Polly Atkin discusses 'The Company of Owls'

Join Bookends for an evening with Cumbrian writer and poet Polly Atkin as she talks about her latest book, ‘The Company of Owls’a nocturnal love song to the owls that surround Polly’s Lake Districthome.

Polly is the author ofSome of Us Just Fall, longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing and winner of the 2024 Lakeland Book of the Year award.

In the woods above Polly Atkin’s home in Grasmere, Cumbria live the tawny owls she calls her neighbours. Each night, they come down to her cottage at dusk, calling out as night falls – in particular a trio of owlets she watches grow from fledglings to young adults.

As the antics of the owl siblings develop – their capacity to play, to bicker, to share and to protect – they encourage her to think differently about some of the big needs of all our lives: solitude and companionship, care and belonging, rest and retreat. And into the frame step questions about all sorts of relationships, from how we feel when in darkness to the homes and connection we so desperately seek. The Company Of Owls is a love song to these incredible creatures, and a reflection on what makes them, and us, unique and distinctive.

It’s a call to find joy in unexpected places and times. It is a lesson in learning to listen – to really listen – when all around us seems clamour and noise.