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In summer 2021, Hamish Napier and I dreamed up Storylands Sessions. It has grown into the most extraordinary community celebration of tunes, tales, poetry, song, visual art and even the occasional eruption of dance. I have loved it! LOVED… * my colleagues – who have grown to a team of …
Welcome
An author and community gatherer, I write fiction, drama, poetry and non-fiction, with work widely published and broadcast on the BBC.
My books are The Hidden Fires: A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd, and the novels Of Stone and Sky, set in Scotland, and A House Called Askival, set in India.
I was the first Writer in Residence for the Cairngorms National Park, where I live, and my experiences of the area feature in multiple publications including the Guardian Country Diary.
I am also an experienced workshop leader, storyteller and project manager. I co-host the Storylands Sessions with musician Hamish Napier, tutor creative writing, perform my work and facilitate creative projects.
This site gives you windows into my life and work: explore to find out about my books and other writing, events, latest updates and publications and how we can work together. Do get in touch. You can contact me by email and join me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
Best of all, sign up for my letter to hear the inside story and you will receive a BBC Radio 4 short story free! For agent enquiries, I am represented by Cathryn Summerhayes of Curtis Brown Books.
I grew up internationally and seek stories that bring the world together. Thank you for being here.
Merryn
The Hidden Fires
A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd
Shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature 2023.
Elemental, fierce and full of wonder, the Cairngorm mountains are the high and rocky heart of Scotland. To know them would take forever, to love them demands a kind of courageous surrender.
In The Hidden Fires, Merryn Glover undertakes that challenge with Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain as companion and guiding light. Through her deepening encounter, the wild majesty and iridescence of the Cairngorms is revealed in this beautiful evocation of landscape, place and identity.
Of Stone and Sky
Novel set in the Highlands of Scotland
Awarded Book of the Year by The Bookmark Book Festival
Longlisted for the Highland Book Prize
After shepherd Colvin Munro disappears, a mysterious trail of his twelve possessions leads into the Cairngorm mountains. His foster sister Mo and prodigal brother Sorley are driven to discover the forces that led to his disappearance. As a former church minister and current owner of the Ferryman Inn, Mo thinks she knows everyone’s story: Colvin’s Traveller mother, alcoholic war-scarred father, Bolivian wife, musician daughter, bird-obsessed son, his friends and foes. Sorley, returning home from his life in the City, brings unsettling revelations.
A House Called Askival
Novel set in a Himalayan hill-station
Set in North India and spanning 70 years of recent history through the lives of one family, A House Called Askival is ultimately the story of a rebel daughter and her father seeking reconciliation before he dies.
James Connor, burdened with guilt from a tragedy during Partition in 1947, has dedicated his life to serving India. His estranged daughter, Ruth, believing she came second to her American parents’ missionary calling, rebelled as a teenager. This triggered her own devastating experience during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
"Only rarely does one read a book whose quality of distinction is immediately apparent from the first page; Merryn Glover’s The Hidden Fires is not just brave, it is remarkable. Her writing comes at you out of the rock; it recalls some splendid cave painting, telling as much of man as of beast and leaving us in awe of each."
Sir John Lister-Kaye, FRSGS, OBE
The Hidden Fires: “This book will sit comfortably and deservedly on the same shelf as Nan Shepherd’s masterpiece.”
Alan Massie, The Scotsman
Latest
Posted on 28th August, 2024
Book Group Questions for A House Called Askival
Over the years since A House Called Askival was first published, in 2014, I have heard from so many people about the deep conversations it opened up for them, whether in a book group, among friends or within their family. A set of questions from me is not needed to spark these …
Posted on 15th July, 2024
A House Called Askival First Chapter
You can read the dedication, epigraph and first chapter of A House Called Askival here: Chapter 1 A House Called Askival – Merryn Glover
“Thanks so much for coming to run such a skilful and appropriate session at the conference. It was beautifully crafted and delivered.”
Dr Roland Spencer-Jones
Associate Advisor in Medical Education, NHS Education for Scotland
"Merryn’s session on Of Stone and Sky was inspiring and enthralling. She captivated her audience and it was a pleasure to have her in the library."
Sally Hughes
Highland Library Services
"Thank you for all your contributions to the CALA Book Week Scotland celebrations. It was just fantastic to collaborate with you to encourage families to keep telling stories, whoever they are and whatever age they are!"
Family Practitioner
Care & Learning Alliance
"Merryn is one of the best workshop leaders I have ever come across. Not only is she creative, her organisational abilities are second to none and her positivity is infectious."
Keren McKean
Scotland Producer, Green Space Dark Skies project
“‘Shared Stories: A Year in the Cairngorms’ was a great success, in no small part due to Merryn Glover. Her passion and enthusiasm for the Cairngorms, and her ability to motivate and inspire, enabled people from all backgrounds to express their love for this beautiful area.“
Alan Smith
Outdoor Learning Manager, Cairngorms National Park
Merryn always makes participants feel so welcome and opens up such a safe space to explore, have fun and get those creative juices flowing no matter who you are or how much or little experience you have.
Participant
Storylands Sessions Word Workshops
Merryn & Hamish are fantastic hosts. They create a warm, welcoming and fun atmosphere that brings people in the community together to be enriched by local culture and entertained by local talent.
Audience member
Storylands Sessions Open Mic
"There has been nothing but positive feedback about the workshop. Just some of the words used have been 'refreshing, inspiring, inclusive'. You definitely created a safe space for people to relax and write in."
Co-ordinator
Pen & I Writing Group, Nairn