Speaker module

Marianne Brown is an experienced journalist who over the last decade has worked as a bureau chief in Vietnam, freelance radio reporter and as editor of an environmental magazine. Her popular book The Shetland Way: Community and Climate Crisis on My Father’s Islands, published by Borough Press (2025), combines memoir and journalism to tell the story of a huge onshore windfarm on the isles, and the impact it had on the community. The Observer described it as: 'a fascinating insight into a unique place that holds past and future in uneasy tension, written with clarity and rooted in deep affection – not only for the islands but for the broader land and elements on which we all depend." Researching the book led her to switch careers from journalism to the community energy sector, where her work includes engaging people on the power and potential of community-owned renewables. She has appeared on the BBC's Start the Week, the Hay Festival and Edinburgh International Book Festival among others.