HOW TO SAVE THE AMAZON is about to hit international bookshops
I first met Dom Phillips in the Spring of 2020 when he approached me about his book idea.
I say 'met', but it was in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. I was in Oxford and he was in Brazil, so video calls on WhatsApp were how we communicated. Later in the year, I placed his book proposal with Bonnier Books UK, and Dom embarked on as many of his planned research trips as he could in the midst of a pandemic. One of these trips was to prove fatal.
In May 2022 he and his friend and guide, the indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, travelled to the Javari valley to investigate illegal fishing. There they were murdered, and suddenly Dom's book became more than just a hopeful exploration of the ways in which the Amazon rainforest could be cared for — it became a symbol of resistance against the silencing of journalists.
His wife, Alessandra Sampaio, his family, friends and journalist colleagues came together to make sure his unfinished manuscript was completed and could be published.
It feels miraculous to me that, five years later, How To Save The Amazon is now being published in the UK (by Ithaka, Bonnier Books), US (by Chelsea Green) and Brazil (by Companhia das letras).
The making of this book has been a fight against grief and despair. Everything about it has been collaborative, and I'm excited that readers around the world are now going to be able to join the collaboration by reading the book itself and attending the planned launch events.
They kick off in the UK with events at, among others, the Hay Festival (on 31 May) and Foyles Charing Cross Road London (on the third anniversary of Dom's murder, 5 June). You can find details of the UK events on my Linktree.
After being in the UK, Dom's wife Alessandra Sampaio will travel to the US to take part in events organised by Chelsea Green, and then on to Brazil. The US edition has a different cover to the UK, and Chelsea Green have created beautiful endpapers from Dom's famously illegible notebooks. The text here reads:
“Its magnificence chills the stomach . . . Why would anyone want to destroy this?
What could possibly justify such a monstrous act?”
