Mr Malachy Tallack

Mr Malachy Tallack

Lecturer in Creative Writing (Prose)

Researcher profile

Email
mjt31@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Biography

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.

His previous books include a fishing memoir, Illuminated by Water (Doubleday, 2022), which was shortlisted for the Richard Jefferies award for nature writing, and a novel, The Valley at the Centre of the World (Canongate, 2018), which was shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize and longlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize. ​His first book, Sixty Degrees North (Polygon, 2015), was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book Award. His second, The Un-Discovered Islands (Polygon, 2016), was named Illustrated Book of the Year at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards.

Malachy’s books have been translated into seven languages, in Europe and beyond, and he has spoken at festivals and other events around the world. His books have been featured on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week, Book at Bedtime, Open Book and Front Row, as well as in numerous podcasts and magazine features, including National Geographic and Monocle.

Alongside his writing, Malachy is committed to the teaching and mentorship of aspiring writers. He has designed and taught creative writing workshops for students at a range of levels, and mentored writers for the Scottish Book Trust and for Gutter magazine, Scotland's leading literary journal (of which he was previously Managing Editor). 

Malachy is also a singer-songwriter, and has released five albums, and performed in venues across the UK. His most recent album was a companion piece to his novel, That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz, and featured some of Scotland's best folk musicians. 

Selected publications

 

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