About Alex

author, portal-hunter, woodlander

Alex Mullarky is a writer and veterinary nurse who loves creating stories about nature and magic. Raised in Cumbria, they studied in Scotland and spent several years in Australia before returning to the UK.

Alex now lives on the edge of Edinburgh and can usually be found looking for herbs in the woods with their dogs, reading in an armchair with a cup of tea, or playing roller derby for Auld Reekie.

Facts About Me

I have two rescue dogs, Finn (a kelpie cross who came back from Australia with us) and Oban (a border collie).

I volunteer with British Divers Marine Life Rescue as a Marine Mammal Medic, which means sometimes I taxi seal pups around in the back of my car.

I was once awarded a National Geographic Young Explorer grant to follow reintroduced wild horses in the Rhodope Mountains.

I love yew trees because they can live for thousands of years. My favourite is the Ormiston Yew in East Lothian.

In 2022 I camped in the woods for 1-2 nights every month of the year. January was quite pleasant but December was probably just as cold as you’re imagining.

Writing

I’ve wanted to write books for so long that the origins have become quite mysterious to me. I remember asking my mum, while I was having a bath (so I must have been very small), if she thought I could write a book about a school for fairies. She is very supportive so she said yes, of course.

I never did write a book about a school for fairies, but I wrote several first drafts of books from the ages of 16 to 20, then tried different kinds of writing for a while (playwriting, journalism, screenwriting). Eventually I returned to my first love and wrote The Sky Beneath the Stone, only about 20 years after my mum first encouraged me.

I write books for all ages, though my published books so far are for young people. I love creating worlds in which everyone understands deeply that nature is magic and queerness is magic and that queerness is part of nature. I also love writing silly minor characters and kooky rural communities.

I studied writing at university and enjoyed it a lot, but you definitely don’t have to do further education if you want to be a writer. Honestly I think my best ideas come from adventures outside, my work and volunteering with animals, and everything else that happens when I’m not at my desk.