The Clearing with Katherine May

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. The result is the aural equivalent of being rocked to sleep.

Mutual fans, their conversation meanders gently as Katherine explores the craft behind the podcast. Kathryn’s childhood of wanting to feel safe, her ability to lift the cognitive load of those attending her yoga classes and skill in observing small moments in everyday life all led to the creation of her shows. That and an understanding that it’s not just children who need safety and to be held, but adults too. And no more than now.

Kathryn also imagines a brilliantly dreamlike and mischievous getaway, that once again involves the idea of rummaging through other people’s belongings, and delights Katherine no end. The only thing to do is sit back and relax. If you’re lucky you will achieve Kathryn’s peak state of ‘so much time and nothing to accomplish’.
Links from the episode:

Kathryn’s website
Kathryn’s podcast, Nothing Much Happens
Kathryn’s book
Nothing Much Happens Instagram
Jalaluddin Rumi https://www.oxcis.ac.uk/publication/rumi
Bashō https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/basho
Kamo Chōmei https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kamo-Chomei
Renee and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War by Paul Simon here
The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend
Ulysses by James Joyce
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
One Summer America 1927 by Bill Bryson
The Land and its People by David Sedaris
Find out more about The Petoskey Stone
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
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.

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 small cabin or ‘being good at rest’ too claustrophobic and restrictive, Sarah instead finds ultimate peace being out in the ancient, Australian desert. The dry heat, crunchy dirt underfoot and minimal distractions in a monotonous landscape are where she feels truly alive. It’s the great equaliser. A place to feel what Oliver Burkeman calls ‘cosmic insignificance’. It’s also just one of the many extraordinary and often surprising places she has perfected the ultimate tent-life; much to Katherine’s horror who practically shudders at just the word tent!
A truly original vision of rest from someone who has learnt to integrate work and leisure to such an extent that rest has been rendered meaningless.
Links from the episode:
Sarah’s website https://sarahwilson.com/
Sarah’s book I Eat the Stars
Sarah’s podcast Wild with Sarah Wilson
Sarah’s Substack https://substack.com/@sarahwilson
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
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.

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 delve more deeply into this concept of ecstasy, they marvel at the capacity of human lives for surprise and why sometimes we just need to step out of our own way. Barbara also explains why Tantra isn’t what we think it is and we get to hear the most beautifully unique vision of rest as Barbara transports us to a flamboyant theatre, replete with horses, Hollywood legends and an ever-changing array of favourite theatrical shows.

A deeply joyous and uplifting episode where Barbara’s bottomless well of compassion, love and yes, ecstasy, is deeply present.

Links from the episode:
Barbara’s book The Book of Ecstasy
Barbara’s website https://barbaracarrellas.com/

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
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.

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 diagnosis. Unlike Katherine, his came after a heckler suggested he might be autistic during a live stand-up show.

A lovely, chewy episode for the brain, with Katherine bidding for them to be the hosts of ‘The Rest is Neurodivergence’ and Pierre sprinkling his imagined getaway with some Orkney magic.

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

Links from the episode:

Pierre’s website https://www.pierrenovellie.com/
Pierre’s book Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things
Pierre’s BBC Radio 4 show https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002pfbr
Pierre’s gaming podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/button-boys/id1827054353
Baldur’s Gate 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur%27s_Gate_3
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Come:_Deliverance_II
Portugese writer Antonio Lobo Antunes
Night Watch by Rembrandt at the Rijksmuseum

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.

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 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.

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

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.