A FACE-to-face encounter with a Timber Wolf was a pivotal moment for a Breconshire writer seeking to reconnect children to the magic of nature.
As a child even a photo of a wolf in James Roberts’ children’s animal encyclopaedia provoked such terror he had to tape the pages shut.
However as an adult a chance encounter with an almost identical looking wolf on a forest path in Canada swept away all remaining fear.
James said it had been a “beautiful” and “almost spiritual” experience. It eventually led him to write his first children’s book, The Man in the Mountain and produce a new on-line magazine, Zoomorphic, both launched this year, together with a new indie press, all concerned with celebrating and defending wildlife.
James, a widely published poet and artist with an obsession for wildlife, wrote The Man in the Mountain a few years ago, inspired by his wolf experience, his young family and the nature surrounding his Clyro home.
He was happy to let it lie in a drawer but was persuaded to get it published after mentioning it to cover illustrator, Natalie Smith, who was backed by his wife, Julia.
It complements the aims of the magazine and is the first book from new indie publisher Sea Campion, which publishes books that also reconnect children and adults to the natural world.
The first to succeed, The Man in the Mountain is deeply magical and inspiring for children, including James’ two sons, Cameron and Lewis, who appear in the book as Joe and Ant.
It loosely borrows the legend of King Arthur and the sleeping warriors of Craig y Ddinas who lay in a treasure-filled cavern beneath the hills south of the Brecon Beacons.
When a greedy Welsh man who is laden with the treasure brushes past a bell Arthur and his men wake and beat him to near death. He spends the rest of his life poor and lame.
The treasure is a metaphor for Wales’ wildlife, which James also wants to see treasured.
“I’m just obsessed with animals. I have been living here for 12 years and started to research and look at the statistics of wildlife more and more. There’s a big common near our home, the Begwyns, and in the last few years I have noticed the curlews are starting to disappear,” said James.
He said that in his lifetime half of all vertebrate animals have been lost globally and the curlew, with its iconic upland cry, has declined by up to 80 per cent.
“I wrote The Man in the Mountain in the hope that the story would help reconnect our people, young and old, with the creatures that share their world. I’ve always been inspired and fascinated by Welsh myths, stories and the majestic landscape and I’ve tried to convey a sense of their magic in my book,” explained James.
In his novel it is the precious and threatened wild animals of the Black Mountains that are hoarded in a cave beneath the mountains where they are called by a mysterious figure who roams the peaks at night.
Two children risk their lives trying to save them and return them to the outside world.
The book has been well received locally.
Hay Primary School teacher, Ros Hall, said she “loved it.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. As a class teacher I believe that it is an excellent read for children in Key Stage Two and Three as it celebrates the beauty and precious quality of nature which are relevant when studying environmental issues. The setting is wild and mystical but the characters are very real. It is rich with literary devices and written in short chapters to make it manageable. Loved it!"
The book has also received praise from children’s book reviewers including Dr Bridget Carrington, editor of The Journal of Children’s Literature Studies, who said: “Roberts writes with enormous empathy for the environment, wildlife and humans. The Man in The Mountain is exciting and hugely thoughtprovoking, but always infused with humour. This is a book which should be publicised widely.”
The Man in The Mountain by JE Roberts is available online and at Eighteen Rabbit in HayonWye