Dara McAnulty

McAnulty was born in 2004 and lives with his family near the Mourne Mountains, Northern Ireland.

In mid-2021, McAnulty left Twitter after receiving abuse as a result of having raised concerns about Kate Clanchy's descriptions of autistic students and students of colour in her book Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me.[3]

He is an ambassador for the RSPCA and the Jane Goodall Institute.

His debut book Diary of a Young Naturalist which chronicles the turning of his fourteenth year, was released in May 2020.[4][5] It details his intense connection to the natural world as an autistic teenager. He is the youngest ever author shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize[6] for UK Nature Writing, and he won the 2020 prize.[7] He was also awarded the An Post Irish Book Award for Newcomer of the Year.[8] In 2021, he was shortlisted for the Dalkey Literary Award (Emerging Writer).[9] and won the British Book Award for narrative non-fiction.[10]

He has written for The Big Issue,[11] The Guardian,[12] has presented radio for BBC Radio Ulster and has appeared on BBC Springwatch and BBC Countryfile. He has also written and presented for BBC Radio Four Tweet of the Day[13] He was a part of "The people's Walk For Wildlife"[14] organised by television naturalist Chris Packham. He is a vocal campaigner on environmental issues.[15]

In June 2021 McAnulty began writing a monthly nature column for The Irish Times.[16]

McAnulty's first book, Diary of a Young Naturalist, won the 2020 Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing.[17] after being the youngest author to be shortlisted for the award. His second book, Wild Child, was shortlisted for the 2022 Wainwright Prize for Children's Writing on Nature and Conservation.[18]

He is also the youngest author to be long-listed for the 2020 Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction[19] and for the shortlist for the 2020 Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards, which he won in the non-fiction category.[20]

McAnulty was celebrated in "Points of Light" in 2018 by the prime minister for his work in connecting young people to nature.[21] His campaigning work against raptor persecution[22] and biodiversity loss[23] earned him the RSPB Medal for Conservation[24] in 2019, the award has been previously won by naturalists such as Sir David Attenborough.

McAnulty was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to the environment and people with autism spectrum disorder.[25]

• McAnulty, Dara (2021). Wild child : a journey through nature. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1529045321.
• McAnulty, Dara (2020). Diary of a Young Naturalist. Little Toller Books. ISBN 9781908213792.