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.

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.

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.

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 complex medical needs.

It is no surprise that someone who thinks so deeply about the world has also developed a fully formed fantasy of where she would go to get away from it all; just her and her ‘platonic love at first sight’ creating art together and dipping in the waters at Indian Springs Calistoga. Bliss.

Links from the episode:

Carissa’s website

Carissa’s Instagram

Carissa’s Substack

Carissa’s online shop People I’ve Loved

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.

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 cottage set back from a stony beach in Owl’s Head, Maine.

Overlooking the sea and with guitar to hand, Katherine and Elissa grapple with overcoming guilt, the pleasures of re-reading, the fetishisation of Mary Oliver and the horror of people placing items on their desks.

A glorious and warm-hearted episode with some timely reminders about the impermanence of things, good and bad.

Links from the episode:

Elissa’s website where you can find her books

Elissa’s Substack

Elissa’s Instagram

Devotions poetry collection by Mary Oliver

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing

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.

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 challenges. Against a blissful setting of floor to ceiling windows, low lighting and a crackling fire, Jen describes letting others ‘drive their car in the Jen Hatmaker hate lane’, the comfort of feeling small, saying yes to everything and how ‘Me Camp’ changed her life.

Links from the episode:

Jen’s website where you can buy her books including her memoir Awake

Jen’s Instagram

The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan

Various books by David Sedaris

Learn more about Anne Lamott

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

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.