Lara Maiklem

'''Lara Maiklem''' FSA (born 1971)<ref>{{cite web |title='I'm obsessed': mudlarking for treasure along the Thames |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/22/lara-maiklem-mudlarking-lost-and-found-on-the-river-thames-interview |website=the Guardian |access-date=12 July 2021 |language=en |date=22 August 2019}}</ref> is a British author, editor and publishing consultant, known for her writing and speaking on mudlarking. She has been mudlarking since 2012. She was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2022. alt=Author and mudlark Lara Maiklem|thumb|Author and mudlark Lara Maiklem beside the river Thames estuary, holding a recently-found Iron Age pot

== Personal life ==

Maiklem grew up on a dairy farm in Surrey. She read sociology and social anthropology at Newcastle University before moving to London where she worked in publishing. She now lives with her partner and children on the Kent coast.<ref>{{cite web |last1=House |first1=Christian |title=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-daily-telegraph-telegraph-magazine/20190810/281522227708345 |via=PressReader |access-date=13 July 2021}}</ref>

== Mudlarking ==

During her childhood Maiklem was fascinated by the past in the form of pottery shards, glass bottle stoppers, fossils and clay pipes, which she found in the garden and fields of the family's farm.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lea |first1=Richard |title='I'm obsessed': mudlarking for treasure along the Thames |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/22/lara-maiklem-mudlarking-lost-and-found-on-the-river-thames-interview |website=the Guardian |access-date=13 July 2021 |language=en |date=22 August 2019}}</ref> After moving to London she began to mudlark on the tidal banks of the River Thames where she scavenged for objects that had been lost and dropped into the river. Some of Maiklem's most treasured discoveries are a Tudor shoe, a medieval pilgrim badge, a complete Iron Age pot, a Roman auxiliary soldier's sword scabbard chape and a 16th-century sword.

== Media == In August 2019, Maiklem's first book ''Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames'' was published by Bloomsbury in the UK, Australia and New Zealand and under the title ''Mudlark: Searching for London's Past Along the River Thames'' by Liveright in the US and Canada. ''Mudlarking'' appeared in a cartoon by Nick Newman in Private Eye.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}

''The Guardian'' called it "A fascinating insight into the discarded objects and lost things that wash up on the foreshore".<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/16/mudlarking-lara-maiklem-river-thames-review|title=Mudlarking by Lara Maiklem review – lost and found on the River Thames|last1=Wilson|first1=Frances|date=16 August 2019|work=The Guardian|accessdate=4 December 2019}}</ref> ''The Daily Telegraph'' considered her description of the fog to be "worthy of Dickens or Joseph Conrad".<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/mudlarking-lost-found-river-thames-lara-maiklem-review-swirling/|title=Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames by Lara Maiklem, review: the swirling mess of underwater history|last1=Lewis|first1=Roger|date=5 August 2019|work=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=4 December 2019}}</ref> Literary Review described it as "A lovely, lyrical, gently meandering book, filled with fascinating diversions and detail".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://literaryreview.co.uk/a-real-muck-raker|title=Neil Armstrong - A Real Muck Raker|website=Literary Review|language=en|access-date=2020-01-10}}</ref>

On publication it became an instant Sunday Times Bestseller and was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week in August 2019. ''Mudlarking'' was Book of the Month at Foyles, an Observer Book of the Year 2019, a Daily Express Greatest Read 2019 and an Apple Books pick for 2019. ''Mudlarking'' won the 2020 Indie Award for Non Fiction.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Booksellers Association - Indie Book Awards 2020: winners announced|url=https://www.booksellers.org.uk/industryinfo/industryinfo/latestnews/Indie-Book-Awards-2020-winners-announced|access-date=2021-12-27|website=The Booksellers Association of the United Kingdom & Ireland Limited|archive-date=9 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609143723/https://www.booksellers.org.uk/industryinfo/industryinfo/latestnews/Indie-Book-Awards-2020-winners-announced|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2021 Bloomsbury published her second book, ''A Field Guide to Larking: Beachcombing, Mudlarking, Fieldwalking and More'', an illustrated guide to how to search for lost objects and how to identify what you find. It was a Waterstones Best Book of 2021 and was shortlisted for the London Archaeology Prize. In 2022 she published a children’s book, ''Looking for Treasure'' with Harper Collins and in 2024 Maiklem published her fourth book with Bloomsbury, ''A Mudlarking Year: Finding Treasure in Every Season.''

Maiklem has made radio and television appearances on the BBC, Smithsonian Channel, Travel Channel, Channel 5, NPR and ABC Australia. Maiklem did a TED Talk in October 2019<ref>{{Citation|title=Mudlarking: Lost And Found On The River Thames {{!}} Lara Maiklem {{!}} TEDxNewcastle| date=12 November 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uein6tk-wbU|language=en|access-date=2020-01-10}}</ref> and a Google Talk in September 2019.<ref>{{Citation|title=Lara Maiklem: "Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames" {{!}} Talks at Google| date=15 October 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvF7_0Yfbbw|language=en|access-date=2020-01-10}}</ref> She wrote a short series about mudlarking for BBC Radio 3, has written articles for the ''Guardian'',<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/sep/14/london-history-mud-thames-foreshore-mudlarking|title=London's history in mud: the woman collecting what the Thames washes up|last=Maiklem|first=Lara|date=2016-09-14|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-01-10|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> the ''Telegraph'', the ''Financial Times, Daily Express, BBC Countryfile'' and ''The Spectato''r<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/a-river-of-lost-souls-the-extraordinary-secrets-of-the-thames/|title=A river of lost souls: the extraordinary secrets of the Thames|date=2019-12-14|website=The Spectator|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-10}}</ref> and has spoken on mudlarking at private events and festivals.

==Publications== * (2019) ''Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames'', Bloomsbury (UK, Aus and NZ edition) {{ISBN|978-1408889213}} * (2019) ''Mudlark: In Search of London's Past Along the River Thames'', Liveright (US and CAN edition) {{ISBN|978-1631494963}} *(2021) ''A Field Guide to Larking: Beachcombing, Mudlarking, Fieldwalking and More'', Bloomsbury {{ISBN|978-1526634214}} *(2022) ''The Armourer's House'', Rosemary Sutcliff (introduction by Lara Maiklem) {{ISBN|978-1919642116}} *(2022) ''Looking for Treasure'', Harper Collins {{ISBN|978-0008552121}} *(2024) ''A Mudlarking Year: Finding Treasure in Every Season'', Bloomsbury {{ISBN|978-1526660756}}

== External links == * [https://laramaiklem.com www.laramaiklem.com]

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maiklem, Lara}} Category:Living people Category:1971 births Category:Alumni of Newcastle University Category:British non-fiction writers Category:British women non-fiction writers Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Category:Writers from Surrey