Valerie Trouet is a professor of dendrochronology, or arboriculture, at the University of Arizona, USA. She studies the climate on the basis of the growth rings of trees.
In her book “What trees tell us” she shows how dendrochronology has evolved into one of the most important tools for studying the complex interactions between forests, people and the climate. She does this on the basis of all kinds of stories about annual rings.
The Jan Wolkers Prize is named after the Dutch writer, sculptor and nature lover Jan Wolkers, known for the novel “Turkish Delight” and is an initiative of the World Wildlife Fund, the Volkskrant and the Dutch radio program “Early Birds”.
Trouet beat more than 120 other nature books submitted. With “Messages from the valley” by Stefan Brijs, another Belgian appeared on the shortlist of five authors. Trouet will receive a cash prize of 5,000 euros and an author’s portrait of the Dutch illustrator Siegfried Woldhek.
“What trees tell us” was published by Lannoo in May.
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