Mandy Haggith is a writer who lives in Achmelvich. Her books include five novels, all of which are set largely or completely in Assynt – the perfect holiday reading for a stay in the Highlands!
The Last Bear is the story of the extinction of the brown bear in the Viking era, inspired by the most recent bear bones in Scotland being found in the bone caves at Inchnadamph.This novel won the Robin Jenkins Literary Award for environmental writing when it was published in 2008.
Bear Witness imagines the return of bears to Scotland in the future.
More recently Mandy has had a historical novel trilogy published by Saraband Books – The Walrus Mutterer, The Amber Seeker and The Lyre Dancers are all partly or wholly set at Clachtoll broch and explore the Iron Age world of the people who lived there. These novels centre on the historically real explorer, Pytheas, who travelled here in 320BC on his extraordinary voyage of discovery.
Mandy also writes poetry and has four collections and an anthology, as well as a non-fiction book. She teaches creative writing and literature at the University of the Highlands and Islands, runs courses and workshops, and is always keen to meet readers of her work and people who would like help with their own writing.
You can get signed copies of her books from Inverbank Newsagent and Bookshop in Lochinver, and from her website: https://www.mandyhaggith.net/shop.asp
