The Clearing with Katherine May

Most of you will need no introduction to Elizabeth Gilbert. The international best-selling author of Eat Pray Love and Big Magic has sold a staggering 25 million books worldwide and is very much ‘a phenomenon’. In this truly special episode Elizabeth speaks to Katherine fresh from a six month sabbatical. A sabbatical taken after she lived through, and then wrote about, one of the most difficult pe...

This week’s guest is someone Katherine has wanted on The Clearing since the very beginning. Sleep whisperer and ‘architect of coziness’, Kathryn Nicolai is the talent behind one of Katherine’s very favourite podcasts - Nothing Much Happens. Described as ‘bedtime stories for everyone’ it’s a show that combines Kathryn’s skill for storytelling with one of the most soothing voices in the business. Th...

A friend of Sarah Wilson’s once told her she was always ‘looking for trouble’. It is clear from this episode that the best-selling Australian author, podcaster and TV presenter is hard-wired for restlessness. A self-confessed ‘edge-seeker’, constantly pushing boundaries in a flirtation with life, she proves a fascinating guest to discuss ideas of rest with Katherine. Finding the pressures of a sma...

Barbara Carrellas believes we can find the truest rest in moments of awe. The author of ‘The Book of Ecstasy’ says even in life’s darkest moments, ecstasy is possible. It’s something seeded in her practice of ‘Urban Tantra’ - a non-touch sexual practice rooted in her experience of working with the people and communities affected by New York’s AIDS crisis in the 1980s. As Katherine and Barbara delv...

Comedian, podcaster, radio presenter and bona fide history nerd Pierre Novellie joins Katherine in The Clearing for this week’s episode.  A geekfest of language and ideas, they launch straight into the etymology of the word ‘dork’, why you can’t choose your own clown as a stand-up, and the politics around the changing language of autism. Like Katherine, Pierre received a late neurodivergence...

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 h...

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 brutali...

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 e...

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 t...

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...

‘Revel’ is the recurring theme of this episode as writer Alice Vincent brings visceral, carnival-esque Glastonbury vibes to The Clearing this week.  A self-confessed extrovert, her dream retreat includes bundling up all the sounds and experiences of the people and places she loves; the chaotic joy of a house party, the blissful comfort of chatty gatherings with friends and family, the daily b...

Trees as ancestors, blurring the boundary between our bodies and the living world and constructing your sense of ‘self’ through art; these are just some of the beautiful areas of discussion between our guest Joycelyn Longdon and Katherine this week.  Joycelyn is a researcher and writer, currently finishing her PhD at the University of Cambridge, who bridges the worlds of ecology, technology a...

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...

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...

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 skatebo...

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 i...

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 |...

California-based illustrator, author and Instagram phenomenon Carissa Potter chats to Katherine about the complexities of taking rest during challenging times. In a masterclass of self-reflection, Carissa questions whether the political left have failed to cultivate tolerance and understanding, if we should brand people as evil and how to ‘show up’ when you are the caregiver of a child with comple...

Experiencing everything, everywhere, all at once is where we find our guest Elissa Altman this week, as she chats to Katherine in the midst of a snow cyclone in Connecticut.  An author and speaker whose work touches on issues of family, trauma, and the permission to create, she acknowledges her deep need for rest and retreat as she whisks us away to her favourite place in the world; a tiny co...

As someone whose life was turned upside down by an unexpected divorce and a subsequent move away from the evangelical church, US author and podcaster Jen Hatmaker has learned, and earned, a wisdom that is tangible. In this episode of The Clearing Jen transports Katherine to her grandparents’ 1970s cabin in the snowy Colorado mountains to share the many ways she has come to terms with life’s challe...

A deliciously glamorous escape to the snowy setting of a luxury Swiss chalet hotel where 1920s faded English aristocracy meets 1950s Hollywood starlet decadence.  Marabou-trimmed silk pajamas and well-stocked libraries with crackling fires abound in this absolute joy of an episode with author Daisy Buchanan.  Listen in as Daisy imagines herself preparing for a Grand Ball, with all the pl...

Floor to ceiling windows overlooking a temperate blue ocean off the coast of New Zealand is where this week’s guest, journalist and author Poorna Bell, dreams of rest and retreat. Since the death of her husband in 2015, Poorna has become well-versed in making the most of the everyday. As a result this is a conversation filled with the joy of small things. From relishing the prospect of unstructure...

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 som...

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 Kather...

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 f...