My Body is a Meadow

Name: My Body is a Meadow
Price: 49.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9781035427505

Finding Freedom in the Outdoors

Bethany Handley

$49.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

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English

Headline Press
07 May 2026

Memoirs; Disability: social aspects; Global warming; The natural world, country life & pets

'Urgent and beautiful, this book shows how our treatment of disability mirrors our treatment of nature. Essential reading' ? Katherine May, author of Wintering

'A passionate call for an inclusive countryside - nature for all and all for nature' ? Jack Cornish, author of The Lost Paths

Since childhood, Bethany Handley has always felt most at home out in the wilds of the Welsh countryside. This all changed when Bethany became a full-time wheelchair user in her twenties and suddenly found herself padlocked out of the landscapes she belonged to.

Today, nearly one in four people are Disabled in the UK. Yet, public rights of way are blocked in 32,000 places across England and Wales. My Body is a Meadow writes into this troubling landscape. Passionate and political, it delivers a galvanising call for us to rethink how we live among nature and each other. Lyrical and personal, Bethany invites readers to wheel alongside her as she explores ableism, climate justice and what nature means to her.

On this journey we discover the feral boar of the Forest of Dean, and one of the first places in Britain to industrialise; how the metal and rubber of a wheelchair can become just as much a part of your body as skin and bone; why swifts rarely land and how maps tell a story of exclusion. Unearthing parallels between land ownership and privatised healthcare, loss of biodiversity and social marginalisation, Bethany explores the lessons nature can teach us about inclusion and interdependence. This is a rallying cry for us to stop gatekeeping nature and work together to make it open and equal to all.

Praise for Cling Film:

'Cling Film is a collection that lifts many veils and lets in much-needed light and air' Carol Rumens, Guardian

'Opens our eyes and minds to new ways of seeing and being' Owen Sheers, author of Skirrid Hill

'Be careful, these poems will change the way you see the world' Kim Moore, author of All the Men I Never Married

'For anyone who values life' Joshua Jones, author of Local Fires

'Glorious, necessary reading' Polly Atkin, author of Some of Us Just Fall

'I laughed for an hour alongside Bethany Handley and, while I was laughing, I forgot about my pain' the Cyborg Jillian Weise, author of Common Cyborg

'Breathtakingly raw and beautiful' Connor Allen

By: Bethany Handley
Imprint: Headline Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 236mm, Width: 160mm, Spine: 30mm
Weight: 520g
ISBN: 9781035427505
ISBN 10: 1035427508
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 07 May 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Bethany Handley is an award-winning writer, poet and disability activist from South Wales. Named one of the UK's ten most influential disabled people in politics, law, and media by the Shaw Trust 2024, she campaigns for disability rights and better access to nature. An ambassador for Country Living's Access for All, Wales Coast Path, and Ramblers Cymru, her debut poetry pamphlet Cling Film was published by Seren in 2025. Bethany co-edited Beyond / Tu Hwnt, a ground-breaking bilingual anthology of Welsh Deaf and disabled writers. Her work has been featured by BBC One, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 4, the Poetry Foundation, Country Living, The Guardian and more.

Reviews for My Body is a Meadow: Finding Freedom in the Outdoors

A painfully honest assessment of how the damage done to Disabled people mirrors that being done to the environment, the barriers both encounter and in turn how these barriers could be overcome * Maria Kett, The Conversation *