue of Dark Mountain. Contents of this issue include: Paul Kingsnorth on ‘Dark Ecology’ and what still makes sense as a ‘recovering environmentalist’; James Hester on the lessons to be drawn from history; Conversations with Dmitry Orlov, Doug and Kris Tompkins and Sajay Samuel; New fiction from Margaret Irish, Nick Hunt, Chris TT, David Kernohan and Gregory Norminton; Caspar Henderson on our barely imagined prehistory; Andrew Taggart weaves a path through the relationship between philosophy and nature; Bridget McKenzie explores orchards and Phil Brachi searches for faeries; New poetry from Em Strang, George Roberts, Roselle Angwin, Eleanor Rees and many others; Plus photo essays, paintings and illuminated poetry.