Ben Masters | Granta

Ben Masters

Ben Masters is a writer and an academic. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, the New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement and the Literary Review.

Coming soon - June 2024

The Flitting

Ben Masters

In March 2020, Ben Masters’ father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He was never happier than when outdoors, and spent his free time chasing butterflies. Despite his attempts to share this passion with his son, Ben was resistant. But as his father spent his final months confined to the house, unable for the first summer of his life to follow the butterfly cycle, Ben became his connection to the outside world.

Blending memoir with nature writing, literary biography and pop-cultural history, this is an absorbing account of loss and grief and how moments of trauma can trigger poignant transformations.