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The Company of Owls: A Memoir
“The Company of Owls is a book filled with wonder, wisdom, and warmth … Her moving and meaningful observations and lyrical prose will stick with you for a long time.”—Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus
Longlisted for the 2025 Wainwright Prize in Nature Writing
An observant, lyrical memoir exploring what owls can teach us about nature, chronic illness, and ourselves—so long as we are quiet enough to listen.
“Let me tell you about my neighbors, the owls,” writes Polly Atkin in this love letter to the clutch of tawny owlets residing near her home in the heart of England’s Lake District. Circumscribed by a chronic illness to her cottage and the surrounding area, she turns to the trees and the animals among them for companionship—especially the owl siblings who surprise and delight her. As Atkin watches them grow from curious fledglings into sleek raptors, she contemplates the act of survival and our place within it. When should a human intervene? When should nature take its course? What do the owls know that we do not?
The owls encourage her to think differently about solitude and community, individuality and belonging, rest and retreat. And with them as her companions, she weighs the many types of company we keep—in our relationships, in the darkness, and in our entanglement with the digital world that connects us across continents.
A resounding call to find joy in unexpected places, The Company of Owls is a love letter to the world, teaching us to listen amid clamor and noise.
Longlisted for the 2025 Wainwright Prize in Nature Writing
An observant, lyrical memoir exploring what owls can teach us about nature, chronic illness, and ourselves—so long as we are quiet enough to listen.
“Let me tell you about my neighbors, the owls,” writes Polly Atkin in this love letter to the clutch of tawny owlets residing near her home in the heart of England’s Lake District. Circumscribed by a chronic illness to her cottage and the surrounding area, she turns to the trees and the animals among them for companionship—especially the owl siblings who surprise and delight her. As Atkin watches them grow from curious fledglings into sleek raptors, she contemplates the act of survival and our place within it. When should a human intervene? When should nature take its course? What do the owls know that we do not?
The owls encourage her to think differently about solitude and community, individuality and belonging, rest and retreat. And with them as her companions, she weighs the many types of company we keep—in our relationships, in the darkness, and in our entanglement with the digital world that connects us across continents.
A resounding call to find joy in unexpected places, The Company of Owls is a love letter to the world, teaching us to listen amid clamor and noise.
192 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 3, 2026
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About the author
Polly Atkin
16 books41 followersPolly Atkin is an English poet and academic.
She lives in Cumbria and teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde. She has published widely in magazines and literary journals, and her pamphlet, Bone Song, was shortlisted for the 2009 Michael Marks Pamphlet Award.
Her second pamphlet, Shadow Dispatches, won the 2012 Mslexia Pamphlet Prize and is published by Seren.
She lives in Cumbria and teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde. She has published widely in magazines and literary journals, and her pamphlet, Bone Song, was shortlisted for the 2009 Michael Marks Pamphlet Award.
Her second pamphlet, Shadow Dispatches, won the 2012 Mslexia Pamphlet Prize and is published by Seren.
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