Malachy Tallack is the award-winning author of five books of fiction and non-fiction, most recently a novel, That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz, published by Canongate in October 2024. All of Malachy's books are animated by his fascination with the relationship between people and places.
Photo: Jenny Brown
Malachy is the managing editor of Gutter, Scotland's leading literary journal. He teaches creative writing, online and in-person, and provides mentoring for aspiring authors. He's also a singer-songwriter, and has released four albums and an EP under his own name. His new album is a companion piece to his forthcoming novel, and will be released alongside it in October. Malachy is from Shetland and currently lives in Fife.
Photo: Harrison Reid
Media and events
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100-word bio
Malachy Tallack is an author and singer-songwriter, whose fifth book That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz, a novel, was published in 2024, together with an accompanying album. His book, Illuminated by Water, was shortlisted for the Richard Jefferies award for nature writing in 2022. His novel The Valley at the Centre of the World was shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize and longlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize in 2018. His first book, Sixty Degrees North, was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and his second, The Un-Discovered Islands, was named Illustrated Book of the Year at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards. Malachy is managing editor of Gutter, Scotland's leading literary magazine. He is from Shetland and currently lives in Fife.
Selected interviews
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Interview and song on Front Row, BBC Radio 4, with Kirsty Wark, 2024
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Interview on Arts Mix, BBC Radio Scotland, with Len Pennie, 2024
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Interview with Bookseller magazine on Illuminated by Water, 2022
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Mountain Air podcast, 2021
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Interview with The Sunday Times on The Valley at the Centre of the World, 2019
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Interview on BBC Radio 4's Open Book: "Islands in fiction", 2018
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Interview on The Monocle Weekly podcast, 2018
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Video of Edinburgh International Book Festival event with Jennifer Haigh, 2017
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Interview on BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live, 2017
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National Geographic interview on The Un-Discovered Islands, 2017
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Christian Science Monitor interview on The Un-Discovered Islands, 2017
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Interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, 2017
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​ABC Conversations with Richard Fidler, 2017
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Interview with The Scotsman, 2015
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Interview with Longitude Books
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Video of Edinburgh Book Festival event with Kathleen Winter, 2015