POLLY CLARK

Featured March 9, 2019

TIGER reviews

“Fierce, elegant, and compelling as the tiger itself, TIGER is less a novel than the very force of nature caught in fiction. Grabbed me by the imagination and carried me into the wilds of animal and human nature” Laline Paull, author of The Bees

March 9, 2019

Siberia — a last wilderness and the backdrop to TIGER

The Siberian tiger is the largest cat on earth. Maintaining a territory of up to 500 square miles in one of the harshest environments in the world requires an epic memory and ruthless punishment of all infractions. Creating fear of reprisal is as important to the tiger’s success as actually carrying it out. I was intrigued by how this characteristic of the Siberian tiger has defined both animal and human societies in the region. I had to visit this tiger’s habitat, and experience the extremes of temperature and scarcity that it has evolved to dominate.

October 6, 2018

Larchfield shortlisted in the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards.

I’m so excited to be on the shortlist for Breakthrough Author for these awards. The books on the shortlists are chosen by booksellers, and the winners by readers — ie. the most discerning of judges! If you enjoyed Larchfield, I hope you will vote for it! You can do so here: BAMB Vote. This time last…

September 14, 2018

Larchfield 99p on Kindle for September!

For me this is the equivalent of being stacked fifty deep in Tesco or Asda, which is something I’ve always fantasised about. All I have ever wanted is readers — this is the dispiriting aspect of writing poetry, and the shining opportunity of novels: there is the possibility of reaching real readers who might enjoy…

August 26, 2018

BBC Proms Plus Talk with Glyn Maxwell, Polly Clark and Matthew Sweet

PODCAST AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD HERE To celebrate the Centenary of Bernstein’s birth, several of his works are being performed at the Proms in 2018. On Monday 27th August his Age of Anxiety is Proms 60, and in the interval R3 will broadcast a talk with Glyn Maxwell, Polly Clark and Matthew Sweet about Auden’s impact…

March 16, 2018

In Edinburgh? Join me at Waterstones Thursday 22 March 6.30pm

The paperback edition of Larchfield, Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month, is launched at Waterstones Edinburgh West End on Thursday 22nd March at 6.30pm. All welcome! I’ll be in conversation with Angie Crawford about motherhood, madness, WH Auden, and the unexpected magic of my home town of Helensburgh. Possibly more. There will be wine and…

March 3, 2018

Larchfield – Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month

Published in paperback March 8th, Larchfield has been chosen by Waterstones as their Scottish Book of the Month. This is very exciting, showing that the story still resonates a year after first publication and my vision of a miraculous encounter between a depressed mother and WH Auden in the Scottish town of Helensburgh continues to…

January 31, 2018

The tiger we caught on camera!

Glimpsing the elusive Siberian tiger is all about skilled tracking to find out where their favourite spots are and then setting camera traps in the right locations around these areas. Alexander, the owner of the reserve at Durmin, recently collected this film from one of the traps we set on our trip in November. This…

December 13, 2017

CSI Tiger: tracks, corpse, invisible perpetrator!

The evidence is everywhere: tracks, paw prints, blood spots, body imprints. Deep in the forest the detective work begins. Paw prints are measured to determine the tiger’s size, and whether it is male or female. The way the print appears in the snow gives valuable clues as to when the tiger passed by. Often the…

December 11, 2017

Tiger prints in the Siberian snow…

The tracks, body imprints and grisly kills of wild Siberian tigers surrounded me. Every morning in Durminskoye Reserve in the Far East new tracks criss-crossed the perfect snow. The tracks were so fresh it was clear that tigers had patrolled their territories through the night within a couple of kilometres of where I slept. Deeper…