Chris Smaje
Writer, small-scale farmer, social scientist. Seeking low-energy localism by design so it doesn't arrive by default. New book 'Finding Lights in a Dark Age' just published.
- New essay 'By the Rivers of Babylon: debating agrarianism with Tom Murphy' chrissmaje.com/2026/01/by-t... in which I, er, debate agrarianism with Tom Murphy
- New essay 'Paul and George, in the Machine' chrissmaje.com/2026/01/paul...
- New essay 'Year's end', wrapping up this year's blogging chrissmaje.com/2025/12/year...
- My essay ‘The challenge of food ecomodernism’ discusses the oddities of @georgemonbiot.bsky.social‘s dip into Bezos-funded verification of soil carbon markets & the difficulties of getting a hearing for agroecology & localism in a ‘green’-tech obsessed media www.resilience.org/stories/2025...
- Reposted by Chris SmajeOur team curated a stimulating and eclectic collection of memoirs, investigations, scientific works, cookbooks, and much more for this year’s holiday book guide. 📚⬇️
- Good to see this paper getting Seralinied, though it scarcely compensates for all the disinformation over the years www.science.org/content/arti...
- New essay 'Siren song: digging into the lure of food ecomodernism': chrissmaje.com/2025/12/sire... in which I try to make sense of @georgemonbiot.bsky.social's latest intervention in food system politics (Tom Murphy is up next!)
- A pleasure to talk with Rachel Donald again on Planet Critical about hyper-local futures and my new book 'Finding Lights in a Dark Age' www.planetcritical.com/hyper-local-...
- Podcast with ffinlo Costain on FarmGate about my new book 'Finding Lights in a Dark Age' just out. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...
- Reposted by Chris SmajeListen to @chrissmaje.bsky.social talk about his new book, Finding Lights in a Dark Age, on the Doomer Optimism podcast #BookSky #Nonfiction www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r5U...
- New essay coinciding with the US publication of my book 'Finding Lights in a Dark Age' today chrissmaje.com/2025/11/pira... #PirateModernism #RIPDesHarris
- Nice review of my book 'Finding Lights in a Dark Age' by Hadden Turner at Front Porch Republic
- Finding Lights in a Dark Age by @chrissmaje.bsky.social is 'a guidebook (or a guiding light) to navigate the “dark ages” ahead and to journey toward localist agrarian flourishing' #BookSky www.frontporchrepublic.com/2025/11/buil...
- New essay 'Words and worship' chrissmaje.com/2025/10/word...
- Reposted by Chris SmajeHappy Publication Day! Grow a New Garden by Becky Searle 🇺🇸🇨🇦 Finding Lights in a Dark Age by @chrissmaje.bsky.social 🇬🇧 #Nonfiction
- My book 'Finding Lights in a Dark Age' is published in the UK today. I'm looking forward to seeing its travels in the world. Order information here: chrissmaje.com/book/finding... Short blog post here: chrissmaje.com/2025/10/find...
- Reposted by Chris SmajeThoroughly enjoyed "Finding Lights in a Dark Age" by @chrissmaje.bsky.social, which for unknown reasons arrived with me before the official launch date. I might try to write a longer review at some point, but not tonight.
- New essay 'My constituents are ... leaving town' chrissmaje.com/2025/10/my-c... Agrarianism, urbanism, religion, nationalism & the problems with parliamentary politics all in one post!
- Reposted by Chris SmajeEnjoying "Finding Lights in a Dark Age" by that @chrissmaje.bsky.social which arrived a good week before the official publication date, but I need to stop reading now and go to the allotment... You can buy it and support your local bookshop at Hive: www.hive.co.uk/Product/Chri...
- David Bollier's blog post about the podcast I did with him is here: www.bollier.org/blog/chris-s...
- Here's a pod I did with commoning expert @davidbollier.bsky.social, just out. It was a pleasure speaking with him david-bollier.simplecast.com/episodes/chr...
- New essay 'In common' chrissmaje.com/2025/09/in-c...
- My essay 'Open country: romanticism, modernism & the meta-crisis' is at #Romanticon substack.com/home/post/p-...
- I enjoyed talking with Lucy Ridge about my new book 'Finding Lights in a Dark Age' on Agroecology Radio Hour agroecologyradiohour.buzzsprout.com/2402605/epis... #DarkAgeLight
- New essay 'Aiee, AI! Or, feeling the story' chrissmaje.com/2025/09/aiee... A tangled tale of artificial intelligence, global crisis & what keeps an author awake at night
- Just finished recording the audiobook of my 'Finding Lights in a Dark Age' at the excellent Bert Jansch studio in Frome
- New essay, 'From Glastonbury to Gaza: no direction home' chrissmaje.com/2025/08/from...
- Thank you, and nicely put
- New essay 'From Frome to Glastonbury', telling tales of my walk to the Glastonbury Festival, of cities, singers and how we seek home
- New essay 'Livestock & climate change further explained', building on my previous essay in response to some queries about it chrissmaje.com/2025/07/live...
- New essay 'Go solar, go vegan & still collapse: beyond the global environmental problems framework' chrissmaje.com/2025/07/go-s... discussing new data on fossil fuel emissions, strange data on livestock agriculture emissions and the need for localism
- New essay O! Enkidu! chrissmaje.com/2025/07/o-en... with news of Gilgamesh, authoritarian states & my friend Eric Farnsworth's new book
- I should have mentioned in my previous post that the Barnes & Noble preorder offer for my book applies in the US only. Today is the last day of the offer!
- You can now preorder my new book 'Finding Lights in a Dark Age' from Barnes & Noble. Rewards members (it's free to sign up online) get 25% discount, premium members get a further 10% off: barnesandnoble.com/w/finding-li... Use PREORDER25 at checkout. #BNPreorder #BookSky @barnesandnoble.com
- You can now preorder my new book 'Finding Lights in a Dark Age' from Barnes & Noble. Rewards members (it's free to sign up online) get 25% discount, premium members get a further 10% off: barnesandnoble.com/w/finding-li... Use PREORDER25 at checkout. #BNPreorder #BookSky @barnesandnoble.com
- I enjoyed speaking with Robert on this podcast, now available: open.spotify.com/episode/5Dzh...
- Looking forward to talking about #DarkAgeLight & #FoodSecurity @ #GlastonburySpeakersForum #Glastonbury2025. The last chapter of my forthcoming book involves a fictional walk to Glastonbury, so I decided to walk there for real😀 Maybe I'll post as I go!
- New essay 'A clown & two romances' chrissmaje.com/2025/06/a-cl... with news of global war, clowns, sheep, mountains & my impending talks at #GlastonburyFestival
- New essay 'Root and branch' chrissmaje.com/2025/06/root...
- New post 'Looking forward...' with a bit more news about my new book, my blog, recently deceased philosophers and other such matters chrissmaje.com/2025/05/look... #DarkAgeLight
- RIP Alasdair MacIntyre. A big influence on me among many. www.wordonfire.org/articles/rem...
