New Nature

The Weight of Quiet Things

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It’s great to see this anthology come into the world and to have a contributing essay within its pages.

Published by the wonderful Arkbound UK,’The Weight of Quiet Things gathers essays, stories and poems that explore the deep, enduring relationship between the Scottish landscape and its people.’ Edited by Bridget Reaume, this is a collection ‘about what we take from the land, what the land takes from us and the weight of what remains.’

My essay ‘A Bridge to Nowhere: Land Use and Misuse on the Isle of Lewis’ comes out of a return visit to the Isle of Lewis where I lived for a time in the early noughties. As an incomer, I wanted to understand more about the island’s history and culture, and how the legacies of the past continue to shape its identity today. An abandoned bridge project spearheaded by Lord Leverhulme as part of his ambitious plans to commercialise the islands in the years following WWI seemed emblematic of both the misplaced good intentions of the outsider and the spirit of the islanders themselves. 

The collection is published in April but you can order ahead at the presale link below:

The Weight of Quiet Things Presale

Nature’s Voice

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I’m very proud to have co-edited Issue 6 of the Paperboats Writers E-Zine alongside Alex Nye.

The issue incudes such a great range of thought-provoking writing by a diverse group of wonderful writers, all responding to the issue theme of ‘Nature’s Voice’ in inspiring and imaginative ways. 

In poetry and prose, our contributors bear witness to the vulnerability of birds and other animals; the human impacts on climate and environment; hear the imagined song of trees; give voice to glaciers and storms, mosses and lichen. We learn of grass-roots efforts to respond to the threat of extinction, and we recognise the need to pause and to listen, to take note and act before it is too late.

We are particularly delighted to feature specially commissioned work by poet, artist and curator, Madhu Raghavendra, who was awarded the Charles Wallace Writing Fellowship at Stirling University in 2024.His opening poem ‘Orbit’ sets the scene and encapsulates the themes of this issue perfectly.

Please do grab a cuppa and enjoy a great read by going to the link below.

Nature’s Voice

Tree Talk

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Looking forward to giving an online talk and reading from my essay ‘elm is me and I am elm’ at Plymouth State University this Friday – part of the Museum of the White Mountains Tree Talk series.

‘elm is me and I am elm’ was published in Issue 5 of the Paperboats Writers E-Zine and explores our deeply entwined relationship with nature through a personal exploration of a local area of ancient woodland, the story of the wych-elm, and recent thinking in anthropology and ecology.

Join me on Friday 17th November for a human-nature entanglement.

Details here.

Nature’s Voice

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I’m proud to be co-editing the next issue of the Paperboats Writers e-zine with author Alex Nye, on the theme of Nature’s Voice.

The zine has featured some fantastic writers over each of the five issues that precede this one – both long-established, well known writers and emerging talent, and we hope to be able to continue to bring this diverse range of voices with our call to speak from the perspective of the more-than-human world at this time of climate and ecological breakdown.

Keep a look out for Issue 6, due out in late autumn 2025. In the meantime, you can catch up on each of the other five, fantastic issues, with the link below.

Paperboats Zine.

New Essay Published on THE CLEARING

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‘I was left breathless by the wind – and the view – and Lewis took on a suddenly different feel: an awe-inspiring island of sense and frightening clarity; a lost world of elements; a dreamed-of place caught between sea and sky.’

A new essay on The Clearing – Little Toller Books’ online journal of Nature, Landscape and Place. 

‘Between Sea and Sky’ comes out of a research trip to Lewis back in 2022 and explores the changing land use on the islands. I met with a modern day crofter who, like many new generation crofters, is moving away from traditional crofting practices and using her land to plant native woodland instead of keeping livestock. She talked movingly about her experience relocating to and living on the islands, and of the deep connection she has found with the land. 

I had a great stay on Lewis and wrote a lot about my time there – it was a homecoming of sorts – a return – having lived in Stornoway for a while back in the mid-noughties. It’s not an easy place to live, especially as an incomer, but it’s a place I keep going back to. 

Thanks as ever to editor Jon Woolcott and to crofter Susanne Erbida for taking time to meet with me during my visit.

You can read the essay through the link below. I’d love to hear what you think of it.

Between Sea and Sky