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  • Published: 30 June 2022
  • ISBN: 9781473589940
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320

Birdgirl

‘Lyrical, poignant and insightful.’ Margaret Atwood

  • Mya-Rose Craig



"Birdwatching has never felt like a hobby, or a pastime I can pick up and put down, but a thread running through the pattern of my life, so tightly woven in that there's no way of pulling it free and leaving the rest of my life intact."

Discover Mya-Rose Craig's moving and life-affirming memoir about family, searching for rare birds, and the power of our natural world.

'Lyrical, poignant and insightful' MARGARET ATWOOD (on Twitter)
'Filled with hope and energy' Guardian

In her memoir, Mya-Rose Craig and her family travel the world in search of rare birds and astonishing landscapes. But a shadow moves with them, too - her mother's deepening mental health crisis. In the face of this struggle, the Craigs turn to nature again and again, and every time it offers joy and stillness.

On these journeys, Mya-Rose also witnesses the inequality and destruction we are inflicting on our fragile planet. And so, through the simple, mindful act of looking for birds, she becomes ever more determined to campaign for all our survival.

'A delightful account of a young life devoted to birding - and the fight to save birds and the places they live' Stephen Moss

* Winner of a Somerset Maugham Award *
* Longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing *
* Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize *

  • Published: 30 June 2022
  • ISBN: 9781473589940
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320

Praise for Birdgirl

Mya-Rose Craig has done more than anyone to promote birding and environmental issues to young people from all backgrounds - especially women of colour - and deserves our admiration and praise.

Stephen Moss, author of THE ROBIN

Lyrical, poignant and insightful.

Margaret Atwood, author of THE HANDMAID'S TALE

Mya-Rose's passion and dedication for the causes she believes in are testament to what we humans can achieve when we are at our best.

Liz Bonnin, President of the Wildlife Trust

Reads like a cross between a travel diary, an ornithologist's guide and a thriller.

The Times

A frank, open account of how birdwatching provided solace during Mya-Rose's teenage years... We are given an insight into a fascinating family of bird-lovers.

BBC Wildlife

A must read for bird lovers.

Yours

Craig manages to capture so vividly what birds mean to her and her family... filled with hope and energy.

Guardian

Inspiring... A forthright and compelling chronicle by a remarkable birder, environmentalist, and advocative.

Booklist

A talented memoirist and a passionate environmental advocate.

Observer