Helen Macdonald (writer) explained

Helen Macdonald (born 1970) is a non-binary English writer and naturalist. They are best known as the author of H is for Hawk, which won the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize[1] and Costa Book Award;[2] in 2016, it won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger in France.

Early life

Macdonald was born in 1970, the child of Daily Mirror photojournalist Alisdair Macdonald, and grew up in Surrey.[3] Writing about their childhood for The Guardian in 2018, Macdonald said,

"I grew up in Camberley, a Victorian town on the A30 in Surrey. It was made of pine forests, golf courses, elderly army officers with parade ground voices, Conservative clubs and tea dances. In 1975 my parents had bought a little white house in Tekels Park, a private estate near the town centre. It was owned by the Theosophical Society. My parents were journalists and knew nothing of theosophy, but they loved the Park, and I did too. No place has so indelibly shaped my writing life".[4]

Macdonald went on to study English at Cambridge University.[5] they were a research fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge from 2004 to 2007,[6] and an affiliated research scholar at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, until 2015.[7]

Career

Macdonald has written and narrated several radio programmes, and appeared on television in the BBC Four documentary series, Birds Britannia, in 2010.[8] Her books include Shaler's Fish (2001), Falcon (2006), H is for Hawk (2014), and Vesper Flights (2020). Macdonald received critical acclaim for H is for Hawk, including the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction and the Costa Book Award.[9] The book—which also became a Sunday Times best-seller—describes the year Macdonald spent after the death of her father training a Northern goshawk named Mabel, and includes biographical material about the naturalist and writer T. H. White.[10]

Macdonald also helped make the film "10 X Murmuration" with filmmaker Sarah Wood as part of a 2015 exhibition at the Brighton Festival.[11] In H is for Hawk: A New Chapter, part of BBC's Natural World series in 2017, she trained a new goshawk chick.[12]

Macdonald presented the BBC Four documentary, The Hidden Wilds of the Motorway, in 2020.[13] That same year saw the publication of a fourth book, Vesper Flights, a collection of essays about "the human relationship to the natural world". In 2023, with Sinistra Blaché, she published a novel, Prophet.[14] [15] [16] [17]

Personal life

Macdonald lives in Hawkedon, Suffolk. She resided with a parrot, Birdoole, who died in 2021.[18] Macdonald's goshawk, Mabel, died in 2014. Macdonald is non-binary and uses she/they pronouns.[19]

Bibliography

Poetry

Collections

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Clark. Nick. Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction: Helen Macdonald wins with 'H is for Hawk'. The Independent. 5 November 2014. 10 November 2014. 20 November 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141120181217/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/samuel-johnson-prize-for-nonfiction-helen-macdonald-wins-with-h-is-for-hawk-9839212.html. live.
  2. Anita Singh, H is for Hawk wins Costa Book of the Year award, The Telegraph, 27 January 2015.
  3. Book: MacDonald, Helen.. Vesper Flights.. 2020. Yellow Jersey Press. 9780224097017. UK. 1191809886.
  4. News: Helen Macdonald on Camberley, Surrey: 'No place has so indelibly shaped my writing life'. Macdonald. Helen. 18 June 2018. The Guardian. 22 June 2018. 1 August 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180801163714/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/18/helen-macdonald-made-in-camberley. live.
  5. News: House. Christian. H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, review: 'a soaring triumph'. The Telegraph. 21 February 2015. 27 January 2015. 21 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150221152316/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11002856/H-is-for-Hawk-by-Helen-Macdonald-review-a-soaring-triumph.html. live.
  6. Web site: News and Events, Jesus College, Cambridge. 8 April 2015. Jesus College, Cambridge. 28 January 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150309005140/http://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/college-life/news-events/. 9 March 2015. dead.
  7. Web site: Helen Macdonald, Department of History and Philosophy of Science . 8 April 2015 . University of Cambridge . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150325163957/http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/people/macdonald.html . 25 March 2015 .
  8. News: Helen Macdonald biography . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150116124053/http://www.marsh-agency.co.uk/authors/?id=3513 . 16 January 2015 . 8 April 2015 . The Marsh Agency.
  9. Web site: Moss, Stephen . Helen Macdonald: a bird's eye view of love and loss . The Guardian . 5 November 2014 . 11 December 2016 . 9 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170309141531/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/05/helen-macdonald-interview-winner-samuel-johnson-prize-falconry . live .
  10. Cambridge News, INTERVIEW: Cambridge author Helen Macdonald on grief, goshawks, and her best-selling book, H is for Hawk, Cambridge News, 7 September 2014.
  11. Helen Macdonald, Spies in the sky: Helen Macdonald on how birds reflect our national anxieties, The Guardian, 12 May 2015.
  12. Web site: H is for Hawk: A New Chapter. BBC. 25 October 2017. 20 October 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171020141937/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09b68wy. live.
  13. Web site: The Hidden Wilds of the Motorway. BBC. 30 June 2020. 1 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200701022147/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000kjm9. live.
  14. News: Simpson . Kate . First you sedate the American public – then a surreal thriller unfolds . The Telegraph . London . 23 October 2023 . 7 August 2023.
  15. News: Roberts . Adam . 2023-08-23 . Prophet by Helen Macdonald and Sin Blaché review – fun, high-octane sci-fi thriller . en-GB . The Guardian . 2023-12-07 . 0261-3077.
  16. News: 2023-08-10 . Two Twitter friends wrote a novel together. Then they met face-to-face. . 2023-12-07 . Washington Post . en.
  17. Web site: 2023-09-01 . Nostalgia becomes a weapon in the sci-fi thriller 'Prophet' . 2023-12-07 . MPR News . en.
  18. Web site: 2020-08-21. Helen Macdonald: 'It is hard to write about the natural world without writing about grief'. 2021-01-24. The Guardian. en. 14 October 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211014005722/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/21/helen-macdonald-it-is-hard-to-write-about-the-natural-world-without-writing-about-grief. live.
  19. Web site: Helen Macdonald (@HelenJMacdonald) | Twitter . 20 October 2021 . 7 August 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210807065412/https://twitter.com/helenjmacdonald?lang=en . live .

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