Donald S Murray is widely recognised for his empathy and remarkable ability to convey emotion with restraint and poignancy. In this short collection of poems written during lockdown at his Shetland home, Murray explores the changing geography of the island and how it has, in turn, changed him. On his daily walks through the village, Murray found himself noting shifts in the wind and weather, the imperceptible widening of the sea, and the way time has slowed. Noting the way, too, in which flocks of sheep or birds congregated in a field in anticipation of the arrival of a storm. With beautiful imagery and lyricism, The Man Who Talks to Birds taps into a deep connection with nature, and its ability to ground us, that many of us have rediscovered during 2020.

'There have always been lighthouses in my life. There has been a closeness and steadiness to our relationship, as if they have kept pace and in close contact with me.' Lighthouses punctuate Scotland's coastline - a stoic presence on the edge of the landscape. Since the earliest of these hardy structures were raised, they have been a lifeline for seafarers at the mercy of treacherous weather and uncertain navigation. Today over 100 of Scotland's lighthouses are listed buildings. The lighthouse is now one of many maritime resources which act 'for the safety of all'. But we are still drawn to the solitary life of the keeper, the beauty of the lens of the lamp and the calm reassurance of a flashing light on a distant shore. Donald S Murray explores Scotland's lighthouses through history, storytelling and the voices of the lightkeepers. From ancient beacons to the work of the Stevensons and the Northern Lighthouse Board, and from wartime strife to automation and preservation, the lighthouses stand as a testament to the nation's innate connection to the sea. Published in partnership between Historic Environment Scotland and the Northern Lighthouse Board.

Every year, ten men from Ness, at the northern tip of the Isle of Lewis, sail north-east for some forty miles to a remote rock called Sulasgeir. Their mission is to catch and harvest the guga; the almost fully grown gannet chicks nesting on the two hundred foot high cliffs that circle the tiny island, which is barely half a mile long. After spending a fortnight in the arduous conditions that often prevail there, they return home with around two thousand of the birds, pickled and salted and ready for the tables of Nessmen and women both at home and abroad. The Guga Hunters tells the story of the men who voyage to Sulasgeir each year and the district they hail from, bringing out the full colour of their lives, the humour and drama of their exploits. They speak of the laughter that seasons their time together on Sulasgeir, of the risks and dangers they have faced. It also provides a fascinating insight into the social history of Ness, the culture and way-of-life that lies behind the world of the Guga Hunters, the timeless nature of the hunt, and reveals the hunt's connections to the traditions of other North Atlantic countries. Told in his district's poetry and prose, English and - occasionally - Gaelic, Donald S. Murray shows how the spirit of a community is preserved in this most unique of exploits.

In the small hours of January 1st, 1919, the cruellest twist of fate changed at a stroke the lives of an entire community. Tormod Morrison was there that terrible night. He was on board HMY Iolaire when it smashed into rocks and sank, killing some 200 servicemen on the very last leg of their long journey home from war. For Tormod - a man unlike others, with artistry in his fingertips - the disaster would mark him indelibly. Two decades later, Alasdair and Rachel are sent to the windswept Isle of Lewis to live with Tormod in his traditional blackhouse home, a world away from the Glasgow of their earliest years. Their grandfather is kind, compassionate, but still deeply affected by the remarkable true story of the Iolaire shipwreck - by the selfless heroism and desperate tragedy he witnessed. A deeply moving novel about passion constrained, coping with loss and a changing world, As the Women Lay Dreaming explores how a single event can so dramatically impact communities, individuals and, indeed, our very souls.

A lighthearted and informative narrative about the history of herring and our love affair with the silver darlings. Scots like to smoke or salt them. The Dutch love them raw. Swedes look on with relish as they open bulging, foul-smelling cans to find them curdling within. Jamaicans prefer them with a dash of chilli pepper. Germans and the English enjoy their taste best when accompanied by pickle's bite and brine. Throughout the long centuries men have fished around their coastlines and beyond, the herring has done much to shape both human taste and history. Men have co-operated and come into conflict over its shoals, setting out in boats to catch them, straying, too, from their home ports to bring full nets to shore. Women have also often been at the centre of the industry, gutting and salting the catch when the annual harvest had taken place, knitting, too, the garments fishermen wore to protect them from the ocean's chill. Following a journey from the western edge of Norway to the east of England, from Shetland and the Outer Hebrides to the fishing ports of the Baltic coast of Germany and the Netherlands, culminating in a visit to Iceland's Herring Era Museum, Donald S. Murray has stitched together tales of the fish that was of central importance to the lives of our ancestors, noting how both it - and those involved in their capture - were celebrated in the art, literature, craft, music and folklore of life in northern Europe. Blending together politics, science, history, religious and commercial life, Donald contemplates, too, the possibility of restoring the silver darlings of legend to these shores.

From the author of the prize-winning As the Women Lay Dreaming comes a remarkable 'unreliable biography' of Karl Kjerulf Einarsson: an artist and an adventurer, a charlatan and a swindler, forever in search of Atlantis. As a child in the windswept, fog-bound Faroe Islands in the late nineteenth century, Karl Einarsson believes he is special, destined for a life of art and adventure. As soon as he can, he sets out for Copenhagen and beyond, styling himself as the Count of St. Kilda. He's an observer and citizen of nowhere, a serial swindler of aristocrats and Nazis, fishermen and fops. But when his adventures find him in 1930s Berlin, he is forced for the first time to reckon with something much bigger than himself. As the Nazis rise to power around him, his wilful ignorance becomes unwitting complicity, even betrayal. Based on a true story, this is a fantastical tale of island life, of those who leave and those who stay behind, and the many dangers of delusions and false identities.

Place one guga [almost fully grown gannet chick] and one stone in a pan of water and boil. Once you can pierce the stone with a fork, the guga is ready for eating… Meet Calum. In 1930, the last remaining St Kildans evacuated their isolated outpost 100 miles off the west coast of Scotland. Calum returns a few years later, alone and troubled, the sole guardian of the islanders’ abandoned homes. Haunted by the memories that linger there, he begins to re-live the experiences of residents long past. Acrobats, airmen, cormorants, cragsmen and angels leap, climb, shimmer and swoop through the pages of The Guga Stone. With subtle humour, Donald S. Murray mixes mythology, fiction and history to recreate St Kilda’s tales and legends for our time.

A poisoned breeze blows across the waves ... Operation Cauldron, 1952: Top-secret germ warfare experiments on monkeys and guinea pigs are taking place aboard a vessel moored off the Isle of Lewis. Local villagers Jessie and Duncan encounter strange sights on the deserted beach nearby and suspect the worst. And one government scientist wrestles with his own inner anguish over the testing, even if he believes extreme deterrent weapons are needed. When a noxious cloud of plague bacteria is released into the path of a passing trawler, disaster threatens. Will a deadly pandemic be inevitable? A haunting exploration of the costs and fallout of warmongering, Donald S Murray follows his prize-winning first novel with an equally moving exploration of another little-known incident in the Outer Hebridean island where he grew up.

For their new book, photographers Vianca Reinig (*1989) and Philipp Schmidt (*1983) travelled to Scotland and captured the beauty of the northernmost isle of the Outer Hebrides: Lewis and Harris. In stark contrast to the local architecture, the ancient landscape almost becomes tangible in all its craggy shapes and rough colours. With alternating perspectives, sudden cuts between panoramic shots and minute details, this intricately designed artist book is arranged in a chronologically and filmic sequence of images, poetically bringing to life the vibrant experience of their travels on the remote isle.

An evocative social history of Europe's peatlands, moors, bogs and heaths. Donald S. Murray spent much of his childhood either playing or working on the moor, chasing sheep across empty acres and cutting and gathering peat for fuel. The Dark Stuff is an examination of how this landscape affected him and others. Donald explores his early life on the Isle of Lewis together with the experiences of those who lived near moors much further afield, from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland to the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland and even Australia. Examining this environment in all its roles and guises, Donald reflects on the ways that for centuries humans have represented the moor in literature, art and folktale, and he reveals how in some countries, these habitats remain an essential aspect of their industrial heritage and working life today. On his journey, Donald confronts the unexpected - how Europe's peatlands are part of the dark heart of that continent, playing a crucial role in the history of crime and punishment in several countries. He also examines our current perception of moorland, asking how - for the sake, perhaps, of our planet's survival - we can learn to love a landscape we have all too often in our history denigrated, feared and despised.