Words and Wonderings

Words and Wonderings is a celebration of gratitude, kindness, mindfulness, truth and the love of beauty through the gifts and giftedness of poets, artists, musicians, gardeners, bakers and many more, who discover their creativity in communion with others.

Through conversations and connections Joy Mead explores the true meaning of community – beyond the jargon of ‘community cohesion’ and the ‘Big Society’.

But what matters most and is central to this book is wonder – be it at the sunrise or the food on our plates, the intricacy of a grain of wheat or the diversity of people, bread baked and broken, gardens, orchards, kitchens, poetry, painting, music … or simply being a part of the way good communities make themselves and value their distinctiveness. The words of this book all begin a process towards what can’t be told but can be shared, towards recovering that sense of wonder at our earth and one another, which is what justifies our being alive.

Includes conversations with:
organic baker and founder of Bread Matters Andrew Whitley
editor of Resurgence magazine Satish Kumar
author of Gaia's Kitchen Julia Ponsonby
writer and broadcaster Colin Tudge
editor of Permaculture Magazine Maddy Harland
poet, storyteller and ex Iona Abbey Warden Jan Sutch Pickard
composer and conductor Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
Director of the St Magnus Festival, Orkeny, Glenys Hughes
artist Sophie Hacker
award-winning poet Lesley Saunders
artist and designer Stephen Raw
Methodist minister and retreat leader Donald Eadie
interfaith worker Sister Maire Hayes
former Ugandan refugee and founder of BK.LUWO Filda Abelkec
gardener, educator and artist Dawn Sanders


Joy Mead is a member of the Iona Community and the author of The One Loaf, A Telling Place, Making Peace in Practice and Poetry and Where Are the Altars? She leads creative writing groups, and is involved in development education and justice and peace work.