Writer
I am a journalist and author from London, now living in the Cairngorms, by way of rural East Sussex and North Devon.
After a grounding in consumer magazines as a writer and editor, much of my two decades as a freelance writer has focused on the human body and mind – especially in relation to health and movement and most particularly, running. (I have a BSc in Exercise Science.) I wrote my first book, Run for Life in 2003, which sold 200,000 copies worldwide. My most recent book, Run Your Best Marathon, was published by Bloomsbury in 2022. (I formerly wrote under the name Sam Murphy but now use Sam Pyrah.)
Over the last few years, I have been thinking and writing more about the environment through which we move (or find stillness). A rekindling of my childhood passion for nature awakened an ecological consciousness – and conscience – which has raised questions about my (our) relationship with the natural world and its nonhuman inhabitants.
My search for answers led me to take an MA in Wild Writing at the University of Essex (2021-2023), for which I gained a Distinction.
My first piece of ‘nature writing’ (a tricky term!) was Highly Commended in the inaugural BBC Countryfile. New Nature Writer of the Year competition
In 2022, I was shortlisted in the Beth Chatto Writer’s Prize. Beth Chatto Writers Prize 2022 — Essex Gardens Trust
In August 2024, I made the longlist of the Nature Chronicles prize.
I write regularly for The Guardian, BBC Countryfile and Runner’s World (my monthly column Murphy’s Lore featured in the magazine for 13 years). My work has also appeared in Resurgence, Litro and FT Weekend.
I love to run, walk, swim and kayak. I have hiked the Cape Wrath Trail in Scotland and the Two Moors Way in Devon and run umpteen marathons. I love to watch and listen to birds – I am teaching myself birdsong and can now identify more than 40 birds by song or call.
