PodcastsArtsThe Clearing with Katherine May

The Clearing with Katherine May

Katherine May
The Clearing with Katherine May
Latest episode

89 episodes

  • The Clearing with Katherine May

    Yasmin Khan’s warm seas and verdant greens

    21/05/2026 | 54 mins.
    Warm waters, humid, verdant jungle and the nighttime hum of insects are where we find ourselves this week as our guest, Yasmin Khan, transports us on a much-needed break to the tropics.

    Yasmin is the bestselling author of travel cookbooks exploring the food, people and stories of the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. In 2025 she found herself in the middle of a bizarre legal storm when she was threatened with legal action by a deli for calling her latest book ‘Sabzi’ - the word for veg or greens in multiple languages.

    In this conversation with Katherine they discuss the controversy (the case was eventually dropped) and the issues it raises, including the ownership and commodification of food culture. Plus finding community when the chips are down, the ebb and flow of cooking for pleasure, snatched moments of rest with a small child and UK national treasure, Nigella Lawson. A wonderful, and important, conversation.

    Links from the episode

    Yasmin’s Substack Risingup.substack.com
    Yasmin’s Instagram
    Kaco Pens
    The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
    How to Eat by Nigella Lawson

    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 / 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.
  • The Clearing with Katherine May

    Kate Bowler’s Bridge of Absurdity

    14/05/2026 | 51 mins.
    Kate Bowler is the multiple New York Times-bestselling author, professor of divinity and stage-four cancer survivor who has mastered the art of finding small delights in the everyday. No grand gestures for her.

    In this wonderful conversation with Katherine, they talk about ‘how to cope’, the brittleness of time and why revelling in absurdity is really the answer to everything. A celebration of silliness, tattoos, the important differences between canoes and kayaks and the most beautifully realised depiction of precious time spent with a best friend.

    Links from the episode:

    Kate’s new book Joyful Anyway
    Kate’s website where you can find her previous books https://katebowler.com/
    Kate’s podcast Everything Happens
    Kate’s Instagram
    A Truce that is Not Peace by Miriam Toews
    My Bright Abyss by Christian Wiman
    Canadian ice fishing cabins https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/portraits-canadas-ice-fishing-huts-180957794/

    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 / 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.
  • The Clearing with Katherine May

    Jeffrey Boakye’s city path to peace

    07/05/2026 | 1h 4 mins.
    Our first guest to choose a city for his dreamscape, the brilliant writer, BBC broadcaster and educator Jeffrey Boakye reveals he’s most at peace when walking for walking’s sake through the ever-changing textures of London’s streets. The very essence of a ‘flâneur’, as we discover.

    A gorgeous and meandering conversation, Jeffrey and Katherine explore a wonderful array of topics: from skateboarding as a life lesson in failure to finding joy in packed tube trains, why we need to foster more pointless hobbies to what the movie Groundhog Day teaches us about the mundane and the sublime. Often philosophical, frequently laughter-filled and as always, deeply thought-provoking.

    Links from Episode:

    Jeffrey’s website where you can find his books https://www.jeffreyboakye.com/
    Jeffrey’s Substack
    Jeffrey’s Instagram
    Jeffry’s BBC Radio 4 music show Add to Playlist

    Sandwich by Catherine Newman
    Transcription by Ben Lerner
    The Door by Magda Szabo
    Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
    https://oleandsteen.co.uk/ Danish Bakery

    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.
  • The Clearing with Katherine May

    Jackie Morris & Robert Macfarlane ‘dream of nest’

    30/04/2026 | 1h 1 mins.
    A beautiful, bird-filled episode from the wonderful collaborative duo of writer Robert Macfarlane and illustrator Jackie Morris. Together they have created some of the best-loved books on the natural world in recent years, including The Lost Words.

    In this transcendent episode they share their quite different visions of what rest looks like for them. Robert conjures a wild, bird-filled landscape in the Scottish Cairngorms whilst Jackie imagines taking a sentient ship to a melding of The Rain Wilds and Earthsea. Full of wonder, wild knitting, ‘glacial erratics’, laughter and of course plenty of nature chat, this episode is a true salve for the soul.

    Links from the episode

    The Book of Birds by Jackie Morris and Robert MacFarlane
    The Lost Words by Jackie Morris and Robert MacFarlane
    The Lost Spells by Jackie Morris and Robert MacFarlane
    Jackie’s Instagram
    Jackie’s website
    Robert’s Instagram
    Deep Deep Light pain brushes and paints https://deepdeeplight.com/
    A Wizard of Earthseaby Ursula K. Le Guin
    The Rain Wild Chronicles by Robin Hobb
    The Illustration Department Podcast
    Artist David Gentleman
    Read about Albrecht Dürer’s painting Young Hare here
    The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd
    Read about artist Mark Rothko on the Moma website

    Visit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com for a full transcript and to discover how to enjoy the episodes ad free and to access our bonus content
    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.
  • The Clearing with Katherine May

    Season Two Trailer

    23/04/2026 | 0 mins.
    We’re back! After a small, restorative break, we are excited to bring you a new season of The Clearing, where Katherine will explore visions of rest and retreat with some more wonderful guests.

    Visit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com to discover how to enjoy all episodes ad free and to listen to bonus content as it’s released.

    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.
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About 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 freeBuy Katherine’s books: Enchantment | Wintering | The Electricity of Every Living Thing: UK / USFollow Katherine on InstagramVisit Katherine’s Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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