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The Clearing with Katherine May

Where would you go to rest and retreat, in good times and bad?

Katherine May, author of Wintering and Enchantment, asks her guests to share their idea of a perfect sanctuary. Drawing on memory, inspiration and imagination, she explores the things we seek out when we need to restore our joy, hope and energy.

It begins with a forest clearing. What will we find there? A log cabin or a grand hotel? What cherished object or talisman would you bring? And what single work of art, be it a book, record, film or something else, would provide you with enough sustenance to see you through the darkness and remind you of the good times?

In a series of frank, thoughtful and deeply personal conversations, The Clearing will explore the cultural, social and spiritual mindset needed to survive difficult times.

Katherine’s Links:

Visit The Clearing website https://katherine-may.co.uk/the-clearing-podcast to discover how to enjoy the episodes ad free

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/tending

Buy Katherine’s books: Enchantment | Wintering | The Electricity of Every Living Thing: UK / US

Follow Katherine on Instagram

Visit Katherine’s Website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Copyright: Copyright © Katherine May

Latest Episodes:

Introducing The Clearing Nov 28, 2025

Show notes

Katherine is delighted to let you know she’s back with a new podcast series called The Clearing.

In each episode she asks writers and creatives, where would you go to rest and retreat, in good times and bad?

Drawing on memory, inspiration and imagination, she explores the things we seek out when we need to restore our joy, hope and energy.

It begins with a forest clearing. What will we find there? A log cabin or a grand hotel? What cherished object or talisman would you bring? And what single work of art, be it a book, record, film or something else, would provide you with enough sustenance to see you through the darkness and remind you of the good times?

In a series of frank, thoughtful and deeply personal conversations, The Clearing will explore the cultural, social and spiritual mindset needed to survive difficult times.

Visit The Clearing website https://katherine-may.co.uk/the-clearing-podcast to discover how to enjoy the episodes ad free

Buy Katherine’s books: Enchantment | Wintering | The Electricity of Every Living Thing: UK / US

Follow Katherine on Instagram

Visit Katherine’s Website

Production Credits

Guest Booker and Admin Support - Meghan Hutchins

Substack Manager - Rebecca Armstrong

Producer - Alice Lloyd

Music - The Leaf Library @theleaflibrary

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah Moss on memory and meaning-making Nov 16, 2024

Show notes

Recently, Katherine interviewed Sarah Moss about her incredible new memoir, My Good Bright Wolf, an account of growing up as a difficult girl in a difficult family, and how this ultimately led to her eating disorder. Throughout the book, she repeatedly argues against herself. A voice rises up in the text and says, What are you trying to claim here? That’s not how it happened! Why can’t you tell the truth?

The point she makes is that we are unsteady in our remembering. We’re often incredibly uncertain, not just about the content of our memories, but also what they represent. We're unsure when the meaning-making took place. Was it something that arose at the point that those events happened? Or was it something we constructed far later in adulthood? And if so, what purpose did they serve?

Links from the episode:

Sarah Moss' book, My Good Bright Wolf

Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK

Join Katherine's Substack
Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
Follow Katherine on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Exploring Hilary Mantel's memoir with Jillian Hess Nov 01, 2024

Show notes

What’s to be done with the lost, the dead, but write them into being?’

So writes Hilary Mantel in her extraordinary memoir, Giving Up the Ghost. First published in 2003, it offers a snapshot of the great writer before the Wolf Hall era: a literary, if not commercial, success, and a fragile soul with a dark, scuttling imagination.

Katherine was joined by Jillian Hess of the brilliant Noted Substack to explore this wonderful book. They discussed the way that Mantel captures her childhood and family, her relationship to her body and the endometriosis that assailed it, the way she talks about writing, and - of course, given that it’s Halloween week - those ambiguous ghosts.

Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK

Links from the episode:

Jillian's Substack, Noted
Hilary Mantel’s book, Giving Up The Ghost

Join Katherine's Substack for a free reading guide, video recordings and transcripts
Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
Follow Katherine on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kate Fox on the potential and power of poetry Oct 16, 2024

Show notes

It was National Poetry Day in the UK earlier this month and Katherine talked to Kate Fox about her new book, On Sycamore Gap, in an extra Book Club event. Kate’s book is about a very special tree in the north of England that was chopped down by vandals, but that has brought people together in the aftermath of its felling.

Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK

Links from the episode:

Kate on Instagram
Kate's website
Kate’s book, On Sycamore Gap: UK

Join Katherine's Substack for a free reading guide, video recordings and transcripts
Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
Follow Katherine on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oliver Burkeman on mortality, acceptance and imperfectionism Sep 27, 2024

Show notes

September - when we’re almost as likely to be trying to reform ourselves as in January - is the perfect moment for Oliver Burkeman’s new book, Meditations for Mortals.

Katherine sat down to talk to Oliver for her Book Club, and there was one question she was burning to ask: do you confuse lots of readers too?

Oliver, you see, has mastered the art of subverting the self-help genre. It’s not that he doesn’t want to offer succour to people who are struggling, nor that he denies we can change. It’s just that he wants us to understand how unrealistic we’ve learned to be about our capacity to do things. He urges us to accept our imperfections, our limitations, our fundamental humanness.

Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK

Links from the episode:

Oliver on X
Oliver's website
Oliver’s book, Meditations for Mortals: UK | US

Join Katherine's Substack for a free reading guide, video recordings and transcripts
Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
Follow Katherine on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucy Jones on matrescence, maternal myths and transformation Aug 29, 2024

Show notes

This month, Katherine spoke to Lucy Jones about Matrescence, her book about the profound changes wrought by pregnancy and birth. Combining the biological, the social and the political with exquisite writing, this is a radical revision of a subject veiled in forced cosiness and obfuscation.

Lucy's frankness and curiosity - her utter realness - are an absolute balm for anyone who’s navigated the very particular environment of contemporary western maternity, whether that contact has been personal or at one remove. It helps us to understand why pregnancy feels like such a hinterland, and also why it doesn’t need to be this way.

Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK

Links from the episode:

Lucy's Instagram
Lucy's website
Lucy’s book, Matrescence

Join Katherine's Substack for a free reading guide, video recordings and transcripts
Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
Follow Katherine on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel Tammet on real autistic lives Jul 25, 2024

Show notes

Katherine was excited to speak to Daniel Tammet about his latest book, Nine Minds: Inner Lives on the Spectrum. Katherine has been reading Daniel’s writing for a long time - his first book, Born on a Blue Day, came out in 2006. At the time, he was writing about his experience as a savant (his synaesthesia means that he conceptualises numbers and dates in a completely different way to most of us), and in this conversation Katherine and Daniel talk about the way that he was treated during those years. Daniel is a beautiful writer, but his talent was often invisible to people who only wanted to see him as a kind of specimen, not fully human. Hear as they talk about the way Daniel’s persisted, asserting his rightful place as a thinker and a master of prose.

Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK

Links from the episode:

Daniel's Website
Daniel’s book, Nine Minds

Join Katherine's Substack
Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
Follow Katherine on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Newlands on writing neurodivergence with a light touch Jul 04, 2024

Show notes

Join Katherine as she talks with Tom Newlands about his debut novel, Only Here, Only Now. Katherine talks with Tom about his female main protagonist, the unforgettable Cora, setting the book in 1990s Scotland and how it offers a new way of writing about neurodivergence. She also explains the thinking behind choosing Only Here, Only Now for a non-fiction book club, and why it captivated her enough to break her own rules.

Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK

Links from the episode:

Tom's Instagram
Tom’s book, Only Here, Only Now

Join Katherine's Substack
Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
Follow Katherine on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Samantha Irby on being a person Jun 20, 2024

Show notes

Join me for a recent conversation with comedian, essayist, blogger, and television writer Samantha Irby. Recorded as part of my True Stories Book Club hosted on Substack, we talked about realising you have a body again after lockdown, dogs that don’t love us enough/love us too much, writing about the darkest parts of our life, and terrorising Sex and the City fans by writing on And Just Like That… If you haven’t read it already, do check out her latest essay collection, Quietly Hostile.

Katherine's new book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK

Links from the episode:

Samantha’s website
Samantha’s book, Quietly Hostile

Join Katherine's Substack
Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
Follow Katherine on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Camille T. Dungy on unearthing histories Dec 15, 2023

Show notes

At a superficial level, Soil is a gardening memoir, full of gorgeous descriptions of plants and getting your hands in the soil. But the garden in question is a political gesture, an act of resistance and an assertion of belonging. Camille T. Dungy uproots the staid monoculture of the suburban garden, and takes a fierce, critical look at its assumptions.

In this conversation, we talk about the way that gardens can become a means of social control and conformity, but also an expression of freedom and solidarity that crosses generations. We also touch on the idea of outsidership, and the difference between choosing to stay at the edges, and being forced out of the centre.

Katherine's new book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK

Links from the episode:

Camille’s website
Camille’s book, Soil
Camille's Instagram

Join Katherine's Substack to receive episodes ad-free, extended intros and immersive, bonus mini-episdes
Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
Follow Katherine on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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