Born in Orkney, Amy Liptrot is the author of The Outrun, which has been made into a film and a play, both showing in Edinburgh this August.
What’s your earliest memory?
I remember standing on my tiptoes reaching for a light switch in the farmhouse in Orkney where I grew up. I’ve always been reaching for the light.
What has been your most memorable Scottish gig?
Mogwai at Glasgow Barrowlands 1999. I vomited during the encore through sheer noise.
What’s the best meal you’ve had in Scotland?
A picnic of oatcakes and pâté while walking the West Highland Way and, later that day, dinner at the Bridge of Orchy Hotel. Nothing makes food taste as good as fresh air and exercise.
What was your first family holiday in Scotland?
All my childhood holidays were spent driving the length of Scotland from Orkney to visit family in England. I have spent a lot of time on the Pentland Firth and A9.
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What’s your favourite place in Scotland?
Papay, population 90, where I wrote The Outrun and have swum regularly in the turquoise waters of South Wick, with seals and arctic terns diving around me.
• Amy Liptrot: From finding peace at home in Orkney to searching for love in Berlin
What song would you have played at your funeral?
Björk’s Hyperballad is a song I always feel has a mood similar to what I have tried to achieve in The Outrun: emotional turmoil in dramatic landscapes.
Is there a moment that changed your life?
When — one year sober, unemployed and a bit lost — I applied for a job with the RSPB as Orkney’s corncrake officer. The enthusiastic, knowledgeable people I met and things I experienced in that job opened up a whole world to write about.
What three words sum you up?
The Corncrake Wife.
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What’s your favourite TV show or film?
Like many intense teenage girls in the Nineties, the American show My So-Called Life with Clare Danes spoke to me more than any show since.
Tell us one lesson life has taught you
Change is possible. I had no idea of all the things that would happen when I got sober, but I gave myself the chance to find out.
Tell us a secret
I find writing hard and painful and most of the time feel like I have no idea what I’m doing.
What’s it like being played by Saoirse Ronan?
I’ve admired Saoirse in films like Brooklyn and Lady Bird and when I heard she was interested in the part I knew she’d be brilliant. Watching the film, I feel like she makes a better version of me than I do.
• The Outrun: Saoirse Ronan to star in true tale of Orkney redemption
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How does it feel to have both a stage and film version of The Outrun out in the same year?
It’s a huge honour and a thrill. I was a student in Edinburgh and loved August in the city and it’s bonkers that I’m returning this year to the Edinburgh International, the film festival and the book festival.
How closely were you involved in these projects?
I was highly involved in the film. The project has taken eight years. I met the producer Sarah Brocklehurst in 2016. I was a co-screenwriter with the director Nora Fingscheidt and watched the film throughout the editing process, giving comments. Because of this, I decided I couldn’t be involved in the play without going crazy so I trusted the playwright Stef Smith and she had done a brilliant job.
What are you working on now?
I’ve returned to the Orkney island of Papay for six months and am writing a book about seaweed.
The stage version of The Outrun is at Church Hill Theatre, Jul 31 to Aug 24, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival (eif.co.uk). The movie will open the Edinburgh Film Festival on August 15 at Cameo Edinburgh (edfilmfest.org) and is on general release from Sep 27
Amy Liptrot will be discussing the play with Stef Smith, who adapted it for the stage, at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Aug 18 (edbookfest.co.uk). She will also be discussing Personal Geologies with fellow writers Jen Hadfield and Roseanne Watt on Aug 13
