Amanda Thomson and Malachy Tallack

Glens, lochs and Caledonian forests; Scotland is blessed with some of the most outstanding nature right on our doorstep. Many have successfully enshrined it in their writing: Nan Shepherd, John Muir, Gavin Maxwell and Adam Nicolson to name a few, and we’re so lucky to welcome the next generation of Scottish nature writers, Amanda Thomson and Malachy Tallack, this October.

Amanda Thomson, writer of the A Scots Dictionary of Nature and contributor of the Kathleen Jamie edited Antlers of Water, returns with Belonging. Reflecting on family, identity and nature, Belonging is a personal memoir about what it is to have and make a home. It is a love letter to nature, especially the northern landscapes of Scotland and the Scots pinewoods of Abernethy – home to standing dead trees known as snags, which support the overall health of the forest.
Beautifully written and featuring Amanda Thomson’s artwork and photography throughout, it explores how place, language and family shape us and make us who we are.

Malachy Tallack has been passionate about fishing since he was young. Growing up in Shetland, with its myriad of lochs, he and his brother would roam the island in search of trout, and in so doing discovered a sense of freedom, of wonder, and an abiding passion. Illuminated by Water is Malachy’s personal attempt to understand that freedom that angling can give, and to trace the origins and sources of that sense of wonder. He reflects on other aspects of angling, from its cultural significance and the emerging moral complexities to the intricacies of tying a fly. Beautifully written and hugely engaging, this book both articulates the inexplicable lure of the river and the endless desire to return to it.

Make sure you don’t miss this excellent event as these two great writers talk about their latest spell-binding books.