The Clearing with Katherine May

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to author Michelle Adams.Michelle Adams is best known as the author of Little Wishes, Between the Lies and My Sister. In this episode, she talks about a sudden and unexplained illness that disrupted everything she knew about herself, and how vital her support network became during that time.In other areas of this open and honest chat, Michelle also expands on her love of podcasting over the written interview, allergy season in Cyprus where she and her family make their home, the whole process of her life being shaken up through her experience, reflections with the clarity of time and so much more which will give you a glorious insight into her character.MICHELLE LINKSMain siteBook checklistTwitterKatherine on Michelle's podcast Beyond WordsGood ReadsKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Angela Barnes, podcaster, comedian and regular panel guest on Mock The Week (and much more!).Angela Barnes has zero tolerance for anyone reassuring her that she's pretty - it talks over her lived experience, and does nothing to change her self-perception. Here, she discusses living with Persistent Depressive Disorder, which has made her whole life feel like the drizzly English climate, but which has also made her more able than most to endure the hard-knocks life of a stand-up comedian. A very cheerful chat which always zeroes in on the important points with lazer focus, picking up on where Angela is in the greater pandemic situation, working with her PDD, building daily frameworks, having a comedy tribe which normalizes certain behaviours and actions, fear of rejection, CBT, entitlement, TV, the perils and - well, perils of social media, and the notion of beauty on a grand scale.ANGELA LINKSMain siteTwitterInstagramWe Are History podcastMock The WeekKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Josie George, author of 'A Still Life: A Memoir'.Josie George has always lived with a complex of medical conditions that are difficult to name, but which leave her permanently in pain and having to carefully manage her mindset and energies in order to cope with everyday life. Here, she talks about the joys she finds in small things, and the vibrant appreciation for life that her restrictions have given her.An upfront and positive chat in which Josie goes into her history with health, illness versus wellness, forms of gaslighting taking place through diagnoses, spiralling but maintaining forward motion, adapting to change rather than stopping, maintaining presence and tuning into frequencies of mindfulness.JOSIE LINKSA Still Life: A MemoirTwitterInstagramJosie in The GuardianSam HarrisKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Georgina Lawton, author of 'Raceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong'.For most of her life, Georgina Lawton was aware that she didn't look like her white family, but by her teens, she was no longer able to believe her parent's line that she was a genetic 'throwback' to a Black ancestor. In her memoir, Raceless, she writes about the painful process of forging a Black identity from scratch, and the painstaking work of repairing her relationship with her mother after years of denial.A really lovely chat which branches out onto areas including her Surrey upbringing, the sense of confusion in her early years, the experience of receiving racial comments more often as she grew up, finding friend groups, her amazing perspective shifts through travel, and her strategies in breaking down her racial origins - she has developed numerous versions depending on the situation. A fascinating look at family, friends and society.GEORGINA LINKSRaceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I BelongTwitterInstagramPolitics & Prose chatKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Tanya Shadrick, author of 'The Cure For Sleep'.A few days after giving birth, Tanya found herself in an ambulance, barely clinging to life. But surviving that terrifying experience changed everything. In this conversation, Tanya talks about how facing death made her bolder, more certain of her ambitions, and more determined to become a writer. And it also left her able to help other people who were nearing the end of their life.Tanya lets us all in on a number of very personal moments in her life, and details how she found a route through it all at times when obstacles seemed unsurmountable. From sudden clarity, to life-changing impulses, to being of service and of course her own writing studies (including the mile-long journal), it's an intimate and ultimately uplifting and inspiring journey.TANYA LINKSThe Cure For SleepOnlineWild Woman SwimmingNewsletterTwitterTuesdays With Morrie by Mitch AlbomKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Zeba Talkhani, author of 'My Past Is A Foreign Country'.Growing up as an Indian Muslim in socially-repressive Saudi Arabia, Zeba Talkhani learned her feminism young, unable to stop questioning the restrictions on her thoughts and personal freedoms. But after writing a memoir of her experiences, she encountered a backlash that she could never have expected. Here, she talks about how she came to terms with the abuse she received after publication, and how it brought her closer to her mother.Zeba and Katherine also touch upon and go in on topics including the patriarchy and how the West can use other countries as a metric for its power, the pressure in securing a husband and how it affected her very early life, how one encounter in a school hall has stayed with her, the acknowledgment of privilege, personall fallout after receiving preview copies of her book, and the beauty and joy of finding writing again.ZEBA LINKSMy Past Is A Foreign CountryInstagramNewsletterTwitterKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Sara Ryan, author of 'Justice For Laughing Boy'.After Sara Ryan's autistic son, Connor, was sectioned and admitted to a residental mental health unit, there seemed to be no way to get him out again. And then, one morning, he died after having an epileptic seizure in the bath. Convinced that negligence was to blame, Sara began a campaign that not only brought the local authority to justice, but also put Connor's humanity at the front and centre. Sara talks about righteous anger, the urgent need for change in our care system, and how friends and family can help you to endure.A moving and intimate conversation which balances unflinching honesty and grief with levity and grace, and one where you'll come away with a real feeling of closeness to Sara and Connor. There are tough moments, but Sara has come through an experience with hard-earned wisdom and as such, it's an inspiring journey with positives along the way.SARA LINKSJustice For Laughing Boy107 Days Of ActionMy Daft Life blogTwitterKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Marlee Grace, author of 'Getting To Center'.In this frank and wide-ranging conversation, Marlee Grace talks about the process of finding a life that makes you happy.Drawing on her book 'Getting to Center', she talks about finding love, living with addiction and the ongoing quest to find balance in life that's led to her decision to leave Instagram (at least for a while).It's fascinating to hear Marlee's take on social media at a time when so much of life is being maintained online, and when mental wellbeing is very much at the forefront of our conversations. Marlee also opens up about creating real life connections, her many other works, the strength found and nurtured in her own relationship through tough times, how those in relationships have managed through the pandemic, 'the dance of intimacy' and 'sacred union', social media projections not being aligned with real life, coping through frozen dinners and "How Intimately Powerful The App Is" (her Post-It mantra).MARLEE LINKSGetting To CenterHome pageQuiltingQult app (US region)PatreonKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Nicola Slawson, journalist and founder of 'The Single Supplement'.Through her newsletter The Single Supplement, Nicola Slawson has become the poster girl for a happy life lived alone. But much of her success lies in her ability to write honestly and with balance about the single life - and here she talks about a period of extreme loneliness after taking a dream job in Berlin. This is a story of finding your own path through difficult times.An upfront and honest take on her experiences in journalism and travel, in which Nicola talks about loneliness versus being single, her journalism training, waves of depression which were magnified through situation and location, the toll that reality can take on journalists, confronting echo chambers, spirals, imposter syndrome and being 'Queen Of The Hustle'.NICOLA LINKSTwitterThe GuardianThe Single SupplementPositive NewsGilmore GirlsKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Michele Harper, author of 'The Beauty In Breaking'.Michele Harper's career as a physician is a true vocation - the result, she says, of a childhood spent with an abusive father. In this conversation, she and Katherine talk about the nature of her calling to help, and her experience of racism in the workplace, where she has found herself both on the receiving end, and taking the role as a defender of her Black patients. Underlying it all is a mission to bring about change.Hear Michele also expand on how nothing feels strange anymore through her incredible experience dynamic, her personal toolkit for managing her day a piece at a time, her own upbringing and how it energised her own intuitions and instincts in the ER environment, spiritual and mental health, societys felief valves, and her own seemingly unending optimism.MICHELE LINKSOnlineBuy 'The Beauty In Breaking'Other titles by MicheleEssaysEkhart TolleKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.