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Canongate to republish Pilley's 'inspirational' climbing memoir
Canongate will republish 1920s female adventurer Dorothy Pilley’s “inspirational” memoir.
Editorial director Simon Thorogood acquired world rights to Climbing Days from Norah Perkins at Curtis Brown. Climbing Days will be introduced by Pilley’s great-grand-nephew, Dan Richards, and will be published on the Canongate Canons list in July 2024.
When Pilley first began climbing in the 1910s, female mountaineers were seen as a dangerous liability, their achievements ignored, unrecorded or disbelieved. “Undeterred, Dorothy proved herself on the slopes of Wales, Scotland and the Lake District before tackling rock faces in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Rockies, Mount Fuji and the Himalayas,” Canongate said. “Her championing of fellow women climbers and her own trailblazing example helped establish female alpinists as serious mountaineers with impressive records on bravery, skill and endurance.”
First published in 1935, Climbing Days tells a “daredevil tale of adventure, near-death slips and rapturous achievement in high places, laced with moments highlighting the particular challenges of being a woman in a sport seen as distinctly male”.
Richards said: “The memoir is a marvel – questing, hair-raising and inspirational. My great hope is that the book will lead to Dorothy’s name becoming better known, her achievements more celebrated, and her story inspire a new generation to journey out and up into the peaks she loved so much.”
Thorogood added: “Dorothy’s memoir is a climbing classic by a truly pioneering writer and explorer. I’m grateful Dan brought the book to our attention and delighted that it is joining our Canons list.”
