Polly Atkin – The Company of Owls
WithPolly Atkin
In conversation withCaro Clarke
On:6th November 2024, 7:00pm - 8:00pm
It's a joy to be welcoming Polly Atkin back to the bookshop for the launch of her new book, The Company of Owls. As the autumn nights draw in, join Polly Atkin in a nocturnal love song to the owls that surround her Lake District home – a stunning meditation on learning to listen in a world full of noise. Atkin will be in conversation with her literary agent, Caro Clarke of Portobello Literary.
This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. There will be a signing after the event.
In-person vouchers can be redeemed on the night of the event against a single copy of The Company of Owls – we will have a list of attendees with vouchers to be redeemed. Please note that only one voucher can be redeemed per book. Livestream vouchers are valid until the day after the event and can be redeemed on our website against a single copy of The Company of Owls.
About The Company of Owls:
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 in 2023.
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, individuality and belonging, rest and retreat.
The other four species of owls that live wild in Cumbria swoop through the pages, including the dayhunting short-eared owl, but as much as anything they highlight the unusual access Atkin has to the tawny owls of Grasmere. And into the frame step questions about all sorts of relationships, from how we feel when in darkness to our entanglement with the digital world and its ability to connect us across continents.
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 – in a world full of noise.
Please note: Tickets for our events are non-refundable. Professional photography and videography may take place during this event. Thank you for your understanding.
Participants:
Polly Atkin Author
Polly Atkin (FRSL) is a poet and nonfiction writer. She has published three poetry pamphlets and two collections – Basic Nest Architecture (Seren: 2017) and Much With Body (Seren: 2021). Her nonfiction includes Recovering Dorothy: The Hidden Life of Dorothy Wordsworth (Saraband: 2021), a Barbellion-longlisted biography of Dorothy’s later life and illness, and a memoir exploring place, belonging and disability, Some Of Us Just Fall: On Nature and Not Getting Better (Sceptre: 2023), which won the Hunter Davies Lakeland Book of the Year 2024 and has been longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2024. She works as a freelancer from her home in the English Lake District. In 2023 she and her partner took ownership of historic Grasmere bookshop Sam Read Bookseller.
Caro Clarke Chair
Caro Clarke is a literary agent at Portobello Literary and the Chair of the Association of Scottish Literary Agents. They have over twelve years' experience in publishing – at Transworld (PRH) and at Canongate Books as a Senior Rights Manager. They were named Rights Professional of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2021. In 2019, they co-founded the Nan Shepherd Prize for underrepresented nature writers.
The venue
The Portobello Bookshop
46 Portobello High Street
Edinburgh
EH15 1DA
Telephone: 0131 629 6756
Website: www.theportobellobookshop.com
Wheelchair Access
We have a ramp at the front of the shop which has a ratio of 1:10 and loading capacity of 300kg, and so should be able to be used by most wheelchair users or those with mobility vehicles. The front doors are fully automated. Our shop interior is designed to allow access throughout for wheelchair users and prams, though please note there is only 700mm wide clearance to access the staff toilet.
Sound
We use a PA system to enhance the audio at our live events. We also have a hearing loop system installed, if you’d like to use our loop system during an event please let us know and we’ll make sure we have it set up and connected to the live audio feed during the event. If you wish to attend an event and require BSL interpretation, please give us a few weeks notice and we’ll do our best to arrange an interpreter.