news, sites, and pages of interest about hermits and solitude
A piece in the Irish Examiner titled “Islands of Ireland: Hermit’s Island perfect for a life of contemplation” is partly travel and partly history, as the author visits Hermit’s Island in Lough Key, County Roscommon.
URL: https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/travel/arid-40051055.html
Yahoo! News reprints a 2015 article in Dornob.com about Veijo Rönkkönen, an artist of Finland, “described as a recluse by those who knew him, and how he spent his time was known to few. But following his death in 2010, over 500 concrete figures were discovered sprawled throughout the forest where he lived. Now known as the Veijo Rönkkönen Sculpture Garden, the extensive outdoor museum is a result of 50 years of loving artistry that currently attracts around 40,000 visitors annually.”
URLs: https://news.yahoo.com/over-500-sculptures-found-finland-212243304.html; https://dornob.com/over-500-sculptures-found-in-finland-after-artists-death/.
CNN reports on the latest Italian government effort to remove Mauro Morandi from his hermit life on the island of Budelli.
URL: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/budelli-hermit-eviction-morandi/index.html
In a Guardian piece titled “I ran away to a remote Scottish isle. It was perfect,” Tamsin Calidasa describes her discovery of solitude and the wildness of nature on a remote Scottish island. Her narrative is unique, compelling, and enlightening, and her cultivation of relationship with nature is a key element in her coming to embrace solitude. Excerpt from Calidasa’s book, I Am an Island.
The Guardian offers a picture essay on four Scotland hermits, in “Splendid Isolation: In Search of Scotland’s Hermits.” Two of the hermits may be familiar: Jake Williams and Sara Maitland; the other two less familiar: Davy McDonald and Ken Smith.
