30/12/2025
Dear All, some very sad news.
Juliet Robertson has passed away.
Here is a post from her sister:
"It’s with sad hearts that we share the news that Juliet died in the morning, Saturday 27th December, with peaceful dignity and at home with her family, in keeping with her wishes.
Having met her diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in December 2020 with such courage, humour, acceptance and fierce determination, Juliet used her last five years to document her journey not least through this site, and through poetry, to continue to educate on the benefits of nature and the outdoors, and to fundraise.
In keeping with this, her book Bloodlines - living and dying with cancer, is available to purchase here: https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/blood-lines with all royalties donated to UK cancer charities, specifically chosen by Juliet. If you already have a copy, please do buy another and pass it on to a friend, a local library, hospital or hospice.
The last poem in her book, “Let Me Be a Goose”, imagines her transformation at the point of her death. You can hear her share it on BBC Sounds here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0m4n245?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile and also on the Christmas Day episode of Pick of the Year with Jeanette Winterson: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002ntqy?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile
“The other geese will tolerate my changing form
and welcome me, a short-term stray,
hitching a ride on the wildfowl turnpike,
knowing I am heading onwards, heading home
for this will be my one-more flight on my final day.”
Minutes after the moment of her death, we gathered on the back porch of Juliet and Mark’s Aberdeenshire home with her son, Joe. Together we watched a long skein of pink-footed geese swerve across the pale, early-morning skies towards the house - as if to collect her - and then swoop north, Juliet evidently in their midst."
Fly high Juliet.
Personal tributes can also be left on Caring Bridge. Link in comments.
