New nature writing is a relatively new literary genre, but it’s become so popular that Barack Obama included one of these books, H is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald, in his summer holiday reading list

[ What is this new genre? New nature writing combines memoir with the author’s experience with nature. The author has suffered a trauma, and they turn to the natural world for solace. In H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald tells of the unexpected loss of her father in her late thirties. To distract herself from her grief, she attempts to tame a hawk. It’s not surprising that Obama would choose this book—he, too, lost his father. Similarly, Amy Liptrot, in her book The Outrun, describes her return to the isle of Orkney, where she took long walks and rebuilt a stone wall as a way of recovering from alcohol addiction and the breakup of a relationship. These are but two of many recent examples.

Writing about nature as a way of easing the pain of illness or trauma is nothing new, of course. John Keats, for example, wrote his poem Ode to a Nightingale in 1819 as he battled tuberculosis.

The natural environment seems not only to help us heal, but also to unblock our creative powers. In his novel Amsterdam, Ian McEwan describes the frustration of his main character, Clive Linley, who feels blocked as he tries to finish a musical composition. He leaves London because, as McEwan writes, Linley knew he “needed mountains, big skies. The Lake District, perhaps”.

What is it about nature that’s so healing and so inspiring? It seems that just looking at a natural object has a powerful and positive effect.

Roger Ulrich at the University of Delaware examined the medical records of 46 patients who’d undergone gall bladder surgery between 1972 and 1981. Twenty-three of them convalesced in a ward that looked out onto an open space full of trees, while the other 23 had a view of a brick wall. Ulrich found that those who viewed the trees had a shorter post-operative stay and took fewer strong analgesics than did the other patients.

Whatever it is that the natural environment does for us—whether it’s something in the environment itself, or the exposure to natural light or an increase in exercise that stimulates the release of endorphins—it seems that experiencing the natural world has great power.

Distilling that experience into words, music or art can help us even more. As Helen Macdonald explained in a recent interview, writing down her experiences gave her a sense “that something was done, and it was a goodbye to my father and to that time”.

Next time you feel blocked creatively, therefore, or you seek relief from pain as you recover from a trauma, make sure you spend some time in natural surroundings.