Sara Maitland
One of Elif Shafak’s selected writers for the International Literature Showcase
“Writer, thinker, seeker, seer, Sara Maitland is one of our most articulate and probing intellects, with an enervating ability to look closely at things and make us look with her.” – Elif Shafak
<< Explore Elif’s list of great UK women writers
Sara Maitland was born in 1950, the second of six children. She studied English Literature at Oxford University. Her first novel, Daughter of Jerusalem, won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1978. Since then she has published novels, non-fiction (especially theology) and short stories. She has two children and a granddaughter, but lives on her own in as much silence as possible on a high moor in S.W.Scotland.
Sara is presently working on a book about astronomy and Greek mythology with Granta Press.
Sarah discussing belief on BBC Radio 3
Interview in The Daily Telegraph
‘The question at the heart of this beautiful, thoughtful book is: how did forests form fairy tales and how have fairy tales influenced the way we feel about forests? It mixes social history with natural history, literary criticism with fiction … Maitland is incredibly good at taking us with her on journeys through the woods, as she examines her emotional responses … As a follow-up to Maitland’s sublime The Book of Silence, it’s a worthy successor. As something to read on dark nights as the wind lashes the leaves from the trees, it’s damn near perfect’ Independent on Gossip From the Forest
‘A Book of Silence grapples with ideas at the very heart of what it is to be human, and Sara Maitland is a joyous champion of the countercultural notion that silence is more than simply an absence of noise’ -The Times On A Book of Silence
‘Maitland’s experience has been rich and thorough, and deeply enviable. Her book is probably unique in its subject, and timely, because good, healing silence is becoming hard to find, and we may not know we need it’ – Guardian on A Book of Silence
‘She has built bridges that may tempt new minds across to science. How ingenious.’ –The Guardian on Moss Witch and Other Stories
‘Remarkable… refreshingly different… this collection abounds with revelations for writer, scientist and reader alike.’ –The Irish Times on Moss Witch and Other Stories
“Dead chuffed.” – Sara
Image credit Adam Lee