Happy January from Five Dials. We’re here on the west coast of North America, where the winter drizzle is leaving beads of moisture on our laptop. As most of you know, we launch issues from around the world, mostly from places that are warm, or at least insulated, but today we’re sending out our twenty-second issue from under a tree.
We’ve chosen a tree because the issue features writing on the native trees of Britain from a batch of talented authors. Most are making their debut in the magazine, including William Fiennes, Tracy Chevalier, and Philip Hensher. The very talented Leanne Shapton contributed gorgeous paintings of each of the trees. As you’ll read in the editor’s letter, the issue was co-produced with the Woodland Trust. If you’d like to learn more about their organization, follow this link: www.woodlandtrust.org.uk
We’re launching the issue from beneath a Blue Spruce. It’s a slow-growing tree and its growth is somewhat irregular in the first few years. It’s very much like Five Dials. The Blue Spruce is interesting for other reasons: one variety, which was introduced by the Iseli Nursery in a place called Boring, Oregon, is called ‘Fat Albert’.
This Blue Spruce can be found on Vancouver Island, along with the enormous Sitka spruce of the Carmanah Valley and the Arbutus menziesii, or Pacific Madrone, with its peeling, papery bark. It’s deep winter right now. There’s snow on the ground. (In Kate Mosse’s explanation of ‘Why the Yew Lives So Long’ she says yews whisper to each other during the winter solstice.) It’s the day after what is known as Blue Monday; let’s call it Marginally Optimistic Tuesday. You might even be opening this email on Buoyant Wednesday. Think of this issue as your reward for getting past that bleak wintry marker. It’s only going to get lighter from here.
We usually ask someone we know to press the ‘send’ button, or a local celebrity, or someone young who seems particularly eager. We launched the last issue from the flat rooftop of Atlantis Books in Santorini, Greece, as the sunset faded. In Greece we asked a local child. She pressed the button, sent the email to subscribers around the world, looked around, and amidst a profound lack of fireworks, said: Is that it?
Enjoy the issue.
Craig Taylor
Simon Prosser
Five Dials
Download the issue here:
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