Interview #29 Sophie Pavelle | Forget Me Not


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Jun 01 2022 51 mins   4

"I've tried to write the book that I felt I needed to read when I was younger, but I hope it appeals to all age groups." Trust me Sophie, it does...

A conversation with zoologist and science communicator Sophie Pavelle, about her first book, Forget Me Not, which is subtitled “Finding the forgotten species of climate change Britain”.

We spoke shortly before Forget Me Not’s launch date and discussed what the book is about, Sophie’s modern and fresh writing style (a style that I think makes her a unique and very important voice), and the lessons she’d learnt travelling the length and breadth of Britain looking for species ranging from seagrass and salmon to Mountain Hares and Marsh Fritillaries. 

I began though by asking Sophie about something she’d said in the epilogue to Forget Me Not that had really caught my attention: “Thank you to Dr Ruth Tingay for lifting me away from the dreaded imposter syndrome”. Sophie has packed a massive amount into a very short time. She’s a presenter, a writer, an ambassador for the Wildlife Trusts, sits on the RSPB Advisory Committee for England, has done an enormous hike for charity, and was now being published by Bloomsbury! In what sense, I asked her, could she possibly be called an ‘imposter’ – an overachiever perhaps, but not an imposter...?