Lara Maiklem
AUTHOR

Lara Maiklem

History | Science & Engineering
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Lara Maiklem FSA is a mudlark. She wanders the shores of the River Thames at low tide searching for lost and forgotten objects that tell tales of the past and bring forgotten Londoners to life. She never digs or use a metal detector and often walks little more than a mile in 5 hours, yet she can travel 2,000 years back in time through the objects that are revealed by the tide: prehistoric flint tools, medieval pilgrim badges, Tudor shoes, Georgian wig curlers and Victorian pottery, ordinary objects left behind by the ordinary people who made London what it is today. She grew up on a dairy farm in Surrey and moved to London in the early 1990s. For several years the river was her go-to place in the chaos of the city, then one day she found herself at the top of a set of old wooden river stairs, looking down onto the foreshore itself. That was over 20 years ago, since then it has become her obsession; a weekly amble in central London, lost in the minutiae of her surroundings, or a bracing march further east through the bleak marshes of the Estuary. In 2012, she became the first person to share mudlarking with the world on social media as ‘The London Mudlark’. What began as an anonymous time filler between feeding, burping and changing baby twins quickly attracted followers and media attention and she has now written two books: 'Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames' (Sunday Times Bestseller, a Radio 4 Book of the Week, Winner of the 2020 Indie Book Award for Non Fiction); and 'A Field Guide to Larking: Beachcombing, Mudlarking, Fieldwalking and More' (a Waterstones Best Book of 2021 and shortlisted for the London Archaeologist Book Prize, 2022). Lara been featured in many international newspapers and magazines, including The Times, Washington Post and Der Spiegel and has written about mudlarking for BBC Radio, The Telegraph, Financial Times, The Guardian and The Spectator magazine. Her TV and radio appearances include the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, Smithsonian and the Travel Channel. She has consulted for books, museums, film and television, and collaborated on exhibitions with the Tate Modern art gallery and The House of European History at the European Parliament. She regularly speaks about mudlarking at private events and festivals, including a TED Talk in 2019. In 2022 Lara was made a Fellow of the eminent Society of Antiquaries in recognition of her work in increasing public knowledge of mudlarking and in 2023 she was made a Brother of the Artworker's Guild. If you are interested in mudlarking without getting muddy, you can join over 250k other armchair mudlarks and follow her regular posts on social media: Facebook/Twitter: @LondonMudlark Instgram: @london.mudlark For more information, visit: www.laramiklem.com ... AND LOOK OUT FOR HER NEXT BOOK, IT'S COMING SOON!
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  • Mudlarking cover art

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  • A Field Guide to Larking cover art

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  • Mudlark cover art

    • Mudlark

    • In Search of London's Past Along the River Thames
    • By: Lara Maiklem
    • Narrated by: Xanthe Elbrick
    • Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
    • Release date: 05-11-19
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 4 ratings

    Regular price: £17.99 or 1 Credit

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