Fiction, folklore and poetry based in Orkney, or by writers who live in or have Orkney connections.
Subcategories
George Mackay Brown is seen as one of the great Scottish poets of the 20th century. He wrote of life and nature in his native Orkney Islands, his fertile imagination encompassing poetry, novels, children’s stories, essays, plays, and media pieces.
Novels from local authors from Orkney or Orkney-based.
Novels based in Orkney, by authors from far and wide.
Poets from, and inspired by, Orkney.
Explore the rich folklore and mythology of Orkney.
An emotional, compelling WW1 saga that will warm your heart. In the face of war, women must stand stronger than every before. The third book in the series by Lynn Johnson. Paperback.
Inventive, imaginative, page-turning, full of lyrical images and unexpected turns in the plot. The engaging story of three memorable characters and of unexpected love. By Peter Benson. Paperback. Author of The Stromness Dinner.
'Orkney is a masterpiece. It is seductive, beguiling, lureful - like a mermaid calling us into darker, deeper waters' - Scarlett Thomas Paperback. By Amy Sackville.
An anthology of Scottish Island Poems. In Other Worlds editor Stewart Conn has sought poems to set readers' hearts racing through a sharpening of memory or in opening new vistas and evoking new worlds and states of mind from the Orkney and Shetlands to the Hebridies, to Mull and Iona, Arran and Ailsa Craig and more. Edited by Stewart Conn. Paperback.
From the dawn of the world to the twilight of the gods, this is a thrilling, vivid retelling of the Norse myths from the award-winning, bestselling Neil Gaiman. Paperback.
A selection of George Mackay Brown's seasonal short stories, many of which were commissioned by The Glasgow Herald and the Tablet. Paperback.
'A beautiful, heart-breaking tale of grief, love and the bond between sisters.' A fictional novel set at the Italian prisoner-of-war camp on a remote Orkney island. By Caroline Lea. Paperback.
Writeen fae Orkney Voices. Aal this you'll finnd here in poetry, prose an drama, renga, haiku an cinquains. Thir's light an dark, a lot o whit wae like, some o whit wae don't. But aal written wae a love o Orkney an a delight in Orcadian language an wirds. The George Mackay Brown Fellowship. Paperback.
Astrid is returning home from art school on Mars, looking for inspiration. Darling is fleeing a life that never fit, searching for somewhere to hide. They meet on Deep Wheel Orcadia, a distant space station struggling for survival as the pace of change threatens to leave the community behind. A science-fiction verse-novel written in the Orkney dialect. By...
A collection of poems & writings celebrating the centenary of George Mackay Brown (1921-1996). Edited by Jim Mackintosh & Paul S Philippou. Paperback.
The first full survey of literary writing from and around the Orkney Islands and charts the development of this distinctively Orcadian strand within Scottish literature and shows how the archipelago, rather than the nation, can indeed be the defining locus of a compact and vibrant literary tradition. Paperback. By Simon W. Hall.
While the men are off fighting, the women keep the country moving. An uplifting, romantic and page-turning WW1 saga. By Lynn Johnson. Paperback.