Writer | OCEAN out now (@eyebooks_) | LARCHFIELD (2017) | TIGER (2019) | AFTERLIFE: NEW & SELECTED POEMS (@bloodaxebooks) | TS Eliot prize shortlistee.

Rhu | ⛵️Thames
Joined May 2022
“Some people run away to join the circus. At 16 I left home to work at Edinburgh Zoo…” Delighted to have my first piece in @unherd, on Siberian tigers and wildness. unherd.com/2026/10/a-life-wi…
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This would only be interesting if it was the wife who wanted to sleep around and the husband was doing the one way monogamy. Never see those articles though. Funny that.
Can ‘one-way monogamy’ work? Find out what happened when relationship therapist Courtney Boyer opened her marriage.

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This awful time will be over only when people can plainly name the issue they are writhing over in public. Emma is still relying on the vagueness that has kept the gender identity lie alive and her in business. Only restoring meaning to words will break the spell.
This is painful to watch. You can almost see the cogs moving. An absolutist has realised her original position was built on toxic sand and tries to head for decent solid ground. And fails.
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Polly Clark retweeted
Imagine - a warm, entertaining literary evening where you don't have to leave your sofa, your drink of choice is in your hand, and you're encountering a truly wonderful new book and its author. This could be you! Free, online, Tuesday 27th at 7pm. Please reserve a ticket. 🔗👇
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Imagine - a warm, entertaining literary evening where you don't have to leave your sofa, your drink of choice is in your hand, and you're encountering a truly wonderful new book and its author. This could be you! Free, online, Tuesday 27th at 7pm. Please reserve a ticket. 🔗👇
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I've been lucky enough to read this and I can tell you all -- it is UNMISSABLE.
After a week of lurgy and a bit of a crap time of it lately, I'm looking forward to receiving the proof copy of my new book, 'Strange Times,' tomorrow! It will be out very, very soon, and I'm going to be extremely annoying about promoting it. 🐢🥰
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Polly Clark retweeted
Meet Gallus the coot, viewed through my cabin porthole. He has his eye on my transom as his next address. This cannot happen due to Reasons. My new essay, Winterising: 👇 pollyclark.substack.com/p/wi…
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Love this.
В 2020 году в бельгийском зоопарке Pairi Daiza к орангутанам подселили азиатских бескоготных выдр, чтобы те не скучали. Скучно не было никому.
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Great news and an important update from @glinner. Activists must no longer be able to use the police and the courts as their own enforcement branch. And yes join the FSU. As Graham says it’s crazy but true: in the UK today your thoughts need protection.
🚨 UPDATE FROM GRAHAM LINEHAN Last week, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the police watchdog, found that the Metropolitan Police’s handling of Graham’s complaint about his arrest at Heathrow was not reasonable or proportionate. Last year, Graham was arrested by five armed police officers as he arrived at Heathrow from Arizona. His “crime”? Three gender-critical posts on X. Gender-critical beliefs are lawful. They are protected under the Equality Act 2010 and were reaffirmed by last year’s landmark Supreme Court ruling. With the support of the Free Speech Union, Graham sent the Met a pre-action letter arguing that his arrest was unlawful and breached his right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Met issued a full and unreserved public apology and paid Graham £25,000 in compensation. Graham also complained to the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards about his arrest and detention in September 2025. The IOPC has now ordered the Met to reinvestigate, saying Graham may have been treated as he was because of his gender-critical views. The Met’s decision to reopen the investigation is welcome news. Graham has been relentlessly hounded by trans activists for his lawful views and advocacy for women’s rights. The police have acted on vexatious complaints from those seeking to silence him and others who hold gender-critical beliefs. This ideological capture must end. The Free Speech Union is proud to support @Glinner. Watch Graham Linehan below 👇
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There are reviews and then there are analyses like this which render the book obsolete. Did no one at Alistair Campbell’s publisher think, hang on this book is going to lay us all open to total humidicule? unherd.com/2026/10/persevili…
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A wonderful read. And very humorous 😃❤️
Meet Gallus the coot, viewed through my cabin porthole. He has his eye on my transom as his next address. This cannot happen due to Reasons. My new essay, Winterising: 👇 pollyclark.substack.com/p/wi…
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Everything in one place, just like the essay six years ago. Terrible that an update is still needed, but what an update. Without JK Rowling, vital women's rights would likely have been dismantled by now. My daughter (though she doesn't know it) thanks you @jk_rowling .
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It's always the way that the younger generation don't comprehend what the older generation has done for them until they are older themselves...
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Meet Gallus the coot, viewed through my cabin porthole. He has his eye on my transom as his next address. This cannot happen due to Reasons. My new essay, Winterising: 👇 pollyclark.substack.com/p/wi…
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Polly Clark retweeted
Very proud to be in @unherd today with this piece on what tigers tell us about wildness.
In the zoo, the tiger’s grandeur lies partly in being seen. Its creamy underbelly, orange coat and vivid black stripes resemble a king’s robes: an ostentatious announcement of presence. In human culture, after all, this is how status is signalled. But in the forest, the tiger’s magnificence resides in disappearance, and in the fear of its revelation. Like most large predators, the Amur tiger avoids conflict: injury costs energy. It does not control 500 square miles by being a thug. It is supremely sensitive, cautious and single-minded, the perfect expression of its environment. Read more from @MsPollyClark buff.ly/URsQvwk
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Reminder to self: the Following tab is proper x. For You is depressing and mental.
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I also write Monday Night Reads, a weekly essay on Substack. pollyclark.substack.com
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Polly Clark retweeted
“Some people run away to join the circus. At 16 I left home to work at Edinburgh Zoo…” Delighted to have my first piece in @unherd, on Siberian tigers and wildness. unherd.com/2026/10/a-life-wi…
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Polly Clark retweeted
In the zoo, the tiger’s grandeur lies partly in being seen. Its creamy underbelly, orange coat and vivid black stripes resemble a king’s robes: an ostentatious announcement of presence. In human culture, after all, this is how status is signalled. But in the forest, the tiger’s magnificence resides in disappearance, and in the fear of its revelation. Like most large predators, the Amur tiger avoids conflict: injury costs energy. It does not control 500 square miles by being a thug. It is supremely sensitive, cautious and single-minded, the perfect expression of its environment. Read more from @MsPollyClark buff.ly/URsQvwk
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