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.
I feel very lucky to have spent a couple of days earlier this month at Elmley Nature Reserve on a small writing commission.
Such a wonderful reserve – an island haven for nature on Sheppey, fringed by industry and urban development. But it’s a place of distant horizons and big skies, amazing insect, bird and plant life, and fascinating history.
I’ve been writing about hares and the Bronze Age, an abandoned Victorian school and its resident Little Owls, elm trees and Elmley Hill, the Mesolithic and medicinal meadows – all for an illustrated booklet alongside 3 other writers to help visitors connect with the reserve, its habitats and wildlife. There was so much to try to capture and contain and lots of notes to go through, but I’m looking forward to seeing the final results, including illustrations by the wonderful Kate Winter.
It’s a long journey to-from rural Aberdeenshire but worth it. It’s not often we get chance to connect with nature in such an immersive way, and to be spoiled by the kind of hospitality shown to me during my visit. If you’re ever visiting the busy SE, do take time to include the reserve – some of our rarest species hang on there, all with the support of the staff who have turned Elmley into the refuge it has become.
I’ll be posting links up to the finished booklet / micro-stories when the project concludes.
In the latest episode of the Paperboats Podcast I speak with naturalist, photographer and nature writer, Polly Pullar.
Polly talks about her early life growing up in Ardnamurchan on the west coast of Scotland, how her love of nature and wildlife brought her solace through a difficult period and continues to inspire her passionately today. She discusses the plight of Scotland’s wildlife under the pressures of climate change and habitat loss, and reads from her Paperboats Zine piece, ‘A Solan Goose Summer,’ which highlights how climate change, the avian bird-flu epidemic, and increasing food scarcity is threatening this wonderful seabird.
I had a great chat with Polly. Her love of nature and her zest for life is infectious, so I hope you’ll give this episode a listen, and if you enjoy it, please do like and subscribe!
If you’re concerned about climate change, want to delve further into the issues surrounding it, and like great writing, the Paperboats Podcast brings you a host of fantastic nature writers.
Find it on your preferred platform or head to Paperboats Podcasts and follow the links from there.
EPISODE 2 OF THE PAPERBOATS PODCAST, WITH LINDA CRACKNELL
Episode 2 of the Paperboats podcast with author Linda Cracknell is available from today.
I talk with Linda about Scotland’s Flow Country, her bookDoubling Back, and how important walking is to her writing practice.
Linda reads an extract from the new edition of Doubling Back, published by Saraband in May 2024 and a wonderful book exploring a range of diverse landscapes, places, and paths as memory.
Linda also highlights how important the peatbogs of Caithness in Sutherland – now a UNESCO World Heritage Site – are in alleviating the impacts of climate change, and how vulnerable they have been to commercial forestry practices and land misuse. She describes her time spent in the Flow Country in writing the new chapter of her book, her life-long relationship with walking, and the importance of landscape and place to her work.
Available across all platforms and streaming now, follow and subscribe to keep up with all future episodes.
If you’re not familiar with Paperboats Writers, they’re a fantastic group of writers working across Scotland (and beyond) to highlight the impacts of climate change, the ecological collapse we’re all witness to, and the things we can do to help bring about positive change.
In each episode I meet with a different writer from the Paperboats collective. We discuss their work, and the issues they write about.
We hear Scotland’s Makar Kathleen Jamie (National Poet for Scotland 2021 – 2024) read her inspirational poem ‘What the Clyde Said, After Cop 26’, discuss the formation of Paperboats Writers, the importance of a Just Transition, and the work of Global Justice Now and the Scottish Rewilding Alliance.
In upcoming episodes I’ll be talking with author Linda Cracknell about the Flow Country and her book Doubling Back, and with Nature Writer and photographer Polly Pullar about the plight of the gannet and Polly’s life-long relationship with wildlife.
Many more fantastic Nature Writers to feature in the coming months, so I hope you’ll give it a listen, and follow and subscribe to keep up with future episodes.
Groundings 