The Clearing with Katherine May

Caitlin Moran is somewhat of an icon in the UK. Growing up as the eldest of eight kids in a three bed council flat, home-educated from the age of 11, she became a published author at just 16 and a TV presenter not long after that. A long-time columnist for The Times, she has a well-deserved reputation for being one of the UK’s funniest writers. She is also a massive fan of Wintering - so much so her new book contains an entire chapter devoted to it. Caitlin joins Katherine for a conversation that was never going to be anything but brilliantly bonkers. They discuss her plan to rid the world of evil billionaires that basically involves being a madam, why she would pay a thousand pounds to hear the sound of a blackbird from Wolverhampton in the 1980s and ask; grottos - the Temu of caves? Her unique vision of splendour for her escape to the Clearing, involving ‘the greatest building that humans have ever come up with’, provokes a particularly visceral reaction from Katherine. Just to warn you, this being Caitlin, the episode contains a spot of swearing. Links from the episode:Caitlin’s new book How to Be Hopeful Outsiding Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/outsiding/id6782845808 Caitlin’s InstagramVisit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com for a full transcript, to discover how to enjoy our bonus episodes, our ad free episodes and if you subscribe, how to submit your own idea for a dream retreat.Katherine’s new book, Tending: How Care Binds the World is out in March and you can pre-order it here https://katherine-may.co.uk/tendingBuy Katherine’s books: Enchantment | Wintering | The Electricity of Every Living Thing: UK / USFollow Katherine on InstagramVisit Katherine’s WebsiteProduction CreditsGuest Booker and Admin Support - Meghan HutchinsSubstack Manager - Rebecca ArmstrongProducer - Alice LloydMusic - The Leaf Library @theleaflibrary Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Step forward our first OBE on the show; former Children’s Laureate, winner of the Carnegie Medal for Writing, poet and prolific children’s author, Joseph Coelho.  Having both grown up on housing estates where you definitely weren’t pre-conditioned for a life in the creative arts, Joseph and Katherine marvel at the way teachers can shape children’s futures, wonder at the power of brutalist public art and relish the joy of watching people rummage through abandoned homes in post-apocalyptic films. A wonderful, and deeply thoughtful, conversation with one of the UK’s most inspiring literary figures. Links from the episode: Joseph’s website https://www.thepoetryofjosephcoelho.com/Joseph’s InstagramMunya Chawawa’s Black Boys Theatre Club Joseph’s estate he grew up on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Estate Lynn Chadwick’s The Watchers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Watchers_(sculpture)Visit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com for a full transcript, to discover how to enjoy our bonus episodes, our ad free episodes and if you subscribe, how to submit your own idea for a dream retreat.Katherine’s new book, Tending: How Care Binds the World is out in March and you can pre-order it here Buy Katherine’s books: Enchantment | Wintering | The Electricity of Every Living Thing: UK / USFollow Katherine on InstagramVisit Katherine’s WebsiteProduction CreditsGuest Booker and Admin Support - Meghan HutchinsSubstack Manager - Rebecca ArmstrongProducer - Alice LloydMusic - The Leaf Library @theleaflibrary Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Katherine kicks off Season Three of The Clearing in wild style by chatting to former magazine editor, podcast host and US author Elise Loehnen. Menopausal Love Island, lumberjack witches, the potential joy of losing female reproductive organs and animal totems are just some tiny tasters of a brilliant, hilarious, radical conversation that plays with the boundaries of possibility for women everywhere. Despite it being her first podcast interview since discovering she had ‘dumb and slow cancer’ (the good kind) and undergoing a double mastectomy, Elise brings unfathomable, infinite amounts of energy and laughter, plus just the right amount of woo, to a joyous episode. Links from the episode: Elise’s website and podcast Pulling the Thread https://www.eliseloehnen.com/Elise’s InstagramMark Rothko, artist page https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/mark-rothko-1875Anne Truitt, sculptor https://www.annetruitt.org/Hilma af Klint, artist page https://hilmaafklint.se/Ithell Colquhoun, artist page https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/ithell-colquhoun-931 Fulgur press https://www.fulgur.co.uk/Visit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com for a full transcript, to discover how to enjoy our bonus episodes, our ad free episodes and if you subscribe, how to submit your own idea for a dream retreat.Katherine’s new book, Tending: How Care Binds the World is out in March and you can pre-order it here Buy Katherine’s books: Enchantment | Wintering | The Electricity of Every Living Thing: UK / USFollow Katherine on InstagramVisit Katherine’s WebsiteProduction CreditsGuest Booker and Admin Support - Meghan HutchinsSubstack Manager - Rebecca ArmstrongProducer - Alice LloydMusic - The Leaf Library @theleaflibrary Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re excited to announce Season Three of The Clearing coming very soon. Katherine has curated a spectacular line-up of guests and we can’t wait for you to hear some of the brilliantly creative fantasies of rest they have dreamt up. Plus don’t forget our subscribers also get bonus episodes in the form of our ‘Mini-Breaks’. They’re stuffed with listener chat, one small, achievable idea to rest and restore from Katherine and a lucky subscriber gets their perfect vision of getting away from it all selected for the episode. If yours is picked you’ll receive a highly coveted Clearing mug! Visit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com for a full transcript, to discover how to enjoy our bonus and ad free episodes and if you subscribe, how to submit your own idea for a dream retreat.Katherine’s new book, Tending: How Care Binds the World is out in March and you can pre-order it here Buy Katherine’s books: Enchantment | Wintering | The Electricity of Every Living Thing: UK / USFollow Katherine on InstagramVisit Katherine’s WebsiteProduction CreditsGuest Booker and Admin Support - Meghan HutchinsSubstack Manager - Rebecca ArmstrongProducer - Alice Lloyd Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Not too warm, not too cool, the kind of evening where you’re still in shorts but have pulled on a sweater, is where we find ourselves this week with the wonderful writer and papercut artist Anna Brones. It’s the Pacific North-West but imbued with Anna’s Swedish heritage as she brings comfort and nostalgia - cold water swimming, her grandmother’s woollen blanket - to a cosy spot on a blustery shore.Together, Katherine and Anna explore ideas of home, desire for the place you are not, ‘the curse of the creatives’ and share fascinating insights into both of their creative processes. Links from the episode:  Anna’s book Fika: The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break Anna’s newsletter Creative FuelAnna’s website https://www.annabrones.com/Anna’s Instagram Visit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com for a full transcript, to discover how to enjoy our bonus episodes, our ad free episodes and if you subscribe, how to submit your own idea for a dream retreat.Buy Katherine’s books: Enchantment | Wintering | The Electricity of Every Living Thing: UK / USFollow Katherine on InstagramVisit Katherine’s WebsiteProduction CreditsGuest Booker and Admin Support - Meghan HutchinsSubstack Manager - Rebecca ArmstrongProducer - Alice LloydMusic - The Leaf Library @theleaflibrary Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.