Matthew Scurfield


Writer, observer and explorer of memory, myth and place.

Through books, essays and reflections, I explore the hidden connections between landscape, identity, ecology and belonging.

My life has taken me from the theatre and the sea to classrooms, prison yards, tropical forests and the limestone landscapes of Gozo. Along the way, I became fascinated by the stories people inherit, the places they inhabit and the ways both continue to shape who they become.

Part of me has always been grounded in the tangible world. Another part has always been drawn elsewhere. As a child, my attention often wandered beyond the classroom window, towards the landscapes of memory and imagination.

That tension has never left me. It continues to shape both my life and my writing.

The essays, reflections and longer works gathered here explore the meeting points of memory, myth, history and ecology; the ways landscape shapes identity; and how belonging can persist through change and loss.

Writing, for me, is a way of bringing disordered thoughts into order. A way of listening carefully to places, people and the stories that echo through them.

In that listening, I keep finding my bearings.