In the Review section of The Guardian on Saturday, Robert Macfarlane paid tribute to William Fiennes’ The Snow Geese, a journey through the heartlands of North America on which Fiennes, setting out to write about the birds, ends up writing mainly about people met along the way : “[it] is above all a book about learning to see, and it is a book that changes the vision of its readers.”

The Guardian didn’t say so, but the piece is Macfarlane’s introduction to a new edition of the book (first published in 2002), due out in a “Picador Classic” series in January. A day-long event in celebration of the first titles in the series will be held at Foyles bookshop in London on Saturday, February 7, featuring writers including Fiennes, John Banville, Carol Ann Duffy, Philip Hensher, Alan Hollinghurst and John Lanchester.  For details see the Foyles website.