Cal Flyn, LMH alumna (2005, Experimental Psychology), has won the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Trust Young Writer of the Year Award for her recent book Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape. The award recognises the best work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry by a British or Irish author between 18 and 35 years old. Cal will receive £10,000 in prize money, a bespoke 10-week residency with the University of Warwick and two years’ membership at the London Library.
Islands of Abandonment is described on Cal Flyn's website as "a book about abandoned places: ghost towns and exclusion zones, no man’s lands and post-industrial hinterlands – and what happens when nature is allowed to reclaim its place". The book visits a wide range of places where nature has sprung back from Chernobyl, to the Tanzanian mountains, and the mining regions of Scotland. Islands of Abandonment was also selected as part of 'The 33 Best Books of 2021' chosen by The Times, and as 'The Times and Sunday Times environment book of the year'.
You can read more about this story, and see rave reviews of the book, through the link below.
