Book Discussion, Saturday, July 9, 2016, 2:00 PM, San Leandro Main Library

H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald

Helen and Mable

Helen MacDonald was born in Chertsey, Surrey, England in 1970. She received a BA in English Literature from New Hall, University of Cambridge, in 1993. From 1995-1999, she worked in falcon conservation, including at breeding projects in Wales and apparently also in Saudi Arabia. In 1999, she received a MPhil in the History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, and between 2000 and when the book begins in 2007, she worked variously as a freelance writer, poet, College Research Fellow and a teacher.

Helen and her father

H is for Hawk is more than a book about falconry, however. MacDonald's sudden passion for getting and training a goshawk was triggered by the death of her beloved father, press photographer Alasdair MacDonald in 2007. H is for Hawk is as much about loss, grieving, and humanity as it is about training a hawk. It also contains a mini-biography of T.H. White.

In 2014, Helen MacDonald was awarded the Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction for H is for Hawk.

More about Hawks and Falconry

 To help you with your raptor identification, here's a silhouette chart. Unfortunately, it doesn't contain a goshawk silhouette.

For additional raptor identification help, here's a short slide show.



For help with training your falcon, here's a list of books on the topic available at the San Leandro Library.

1. Falconry today by Samson, Jack, Publication Date 1976, Call Number 799.23 SAM
    
2. Falconry and hawking byGlasier, Phillip, Publication Date 1998,Call Number 799.232 GLASIER
    
3. Falcons and falconry by Illingworth, Frank, Publication Date 1969, Call Number 799.23 ILL
    
4. Falconry : the essential guide by Wright, Steve, Publication Date 2006, Call Number 799.232 WRIGHT
    
5. A rage for falcons by Bodio, Stephen, Publication Date 1984, Call Number 799.23 BODIO
    
6. The goshawk by White, T. H. (Terence Hanbury), Publication Date 1951, Call Number 799.23 WHI
    
7. Falcon fever : a falconer in the twenty-first century by Gallagher, Tim, Publication Date 2008, Call Number 799.232 GALLAGHER