Gavin Maxwell

Scottish, 1914 - 1969

Gavin Maxwell was raised in a small village in southwestern Scotland, where he first became enamored with the natural world. He retained his love of exploring into adulthood, when he toured the reed marshes of Southern Iraq with the explorer Wilfred Thesiger. He caught an otter there and brought it back to his remote home in Sandaig, Scotland. The otter became the subject of his most famous book, Ring of Bright Water, which sold more than a million copies and was made into a film starring Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna.