The Draw of the Sea

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Art Supplies This is a list of the supplies we used, but feel free to use whatever you have in your home or classroom.

There are portraits here of families who have generations-long connections to the sea (including a fascinating chapter about a small-scale lobster fisherman who is trying to fish sustainably and utilise only natural materials in making his lobster pots), of modern-day mermaids, and of the next generation of young naturalists who go rock-pooling with their parents.But there is undeniably a thrill to finding something that connects us to our past, or to another part of the world. Based in Cornwall, Menmuir has many opportunities to explore the seashore and he weaves the results together into a bewitching, hypnotic and all-absorbing hymn to the waves, the shifting pebbles, the animals and plants that make their homes in the water.

Wyl's first full-length non fiction book, The Draw of the Sea, won the Roger Deakin Award from the Society of Authors and is published in 2022. The Draw of the Sea by Wyl Menmuir offers the reader glimpses into the lives of the people Menmuir has known as well as into what makes the sea (or any large body of water for that matter) so compelling. In the specifics of these livelihoods and their rich histories and traditions, Wyl Menmuir captures the universal human connection to the ocean’s edge.Here we dip into the lives of beachcombers, surfers, free-divers, shell-seekers, artists, wildlife-watchers and more, whose obsessions bring them into a daily embrace with depths that can be beautiful and dangerous in equal measure. It is perfect for dipping into and out of as the variation in the chapter content provides constant interest, whilst the over-arching theme of the sea and its pull ensures that the book never loses pace or feels disjointed. I also have always felt drawn to the sea and after reading this book I now understand that many people feel the same way and we all explore the sea in different ways and each have our own unique experiences from its presence. On board a traditional Cornish gig boat, I met a crew of women who take out their frustrations by ploughing through the sea off St Michael’s Mount, and near St Ives I swam with a group of men who have what I can only describe as the nicest of self-help groups, floating in dark waters in the early hours on the north coast.