In partnership with Lancaster University, Litfest is delighted to welcome marine biologist and best-selling author Helen Scales to give the 2026 Lancaster Environment Lecture.

‘I am still angry about what’s happened so far and scared about what could come. But I also have hope knowing that ocean life is resilient and has an immense power to recover’ Helen Scales, interview for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, 2025

A healthy ocean matters to us all, from the food we eat, to the weather we experience and the air we breathe. Yet the ocean is changing faster than at any point in human history — hotter, more polluted, its vibrant life fading. Reflecting on more than twenty years of exploring the seas around Britain and further afield, marine biologist and author Helen Scales sees there’s still much to fight for and good reason to be hopeful. She thinks it is vital to keep feeling a sense of awe in the living wonders of the seas, near and far, while demanding a better future for the ocean which is still well within reach.

‘In elegant prose the author offers a manifesto of hope: providing answers to global problems while inspiring a sense of awe at the majesty that has long existed beneath the waves’ The Times

Dr Helen Scales is an acclaimed marine biologist, writer, and broadcaster. She writes books for adults and children that explore the living wonders of the ocean and the living planet. Among her many books are What the Wild Sea Can Be, The Brilliant Abyss, Spirals in Time and the international bestseller, What a Shell Can Tell. She teaches at Cambridge University and is a storytelling ambassador for the Save Our Seas Foundation.

Dr John Childs is Senior Lecturer at the Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University.

The Lancaster Environment Lecture 2026: Helen Scales