The Clearing with Katherine May

Prolific author of nine books and writer behind the Substack phenomenon The Hyphen, Emma Gannon takes us away for a whole year to her imaginary retreat in Palm Springs, where she plans to indulge almost solely in her number one favourite pastime - reading.

Revealing the extent to which she craves alone time, she tells Katherine about her very real experience of burnout, how she went from someone who lived to work to appreciating downtime and why she relates to The Hermit in Tarot.

An inspiring listen that challenges our ideas of ‘the right way’ to live and embraces the concept of letting go.

Links in the show:

Emma’s Substack The Hyphen
Emma’s website
Emma’s Instagram
A link to buy her books including A Year of Nothing

Find Emma’s conversation with Elizabeth Gilbert about memoir here
Max Richter’s track On the Nature of Daylight

Visit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com for a full transcript and 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.

Settling in amongst the sparkling sea views and scented coniferous trees of Corfu, writer Mike Sowden tells Katherine why he is ditching the concept of escape to run towards places and people with enthusiasm and curiosity.

Conjuring up a beautiful stay on the island so beloved by author Gerald Durrell, where people are still viscerally connected to the changing seasons, Mike and Katherine find creativity in discomfort, stories from failed adventures and a shared desire to get out into the world more and embrace the randomness of life.

Links from the episode:

Mike’s Everything is Amazing newsletter on Substack

Where Good Ideas Come From by Stephen Johnson

Journey into Cyprus by Colin Thubron

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (and link to website all about her)

Visit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com for a full transcript and 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.

Katherine explains why we are heeding our own advice and taking a tiny break this week. She also previews some exciting, listener-led bonus content that will be coming your way next season. We’ll be back next week with another wonderful guest for you. Meanwhile take care everyone.

Visit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com for a full transcript and 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.

A modern sage who forewarned the world of the rise of fascism, writer Ece Temelkuran explains why she ‘put her heart in the freezer’ ten years ago when she fled her country of birth and how finding traces of home all around are helping her to heal.

From a beloved old cardigan to episodes of Downton Abbey, from being surrounded by Turkish food in Berlin to talking to her three favourite trees in the park; in this moving conversation Ece reveals the power of finding joy in the little things, as we collectively go through what she calls our ‘winter of humanity’.

A powerful call to arms and a must-listen for those of us searching for hope in difficult times.

Links from the episode:

Ece’s Instagram
Buy her latest book Nation of Strangers here
Buy How to Lose a Country here

Visit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com for a full transcript and 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.

Author, storyteller and enrolled citizen of the Potawatomi nation, Kaitlin Curtice, shares her beautiful image of the perfect retreat, created by her own consciousness during the Covid pandemic.

Exploring this space together, Katherine and Kaitlin discuss the little-appreciated power of ageing, looking for stories beneath the stories, the art of listening, feeling the presence of the ancestors and asking permission from the stones and shells before you bring them home.

A wonderful episode of Indigenous wisdom, stillness and calm - the perfect moment of retreat.

Kaitlin’s Links

Kaitlin's website where you can find her books
Kaitlin's Substack

Authors mentioned by Kaitlin

Alastair McIntosh
Clarissa Pinkola Estés
John O'Donohue
Billy Collins

Musicians’ mentioned by Kaitlin

Gregory Alan Isakov
Glen Hansard

Visit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com for a full transcript and 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.