Is a River Alive?

SHORTLISTED FOR BLACKWELL'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION WRITING 2025From celebrated writer Robert Macfarlane comes this brilliant, perspective-shifting new book – which answers a resounding yes to the question of its title. At its heart is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings – who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law.

Is a River Alive? takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept. The book flows first to northern Ecuador, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened by goldmining. Then, to the wounded rivers, creeks and lagoons of southern India, where a desperate battle to save the lives of these waterbodies is under way. And finally, to north-eastern Quebec, where a spectacular wild river – the Mutehekau or Magpie – is being defended from death by damming in a river-rights campaign. At once Macfarlane’s most personal and most political book to date, Is a River Alive? will open hearts, spark debates and lead us to the revelation that our fate flows with that of rivers – and always has.