Amy Liptrot on writing her way home

As Amy Liptrot prepared for the launch of her first book (the beautifully written memoir of addiction and reconstruction The Outrun) she talked to us in Orkney about how she was feeling. And how she d felt when she first washed up back at her childhood home, after her life in London had fallen apart. Amy Liptrot has lived her life on the edge of things, both literally and metaphorically. The Outrun, her beautiful first book, gives a wonderfully evocative account of both, blending searing memoir with sublime nature writing, and coming up with a unique piece of prose that amounts to a stirring personal philosophy of how to live. Her descriptive writing of the Orkney islands and their wildlife absolutely sizzles, a scintillating mix of cleareyed insight and poetic heart. She ties in elements of myth and fantasy, some of the islands remarkable history, and her own visceral experience to create something as compelling as any thriller. Amy Liptrot is the real deal, a writer whose voice seems br,