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About

About Ryan Mizzen

I’m a Freelance Writer and Children’s Picture Book Author. I’m passionate about raising awareness of our climate and environmental crises through my writing.

Signed copies of Hedgey-A and the Honey Bees, are available to purchase here. Nanook and the Melting Arctic is my second children’s picture book and can be purchased here.

“A person of great influence.” – Thrive Global

My Story

I achieved a First Class BSc in Climate Change (Hons) from Coventry University, which was one of the first universities in Europe to offer this undergraduate programme. I then spent four years working in the energy efficiency and offshore wind industry in the UK, but realised there was more I could be doing.

I went on to gain a Distinction in an MA in Creative Writing (via Distance Learning) from Teesside University. In 2018, I was named as an Environmental Changemaker, following on from the UN Young Champions of the Earth competition, where I proposed using creative writing as a means of science communication to engage more people about the climate crisis.

As Yuval Noah Harari writes in 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, “Humans think in stories rather than in facts, numbers or equations, and the simpler the story, the better.”

Non-fiction engages the analytical part of our brain, but fiction allows us to live vicariously and engages us on an emotional level, which is essential for behavioural change. I believe that as we’re staring down humanity’s greatest challenge in the form of the climate crisis, we need new and innovative ways of doing things, including how we communicate the crisis to a wider audience.

The path I’ve followed is by no means an ordinary route, but these are no ordinary times. This will be the defining crisis of our time, and if we fail in our responsibilities, countless future generations will suffer the consequences.

Writing

I have enjoyed writing for as long as I can remember. I went to junior school in Zimbabwe and won awards for my prose and poetry from The National Institute of Allied Arts. When I was 16, I had my first letter published by the New Statesman magazine.

In addition to my MA in Creative Writing from Teesside University, I’ve completed online writing courses with Oxford University, Harvard University and the University of East Anglia.

My articles appear in various publications including The Independent, The Bookseller, Mongabay, Africa Geographic, Climate Stories Hub, Kiteworld Magazine, IKSurfMag, The Thomson Reuters Foundation, The Writing Cooperative, and The South African Newspaper.

An “avid climate change blogger” – Thomson Reuters Foundation

Interviews

I’ve been interviewed by the Huffington Post, Talk Radio Europe, Thrive Global, Authority Magazine, Dragonfly Eco and Deborah Kalb.

You can contact me here.