Birdgirl

Birdgirl

Discovering the Power of Our Natural World

Summary

Discover Mya-Rose Craig's moving and life-affirming memoir about family, searching for rare birds, and the power of our natural world.

'Lyrical, poignant and insightful' MARGARET ATWOOD (on Twitter)
'Filled with hope and energy' Guardian

In her memoir, Mya-Rose Craig and her family travel the world in search of rare birds and astonishing landscapes. But a shadow moves with them, too - her mother's deepening mental health crisis. In the face of this struggle, the Craigs turn to nature again and again, and every time it offers joy and stillness.

On these journeys, Mya-Rose also witnesses the inequality and destruction we are inflicting on our fragile planet. And so, through the simple, mindful act of looking for birds, she becomes ever more determined to campaign for all our survival.

'A delightful account of a young life devoted to birding - and the fight to save birds and the places they live' Stephen Moss

* Winner of a Somerset Maugham Award *
* Longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing *
* Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize *

Reviews

  • Lyrical, poignant and insightful.
    Margaret Atwood, author of THE HANDMAID'S TALE

About the author

Mya-Rose Craig

Mya-Rose Craig, also known as Birdgirl, is a 21-year-old British-Bangladeshi birder, environmentalist and diversity activist. She campaigns for equal access to nature and to end the climate and biodiversity loss crises, issues that she believes are intrinsically linked, whilst promoting Global Climate Justice. She is an Ambassador for Survival International and fights for the rights of indigenous peoples; she has previously written a book amplifying their voices.

At the age of 14 she founded Black2Nature to engage minority ethnic teenagers with nature and at 17 she became the youngest Briton to receive an honorary Doctorate, awarded by Bristol University for this pioneering work. Also at 17 she became the youngest person to see half the world's bird species and shared a stage with Greta Thunberg, speaking to 40,000 protestors. In September 2020 she held the world's most northerly Youth Strike, travelling with Greenpeace, for whom she is an Oceans Ambassador, to the melting pack ice of the high Arctic.
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