Yarrow Townsend

Yarrow Townsend spent most of her childhood in the woods pretending to be characters from books. After studying English and French Literature at the University of Oxford, she trained as an English teacher, before returning to the New Forest to work for the RSPB.

Since then, she has lived on two different river boats, writing stories about adventures in wild places. Now she lives on dry land in Southampton, where she likes to swim in the River Itchen and teach others how to look after nature in the city.

Her first novel for children, The Map of Leaves, was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award in 2023 and was described by judges as ‘mesmerising’. It was a Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week and was shortlisted for the East Sussex Children’s Book Award in the same year.

Her second novel, A Ship in the Dark, is a nautical adventure inspired by stories of migratory birds and light pollution. The Lancashire Evening Post described it as ‘a beautifully written, literary voyage into the mysteries of the natural world’.

In 2024, Yarrow became the New Forest National Park’s inaugural Writer in Residence, a project that brought together poetry and art in ancient woodland.

She has an MA in Writing for Young People from Bath Spa University and runs writing workshops for children and adults in the great outdoors.

When she’s not writing, she can be found working with rescue horses, making ink from plants and learning the traditional craft of hedge-laying.