Dawn Chorus: a collective sound poem

In spring 2021 poet Linda France and sound artist Christo Wallers launched an open call for lines to Dawn Chorus, a collective sound poem for the beginning of the world.

Ornithologists believe that birds singing at dawn in springtime are staking a claim to their territory before they choose a mate. They might simply be glad to have survived the long dark night. The light is a signal to begin again so they can just be birds in the world.

Imagine we have the chance to begin again, to start over – like the birds waking up to a new dawn, singing their hearts out. What sort of world do you want to wake up in? How would you greet it? What would your first words be? How would you sing yourself and the world awake?

Premiered at Durham Book Festival, Dawn Chorus brings together a chorus of voices from all over the UK and beyond to imagine how we might begin again in the face of climate emergency. Dawn Chorus is part of Linda France’s Writing the Climate residency at New Writing North and Newcastle University.