Soundings is a memoir about a mother and toddler following the migration of grey whales to Arctic Alaska. It tells the story of a woman reclaiming her life, mile by mile; a child growing to love an ocean that is profoundly endangered; and a mother learning from another species how to parent in a time of unprecedented change.
Doreen Cunningham is an Irish-British writer born in Wales. After studying engineering she worked briefly in climate related research at NERC and in storm modelling at Newcastle University, before turning to journalism. She worked for the BBC World Service variously as an international news presenter, editor, producer and reporter, for twenty years. Soundings, her first book, has been shortlisted for the Eccles Centre & Hay Festival Writers Award 2021 and Pat Kavanagh Award 2022, and won the RSL Giles St Aubyn Award 2020.