Orison for a Curlew
Birds are key environmental indicators. Their health or hardship has a message for us about the planet, and our future. What does the fate of the Slender-billed curlew mean for us and the natural world? What happened to it, and why? Orison for a Curlew journeys through a fractured Europe in search of the Slender-billed curlew, following the bird’s migratory path on an odyssey that takes us into the lives of the men and women who have fought to save the landscapes to which the bird belongs. This is a story of beauty, triumph and the struggles of conservation. It is a homage to a creature that may never be seen again.
Horatio Clare
Horatio Clare is a critically acclaimed author and journalist. His first book, Running for the Hills: A Family Story, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His second book, Truant is ‘a stunningly-written memoir’, according to the Irish Times. A Single Swallow was shortlisted for the Dolman Travel Book of the Year; Down to the Sea in Ships won the Stanford-Dolman Travel Book of the Year 2015. Horatio’s first book for children, Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot, won the Branford Boase Award 2016 for best debut children’s book. Clare has written two books about mental health Heavy Light and most recently Your Journey, Your Way. Orison for A Curlew was Horatio’s first book book for Little Toller; he is also the author of Something of his Art. He lives in West Yorkshire.
Author portrait © Billie Charity/Hay Festival
