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Antlers of Water: Writing on the Nature and Environment of Scotland
The first ever collection of contemporary Scottish writing on nature and landscape, Antlers of Water showcases the diversity and radicalism of new Scottish nature writing today.
Edited, curated and introduced by the award-winning Kathleen Jamie, and featuring prose, poetry and photography, this inspiring collection takes us from walking to wild swimming, from red deer to pigeons and wasps, from remote islands to back gardens.
With contributions from Amy Liptrot, Malachy Tallack, Chitra Ramaswamy, Jim Crumley, Amanda Thomson, Karine Polwart and many more, Antlers of Water urges us to renegotiate our relationship with the more-than-human world, in writing which is by turns celebratory, radical and political.
Edited, curated and introduced by the award-winning Kathleen Jamie, and featuring prose, poetry and photography, this inspiring collection takes us from walking to wild swimming, from red deer to pigeons and wasps, from remote islands to back gardens.
With contributions from Amy Liptrot, Malachy Tallack, Chitra Ramaswamy, Jim Crumley, Amanda Thomson, Karine Polwart and many more, Antlers of Water urges us to renegotiate our relationship with the more-than-human world, in writing which is by turns celebratory, radical and political.
278 pages, Hardcover
First published August 6, 2020
30 people are currently reading
700 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen Jamie
71 books322 followersKathleen Jamie is a poet, essayist and travel writer, one of a remarkable clutch of Scottish writers picked out in 1994 as the ‘new generation poets’ – it was a marketing ploy at the time but turns out to have been a very prescient selection. She became Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Stirling in 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
September 25, 2020
(3.5) This nature writing anthology of essays, poems and visual art drew me because of contributor names like Gavin Francis, Amy Liptrot, singer/songwriter Karine Polwart, and Shetland chronicler Malachy Tallack, not to mention editor Kathleen Jamie. Archaeology and folk music evoke the past, while climate change scenarios inject a sense of a menacing future. Seabirds circle and coastal and island scenery recurs. Entries from Alec Finlay’s “A Place-Aware Dictionary” disguise political points under tongue-in-cheek language, as in a definition of foraging: “Later sometimes referred to as the Brexit Diet.” The (sub)urban could be more evident, and I didn’t need two bouts of red deer sex, but there’s still a nice mix of tones and approaches here.
Six best pieces (out of 24): Chris Powici on wind turbines and red kites at the Braes of Doune; Jacqueline Bain on how reduced mobility allows her to observe wasps closely; Jim Crumley on sea eagle reintroductions and the ancient sky burials that took place at the Tomb of the Eagles; Jen Hadfield on foraging for whelks at the ocean’s edge, in a run-on hybrid narrative; Sally Huband on how persecution of ravens and of women (still not allowed to take part in Up Helly Aa festivities) continues on Shetland; and Liptrot on how wild swimming prepared her for childbirth and helped her to recover a sense of herself separate from her baby. And if I had to pick just one, the Huband – so brave and righteously angry.
Favorite lines:
“Compromises need to be made. An overlap between the wild and the human has to be negotiated and managed. … So let’s play merry hell with the distinction between what counts as wild and what counts as human, between what’s condemned as a visual obscenity and what’s seen as a marvel of the age. Let’s mess up the boundaries and get a new measure of ourselves as a species.” (Powici)
inspiration to get out walking again: “Don’t wait / thinking you’ve seen it all already … don’t wait thinking you need better boots / or a waterproof that’ll keep out the rain. / It won’t. Don’t wait.” (“Water of Ae” by Em Strang)
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Six best pieces (out of 24): Chris Powici on wind turbines and red kites at the Braes of Doune; Jacqueline Bain on how reduced mobility allows her to observe wasps closely; Jim Crumley on sea eagle reintroductions and the ancient sky burials that took place at the Tomb of the Eagles; Jen Hadfield on foraging for whelks at the ocean’s edge, in a run-on hybrid narrative; Sally Huband on how persecution of ravens and of women (still not allowed to take part in Up Helly Aa festivities) continues on Shetland; and Liptrot on how wild swimming prepared her for childbirth and helped her to recover a sense of herself separate from her baby. And if I had to pick just one, the Huband – so brave and righteously angry.
Favorite lines:
“Compromises need to be made. An overlap between the wild and the human has to be negotiated and managed. … So let’s play merry hell with the distinction between what counts as wild and what counts as human, between what’s condemned as a visual obscenity and what’s seen as a marvel of the age. Let’s mess up the boundaries and get a new measure of ourselves as a species.” (Powici)
inspiration to get out walking again: “Don’t wait / thinking you’ve seen it all already … don’t wait thinking you need better boots / or a waterproof that’ll keep out the rain. / It won’t. Don’t wait.” (“Water of Ae” by Em Strang)
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
October 2, 2020
Saw this collection at a bookshop in Utrecht last week and couldn't leave it behind. Read it breathlessly since Friday and what a treat! I underlined (lots), reminisced, looked up on the map and imagined.
Kathleen Jamie, the editor of this anthology, writes that “.. what makes our nature writing ‘new’, is our increasing awareness of the unfolding ecological crisis.” The book celebrates beautiful places in Scotland but pays as much attention to the environment, to politics, the climate crisis. Prose, poetry, essay, photography and poetic nonfiction take you wild swimming, to a wind farm in a moor, into deep time, on walks that don’t happen, among the stags, out to the islands. The incredible beauty is in the language, the emotional connection to the land, the gorgeous minuscule observations, the recognition of a shared experience.
From ‘.. the tender pannacotta of the mudflats’ (140) and the ‘fields and forests [that] cascaded in slow, geological waves down to the shore’ (40) to swimming inside a cloud (269), I love writing like this & I love Scotland.
Kathleen Jamie, the editor of this anthology, writes that “.. what makes our nature writing ‘new’, is our increasing awareness of the unfolding ecological crisis.” The book celebrates beautiful places in Scotland but pays as much attention to the environment, to politics, the climate crisis. Prose, poetry, essay, photography and poetic nonfiction take you wild swimming, to a wind farm in a moor, into deep time, on walks that don’t happen, among the stags, out to the islands. The incredible beauty is in the language, the emotional connection to the land, the gorgeous minuscule observations, the recognition of a shared experience.
From ‘.. the tender pannacotta of the mudflats’ (140) and the ‘fields and forests [that] cascaded in slow, geological waves down to the shore’ (40) to swimming inside a cloud (269), I love writing like this & I love Scotland.
September 17, 2024
Eine Sammlung von Essays von schottischen Autoren der Gegenwart, zusammengestellt von der schottischen Schriftstellerin Kathleen Jamie.
Die meisten Menschen verbinden Schottland mit wunderschöner Landschaft, Dudelsäcken und Whisky. Davon kann man nichts in den Arbeiten lesen. Das Land ist im Wandel, es kämpft gegen Umwelteinflüsse und vieles von dem, was Besucher an ihm schätzen, gehört einer Vergangenheit an, mit der sich die jungen Leute nicht mehr identifizieren. Auch die Landschaft verändert sich: an vielen Stellen ragen Windräder in die Höhe und zerstören das scheinbar perfekte Bild. Aber gerade das kann auch ein neuer Anfang sein: eine der Geschichten beschäftigt sich damit, wie man mit der neuen Landschaft, der neuen Wildnis, die entsteht, umgeht. In einer anderen fragt sich ein Archäologe, wie seine Gebeine und die seiner Familie aussehen werden, wenn sie in vielen Jahren ausgegraben werden. Es gibt Erzählungen von Strandspaziergängen, Lieder von den Shetlands und Gräber der Helden aus alten Sagen. Altes vermischt sich mit Neuem, vom (Davon)Schwimmen im Meer und von Selbstzweifeln. Für mich ist es gerade diese Mischung aus den vielen verschiedenen Themen und den persönlichen Geschichten das, was diese Sammlung so besonders macht.
Die meisten Menschen verbinden Schottland mit wunderschöner Landschaft, Dudelsäcken und Whisky. Davon kann man nichts in den Arbeiten lesen. Das Land ist im Wandel, es kämpft gegen Umwelteinflüsse und vieles von dem, was Besucher an ihm schätzen, gehört einer Vergangenheit an, mit der sich die jungen Leute nicht mehr identifizieren. Auch die Landschaft verändert sich: an vielen Stellen ragen Windräder in die Höhe und zerstören das scheinbar perfekte Bild. Aber gerade das kann auch ein neuer Anfang sein: eine der Geschichten beschäftigt sich damit, wie man mit der neuen Landschaft, der neuen Wildnis, die entsteht, umgeht. In einer anderen fragt sich ein Archäologe, wie seine Gebeine und die seiner Familie aussehen werden, wenn sie in vielen Jahren ausgegraben werden. Es gibt Erzählungen von Strandspaziergängen, Lieder von den Shetlands und Gräber der Helden aus alten Sagen. Altes vermischt sich mit Neuem, vom (Davon)Schwimmen im Meer und von Selbstzweifeln. Für mich ist es gerade diese Mischung aus den vielen verschiedenen Themen und den persönlichen Geschichten das, was diese Sammlung so besonders macht.
August 15, 2022
"Antlers of Water" are a great collection of stories about Scotland, nature, and the environmental crisis. Some of the stories (or artworks) did not really work for me, others were superb. I love how Nan Shepherd's "The Living Mountain" is used in the introduction to characterise the relationship between people and nature. If you are interested in Scotland and would like to read more about how the place changes, how nature and humanity intersect, pick it up. 4 stars
December 2, 2023
Made me missing Scotland more than I thought it would
January 15, 2022
3.5 rounded up. An uneven read. Some wonderful contributions. Others I don't think worked as well. Stand out favourites were from Malachy Tallack, Sally Huband and Amy Liptrot. The photographs/visual art pieces I don't think worked.
May 26, 2022
An excellent companion - mood-setting and informative - to this month's visit to Skye and Mull. A variety of viewpoints and thought-provoking pieces. Just the photographs were a bit ... weird?
September 12, 2023
I read this lovely anthology overlooking the bay at Blackwaterfoot, Isle of Arran - the perfect setting indeed for such beautiful writing
February 4, 2025
Something of a mixed bag (like all anthologies), but some good pieces.
August 19, 2020
I picked up at Caught by the River, an online meeting place on arts and nature (www.caughtbytheriver.net). Being a fan of Scotland, I didn't hesitate a second to buy a copy of Antlers of Water, a diverse and eclectic collection of writings and some pictorial contributions. I enjoyed Linda Cracknell's barnacle hunting, Dougie Strang's quest for Dairmaid's Grave, the original and funny dictionary words orchestrated by Alec Finlay, and the puzzling collages of Anne Campbell on the Lewis Moorland's shielings I first read about in Robert Macfarlane's The Old Ways.
January 21, 2021
This is one of the most peaceful and delightful works of prose I’ve ever read. I live in Boston but my heart is in Scotland and the words on these pages filled me with longing and also soothed me. This has been such a difficult year but every story and experience I read in this made me feel less lonely and more awake to the beauty of what’s around me.
January 18, 2023
With studied contributions from twenty-one writers and two visual artists, Antlers of Water, is an assemblage of specially commissioned writing that is edited by noted essayist and poet, Kathleen Jamie. Scotland, for an awestruck tourist is a bewilderingly beautiful assortment of Caledonian forests, upland moors, valleys and glisteningly transparent lakes. The authors of this wonderful book educate their readers as to how and why their country is all of these, and much more in terms of both symbolic sense and spiritual essence.
The collection kicks off with an arresting Chapter titled, Getting the Hang of the Wind by cyclist and teacher of creative writing at Stirling and The Open Universities, Chris Powici. While cycling towards, around and away from the gargantuan wind turbines dotting, or as some claim marring, the Braes of Doune, a hillocky moor across the Highland Faultline, Powici mulls how the initial apprehensions about a gigantic mass of rotating blades have given way to hope and expectations. When these turbines were first installed, people expressed grave reservations about these turbines crushing birds in addition to being an eyesore tarnishing an otherwise captivating landscape. But, all those fears, as Powici informs his happy readers, have come to naught. Red kites, hares and deer have made cheerful appearances and the number of birds falling prey to the rotating blades of the windmills constitute an astonishingly negligible number. A perfect case of Science and nature co-existing in a perfect and symbiotic harmony.
At Diarmaid’s Grave has writer Dougie Strang following the footsteps of poet and folklorist Hamish Henderson, as he attempts to find the elusive grave of Uaigh Dhiarmaid, a legendary mythical character who perishes after being poisoned by the bristles of a monstrous boar – which he himself bests – in the process of measuring its corpse. Strang even though unsuccessful in his attempts to track down the final resting place of Dhiarmaid, discovers precocious lessons taught by the isolated landscape of the bealach between Ben Loyal and Ben Hiel.
Wait a minute. Did you say bealach? Fret not. Seven-time Scottish Design Awards winner Alec Finlay in From A Place Away Dictionary, provides a much needed bird’s eye-view of terminologies that constitute the heart of Scottish nature. A bealach is a way and the pass that leads through or over that way. In the event you are accosted by a Scotsman with an offer of Chumming You, please do not be wary. It means offering company on a short walk, usually along city streets. The walk may lead to you being introduced to Coihm-Imeachd, fairy-lore for your other, twin, alter or co-walker. Even though it might be an improbable event while traipsing around the city, please be on the look out for Eileirig, Gaelic for a natural deer-trap formed between two hills, into which deer were driven for slaughter.
Winner of the Wainwright Prize and the PEN Ackerley Prize, and an incorrigible water body, Amy Liptrot wistfully reminisces about her swimming escapades and how the birth of a child altered such unfettered adventurism. For a person obsessed with water, every swim snatched when a baby is being supervised is an absolute, albeit short-lived pleasure. Swimming Away From My Baby, is one of the most vivid pieces in the collection.
Three Meditations on Absence in Nature and Life has award winning author and journalist Chitra Ramaswamy, evoking in a brutally candid manner the walks which she never had, yet which have been indelibly seared into her conscience and etched in her memory. Her ruminations on a pigeon that gave irrepressible joy and curiosity to her son whilst being an untenanted occupant of one of their windowsills for a short period of time, is a positively life affirming read.
The Lurgies by poet Lesley Harrison and Mointeach Leodhais; the Lewis Moorland by artist and painter, Anne Campbell, introduces the reader to a poetic and visual expression, respectively, of humanity’s confluence and conflicts with Mother Nature. As we bond, so we break and as we rend so we merge.
Antlers of Water is a stirring paean to nature by a group of dedicated Scottish authors, artists and dedicated human beings. More importantly, it is a precious lesson to mankind not to take for granted both the cause and consequence that would create a cleave between Mother Nature and her children. For while she may be the most benevolent Mother ever, she is also an unrepentant, remorseless and ruthless teacher!
The collection kicks off with an arresting Chapter titled, Getting the Hang of the Wind by cyclist and teacher of creative writing at Stirling and The Open Universities, Chris Powici. While cycling towards, around and away from the gargantuan wind turbines dotting, or as some claim marring, the Braes of Doune, a hillocky moor across the Highland Faultline, Powici mulls how the initial apprehensions about a gigantic mass of rotating blades have given way to hope and expectations. When these turbines were first installed, people expressed grave reservations about these turbines crushing birds in addition to being an eyesore tarnishing an otherwise captivating landscape. But, all those fears, as Powici informs his happy readers, have come to naught. Red kites, hares and deer have made cheerful appearances and the number of birds falling prey to the rotating blades of the windmills constitute an astonishingly negligible number. A perfect case of Science and nature co-existing in a perfect and symbiotic harmony.
At Diarmaid’s Grave has writer Dougie Strang following the footsteps of poet and folklorist Hamish Henderson, as he attempts to find the elusive grave of Uaigh Dhiarmaid, a legendary mythical character who perishes after being poisoned by the bristles of a monstrous boar – which he himself bests – in the process of measuring its corpse. Strang even though unsuccessful in his attempts to track down the final resting place of Dhiarmaid, discovers precocious lessons taught by the isolated landscape of the bealach between Ben Loyal and Ben Hiel.
Wait a minute. Did you say bealach? Fret not. Seven-time Scottish Design Awards winner Alec Finlay in From A Place Away Dictionary, provides a much needed bird’s eye-view of terminologies that constitute the heart of Scottish nature. A bealach is a way and the pass that leads through or over that way. In the event you are accosted by a Scotsman with an offer of Chumming You, please do not be wary. It means offering company on a short walk, usually along city streets. The walk may lead to you being introduced to Coihm-Imeachd, fairy-lore for your other, twin, alter or co-walker. Even though it might be an improbable event while traipsing around the city, please be on the look out for Eileirig, Gaelic for a natural deer-trap formed between two hills, into which deer were driven for slaughter.
Winner of the Wainwright Prize and the PEN Ackerley Prize, and an incorrigible water body, Amy Liptrot wistfully reminisces about her swimming escapades and how the birth of a child altered such unfettered adventurism. For a person obsessed with water, every swim snatched when a baby is being supervised is an absolute, albeit short-lived pleasure. Swimming Away From My Baby, is one of the most vivid pieces in the collection.
Three Meditations on Absence in Nature and Life has award winning author and journalist Chitra Ramaswamy, evoking in a brutally candid manner the walks which she never had, yet which have been indelibly seared into her conscience and etched in her memory. Her ruminations on a pigeon that gave irrepressible joy and curiosity to her son whilst being an untenanted occupant of one of their windowsills for a short period of time, is a positively life affirming read.
The Lurgies by poet Lesley Harrison and Mointeach Leodhais; the Lewis Moorland by artist and painter, Anne Campbell, introduces the reader to a poetic and visual expression, respectively, of humanity’s confluence and conflicts with Mother Nature. As we bond, so we break and as we rend so we merge.
Antlers of Water is a stirring paean to nature by a group of dedicated Scottish authors, artists and dedicated human beings. More importantly, it is a precious lesson to mankind not to take for granted both the cause and consequence that would create a cleave between Mother Nature and her children. For while she may be the most benevolent Mother ever, she is also an unrepentant, remorseless and ruthless teacher!
August 30, 2022
This one is for the nature and Scotland lovers. A beautiful collection of essays by contemporary nature writers, it is definitely dreamy and moody, as one might expect, with plenty of wonderful descriptions of mountains and lochs and moors and remote islands, but it also does not romanticise these spaces and tackles the environmental crisis heads on.
As the editor of the collection, Kathleen Jamie (love her!) states in the intro: "What the writers in this volume are doing is meeting the challenge of finding a way of speaking and writing, witnessing and celebrating as they continue to love the world, its landforms and plants and creatures, even as we navigate a crisis."
Some chapters hit home more than others, but I particularly loved the chapter on windturbines and what it is for place to be wild (by Chris Powici); on the meaning of the walks we do not take (by Chitra Ramaswamy); on the dangers of turning real places into imaginary ones as we often do with remote islands (by Jim Crumley); on how we create a sense of intimacy with a place when we walk over and over in the same place, on making a home, and on recognising not how different but how alike our suffering is to others (by Malachy Tallack); on how islands can feel too much but also too little all at once (by Amanda Thomson).
As the editor of the collection, Kathleen Jamie (love her!) states in the intro: "What the writers in this volume are doing is meeting the challenge of finding a way of speaking and writing, witnessing and celebrating as they continue to love the world, its landforms and plants and creatures, even as we navigate a crisis."
Some chapters hit home more than others, but I particularly loved the chapter on windturbines and what it is for place to be wild (by Chris Powici); on the meaning of the walks we do not take (by Chitra Ramaswamy); on the dangers of turning real places into imaginary ones as we often do with remote islands (by Jim Crumley); on how we create a sense of intimacy with a place when we walk over and over in the same place, on making a home, and on recognising not how different but how alike our suffering is to others (by Malachy Tallack); on how islands can feel too much but also too little all at once (by Amanda Thomson).
September 20, 2023
This was my first piece of compulsory reading for uni, overall I would rate this 3.5-4 stars!
Individually, I really like a lot of Kathleen Jamie's writing. As an aspiring writer in Scotland, it is inspiring to have access to collections like this from a diverse range of artists/genres. The collection's strength is clearly within its conviction of the ongoing climate crisis and a reflection of humanity, albeit inhumanity, so often conveyed throughout the book. Yet, overall, I wasn't entirely enthralled by the collection in its entirety, but that's more of the basis of personal taste/interests, I think!
There was some wonderful, compelling pieces in this that deserve recognition. So, I have a horrific fear of wasps... I was left astounded that one writer almost convinced me to feel sorry for the evil wee things by the end of her very touching, nostalgic memoir/essay. While Northern Raven hit very close to home and left me feeling a bit bleak at the end, much like Three Meditations -both were very beautifully articulated pieces -which had me in floods of tears by the end.
Additional special mentions go to the lovely pieces on Travellers, stags, motherhood, and wild swimming <3
Individually, I really like a lot of Kathleen Jamie's writing. As an aspiring writer in Scotland, it is inspiring to have access to collections like this from a diverse range of artists/genres. The collection's strength is clearly within its conviction of the ongoing climate crisis and a reflection of humanity, albeit inhumanity, so often conveyed throughout the book. Yet, overall, I wasn't entirely enthralled by the collection in its entirety, but that's more of the basis of personal taste/interests, I think!
There was some wonderful, compelling pieces in this that deserve recognition. So, I have a horrific fear of wasps... I was left astounded that one writer almost convinced me to feel sorry for the evil wee things by the end of her very touching, nostalgic memoir/essay. While Northern Raven hit very close to home and left me feeling a bit bleak at the end, much like Three Meditations -both were very beautifully articulated pieces -which had me in floods of tears by the end.
Additional special mentions go to the lovely pieces on Travellers, stags, motherhood, and wild swimming <3
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2021
Challenging, enlightening, this collection of essays, poems and visual art is, as Kathleen Jamie the editor asserts, from people who “do not pretend Scotland is pristine.” And with that we plunge into Red Kites and wind turbines, ravens and sexism, the rise and fall of wildlife populations, the making of lyric and music on Fair Isle. Perhaps it is over-ambitious in setting such a wide scope, but the ambition is at least laudable, and certainly intriguing.
My favourite essay reflects on a mound called Diarmaid’s Grave, on mythic pasts and semi-derelict cottages: “Stories attach themselves to ancient sites...” admitting that this could be anything from a Bronze Age cairn to a pile of stones cleared from the infield but that it was the story of Diarmaid that put the people who’d lived there “in their place” - and it is this sense of place and the dynamics of human and non-human interactions that this book so vividly explores.
My favourite essay reflects on a mound called Diarmaid’s Grave, on mythic pasts and semi-derelict cottages: “Stories attach themselves to ancient sites...” admitting that this could be anything from a Bronze Age cairn to a pile of stones cleared from the infield but that it was the story of Diarmaid that put the people who’d lived there “in their place” - and it is this sense of place and the dynamics of human and non-human interactions that this book so vividly explores.
July 19, 2021
know I got this book because I read a smashing review from one of you and I can’t remember whom 😬 I checked out the usual suspects and I can’t find the post. But anyhow, thanks to the unnamed bookstagramer ☀️
This is a collection of stories about noticing. Noticing nature, change and landscapes in Scotland. I found some of the stories incredibly beautiful like @m take on eco-grief, @ about swimming and healing or @ about cycling through wind farms.
This is about exploring perspectives and feelings of people who feel Climate Change lingering over their daily lives and need to put it into words. I enjoyed it and as any book about the subject it makes me feel kinship with people I don’t know, no matter were you live Eco-Grief is real and can be experienced in multiple ways.
I’ve noticed my reading on Solastagia has been coming mostly from Irish, Northern Irish and Scottish writers, save Amitav Ghosh or a few American writers...I’m hoping to widen my scope soon, any suggestions?
This is a collection of stories about noticing. Noticing nature, change and landscapes in Scotland. I found some of the stories incredibly beautiful like @m take on eco-grief, @ about swimming and healing or @ about cycling through wind farms.
This is about exploring perspectives and feelings of people who feel Climate Change lingering over their daily lives and need to put it into words. I enjoyed it and as any book about the subject it makes me feel kinship with people I don’t know, no matter were you live Eco-Grief is real and can be experienced in multiple ways.
I’ve noticed my reading on Solastagia has been coming mostly from Irish, Northern Irish and Scottish writers, save Amitav Ghosh or a few American writers...I’m hoping to widen my scope soon, any suggestions?
February 21, 2025
This was an absolute delight to read! I have to admit I was drawn in first by the poetic title, a curiosity that had been piqued and only strengthened further when I read the blurb. I adore the amalgamation of different mediums in this book; all centering around the theme of Scotland, nature, and us. Essays, poems, photographs and even lists of word definitions weave together a tale of both bitterness and loss, as well as discovery and hope for the future. I book-marked so many pages and quotes, favourite poems, concepts and turns of phrases, and would like to revisit this book to do a more thorough analysis of such, line by line. My only regret is that the book seemed over much too soon, something I shall remedy by looking into similar reads of this ilk.
Recommended for anyone who appreciates nature, exploration of culture and poetry- or just anyone looking for a book that will leave them feeling awed and closer to both our fellow man and the natural world around us.
Recommended for anyone who appreciates nature, exploration of culture and poetry- or just anyone looking for a book that will leave them feeling awed and closer to both our fellow man and the natural world around us.
July 11, 2024
I read this book expecting content from Kathleen Jamie, one of my favourite writers, only to be pleasantly surprised that she only edited the collection, and I instead discovered several NEW Scottish nature writers. Antlers of Water is a beautiful collection of short non-fictional stories, poetry, and art, each unique, insightful and special in their own way. I have discovered writers I probably wouldn’t have picked up before and therefore my “to-read” book pile has grown substantially, which is very exciting. As a Scottish person living abroad, it was beautiful to explore Scotland from several different viewpoints, from a range of perspectives and via several nature-based topics that interest me.
A lovely easy relaxing read, perfect to dip in and out of, and I highly recommend this book to anyone.
A lovely easy relaxing read, perfect to dip in and out of, and I highly recommend this book to anyone.
March 28, 2021
A highly enjoyable foray into Scottish nature writing, which as Kathleen Jamie describes, is changing and evolving to include the anthropocene, the climate crisis and our political landscape.
Some of these pieces are highly evocative of place and space, some political some angry. As with any anthology collection, there will always be pieces which speak to you more than others.
My personal favourites include Getting the Hang of Wind, The Wasps Byke, Swimming away from my Baby, Three Meditations on Absence in Nature and Life, From a Place Aware Dictionary and A Handful of Talons.
Some of these pieces are highly evocative of place and space, some political some angry. As with any anthology collection, there will always be pieces which speak to you more than others.
My personal favourites include Getting the Hang of Wind, The Wasps Byke, Swimming away from my Baby, Three Meditations on Absence in Nature and Life, From a Place Aware Dictionary and A Handful of Talons.
November 11, 2021
I cannot tell you how much this wonderful collection of essays spoke to my spirit. When my mental health is fragile - and, these days, when is it not? - I find solace in nature. Given my disabilities And chronic pain I a, unable to stray much further than my garden, so nature writing must suffice. Antlers of Water is one of the most life affirming books I’ve read in such a very long time, showing that wildness can be found in a city pigeon and in a highland stag.
Do your heart and soul a favour and read this wonderful book.
Do your heart and soul a favour and read this wonderful book.
December 10, 2022
As you would expect in an anthology assembled by Kathleen Jamie there is some outstanding writing included. The pieces by Amy Liptrot, Jacqueline Bain, Jim Crumley and Malachy Tallack were among the ones I particularly enjoyed.
The visual arts stuff included didn't really work for me. I didn't really know how to the extract from 'A Place-Aware Dictionary', but on balance I think it didn't fit with the overall tone and was more satirical.
The visual arts stuff included didn't really work for me. I didn't really know how to the extract from 'A Place-Aware Dictionary', but on balance I think it didn't fit with the overall tone and was more satirical.
April 7, 2021
A diverse range of voices from people living in Scotland. Some of whom I was aware of, some who were new to me. A different sort of ‘nature writing’ - cultural, environmental, political. It’s a carefully curated and bold selection of poetry, prose and photography which is lively and engaging.
Well worth adding to your reading list.
Well worth adding to your reading list.
July 22, 2021
I've just recently started reading nature writing, and this is one of the best. Beautifully written and will look to visit some of the locations mentioned - Scotland has countless breathtaking areas and landscapes.
July 11, 2024
I got so close to finishing this, really just two or three pieces from the end, but, although many of the pieces were well written and very evocative of the writers’ Scottish homeland, I’d just had enough of reading about nature and wanted some more narrative.
September 5, 2020
Beautiful book to dip into at will, so lovely to hear others delight in my delight of Scotland and especially to see your own home area in print
January 29, 2021
Some gems in an uneven collection.
September 8, 2021
Read while reading round Scotland :) lovely.
December 14, 2021
This was soothing to the soul to read and has only cemented my admiration for Kathleen Jamie. This book is full of gems and I will certainly be seeking out the authors who have contributed.
January 1, 2022
Marvellous anthology astonished me, the range of writers on what I consider my sphere of interest that I had not read. Lots to follow up, just one e.g. Amanda Thomson Art.
July 24, 2022
Just what my mental health needed, this collection left me feeling grounded 😌
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