Rediscover the outdoors and natural world with the multi-award winning phenomenon and youngest ever major literary prize winner in UK history.

'Miraculous memoir...profoundly moving' Observer

'Dara is an extraordinary voice and vision: brave, poetic, ethical, lyrical' Robert Macfarlane

'It's a diary but essentially timeless...It's really, really special' Chris Packham

'This diary chronicles the turning of my world, from spring to winter, at home, in the wild, in my head.'

Evocative, raw and lyrical, this startling debut explores the natural world through the eyes of Dara McAnulty, an autistic teenager coping with the uprooting of home, school, and his mental health, while pursuing his life as a conservationist and environmental activist. Shifting from intense darkness to light, recalling his sensory encounters in the wild - with blackbirds, whooper swans, red kites, hen harriers, frogs, dandelions, Irish hares and more - McAnulty reveals worlds we have neglected to see, in a stunning world of nature writing that is a future classic.

Diary of a Young Naturalist is a powerful and scintillating portrayal of the beauty of the natural world, as it shines a light on autism and of overcoming severe anxiety. It is a story of the binding love of family and home, and how we can help each other through the most difficult of times.

 'An extraordinary diary...it's a powerful pitch for why the school curriculum needs to be wilded and a reminder of the value of neurodiversity in literature' The Times

'A torrent of pure, unmediated fervour...This is writing at its wild and unruly best' Dr Rachel Clarke

'Diary of a Young Naturalist is not only one of the finest pieces of modern nature writing produced on this island in recent years, McAnulty is one of our best young writers in any genre' Irish Independent