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How We Live Now with Katherine May
Jay Griffiths on the ecology of connection
Jay Griffiths’ writing has long explored the link between land, culture and our potential for connection, but her father’s death during lockdown made this more vital than ever. Denied the comfort or closure of a funeral, Jay had to find other ways to connect, mourn and memorialise, and in this gentle, wide-ranging conversation she and Katherine talk about imaginary journeys, ritual and delving into a sense of place.
Behind all of Jay’s work is an ecological urgency, and a sense of grief for the life that we seem to be losing. Here, it’s expressed through the idea of homelessness, both literal and metaphorical. But she also introduces us to the character of Nemesis, offering us a model for justice that might just see us through the next decades.
Join the conversation! We’re also inviting your thoughts on each episode from now on - follow this link to join the conversation. Answers, challenges, ideas and further questions are all welcome - there will be a further episode in a couple of months focusing on your voices.
Katherine's new book, Enchantment, is released in March 2023. Pre-order now: US/CAN and UK
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12. Sarah Moss on memory and meaning-making
46:41||Season 6, Ep. 12Recently, Katherine interviewed Sarah Moss about her incredible new memoir, My Good Bright Wolf, an account of growing up as a difficult girl in a difficult family, and how this ultimately led to her eating disorder. Throughout the book, she repeatedly argues against herself. A voice rises up in the text and says, What are you trying to claim here? That’s not how it happened! Why can’t you tell the truth? The point she makes is that we are unsteady in our remembering. We’re often incredibly uncertain, not just about the content of our memories, but also what they represent. We're unsure when the meaning-making took place. Was it something that arose at the point that those events happened? Or was it something we constructed far later in adulthood? And if so, what purpose did they serve? Links from the episode:Sarah Moss' book, My Good Bright WolfKatherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UKJoin Katherine's SubstackFind show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.Follow Katherine on Instagram11. Exploring Hilary Mantel's memoir with Jillian Hess
01:00:51||Season 6, Ep. 11What’s to be done with the lost, the dead, but write them into being?’So writes Hilary Mantel in her extraordinary memoir, Giving Up the Ghost. First published in 2003, it offers a snapshot of the great writer before the Wolf Hall era: a literary, if not commercial, success, and a fragile soul with a dark, scuttling imagination. Katherine was joined by Jillian Hess of the brilliant Noted Substack to explore this wonderful book. They discussed the way that Mantel captures her childhood and family, her relationship to her body and the endometriosis that assailed it, the way she talks about writing, and - of course, given that it’s Halloween week - those ambiguous ghosts.Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UKLinks from the episode:Jillian's Substack, NotedHilary Mantel’s book, Giving Up The GhostJoin Katherine's Substack for a free reading guide, video recordings and transcriptsFind show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.Follow Katherine on Instagram10. Kate Fox on the potential and power of poetry
59:11||Season 6, Ep. 10It was National Poetry Day in the UK earlier this month and Katherine talked to Kate Fox about her new book, On Sycamore Gap, in an extra Book Club event. Kate’s book is about a very special tree in the north of England that was chopped down by vandals, but that has brought people together in the aftermath of its felling.Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UKLinks from the episode:Kate on InstagramKate's websiteKate’s book, On Sycamore Gap: UKJoin Katherine's Substack for a free reading guide, video recordings and transcriptsFind show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.Follow Katherine on Instagram9. Oliver Burkeman on mortality, acceptance and imperfectionism
01:00:25||Season 6, Ep. 9September - when we’re almost as likely to be trying to reform ourselves as in January - is the perfect moment for Oliver Burkeman’s new book, Meditations for Mortals. Katherine sat down to talk to Oliver for her Book Club, and there was one question she was burning to ask: do you confuse lots of readers too?Oliver, you see, has mastered the art of subverting the self-help genre. It’s not that he doesn’t want to offer succour to people who are struggling, nor that he denies we can change. It’s just that he wants us to understand how unrealistic we’ve learned to be about our capacity to do things. He urges us to accept our imperfections, our limitations, our fundamental humanness.Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UKLinks from the episode:Oliver on XOliver's websiteOliver’s book, Meditations for Mortals: UK | USJoin Katherine's Substack for a free reading guide, video recordings and transcriptsFind show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.Follow Katherine on Instagram8. Lucy Jones on matrescence, maternal myths and transformation
53:38||Season 6, Ep. 8This month, Katherine spoke to Lucy Jones about Matrescence, her book about the profound changes wrought by pregnancy and birth. Combining the biological, the social and the political with exquisite writing, this is a radical revision of a subject veiled in forced cosiness and obfuscation. Lucy's frankness and curiosity - her utter realness - are an absolute balm for anyone who’s navigated the very particular environment of contemporary western maternity, whether that contact has been personal or at one remove. It helps us to understand why pregnancy feels like such a hinterland, and also why it doesn’t need to be this way. Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UKLinks from the episode:Lucy's InstagramLucy's websiteLucy’s book, MatrescenceJoin Katherine's Substack for a free reading guide, video recordings and transcriptsFind show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.Follow Katherine on Instagram7. Daniel Tammet on real autistic lives
55:29||Season 6, Ep. 7Katherine was excited to speak to Daniel Tammet about his latest book, Nine Minds: Inner Lives on the Spectrum. Katherine has been reading Daniel’s writing for a long time - his first book, Born on a Blue Day, came out in 2006. At the time, he was writing about his experience as a savant (his synaesthesia means that he conceptualises numbers and dates in a completely different way to most of us), and in this conversation Katherine and Daniel talk about the way that he was treated during those years. Daniel is a beautiful writer, but his talent was often invisible to people who only wanted to see him as a kind of specimen, not fully human. Hear as they talk about the way Daniel’s persisted, asserting his rightful place as a thinker and a master of prose.Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UKLinks from the episode:Daniel's WebsiteDaniel’s book, Nine MindsJoin Katherine's SubstackFind show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.Follow Katherine on Instagram6. Tom Newlands on writing neurodivergence with a light touch
47:19||Season 6, Ep. 6Join Katherine as she talks with Tom Newlands about his debut novel, Only Here, Only Now. Katherine talks with Tom about his female main protagonist, the unforgettable Cora, setting the book in 1990s Scotland and how it offers a new way of writing about neurodivergence. She also explains the thinking behind choosing Only Here, Only Now for a non-fiction book club, and why it captivated her enough to break her own rules. Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UKLinks from the episode:Tom's InstagramTom’s book, Only Here, Only NowJoin Katherine's SubstackFind show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.Follow Katherine on Instagram5. Samantha Irby on being a person
57:22||Season 6, Ep. 5Join me for a recent conversation with comedian, essayist, blogger, and television writer Samantha Irby. Recorded as part of my True Stories Book Club hosted on Substack, we talked about realising you have a body again after lockdown, dogs that don’t love us enough/love us too much, writing about the darkest parts of our life, and terrorising Sex and the City fans by writing on And Just Like That… If you haven’t read it already, do check out her latest essay collection, Quietly Hostile.Katherine's new book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UKLinks from the episode:Samantha’s websiteSamantha’s book, Quietly HostileJoin Katherine's SubstackFind show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.Follow Katherine on Instagram4. Catherine Coldstream on life as a nun
01:13:04||Season 6, Ep. 4Join my conversation with Catherine Coldstream as we relax into a questing, rambling chat about the deep pull that many of us feel towards the quiet and gentle rhythms of the monastic life, and the risks of submitting so completely.Katherine's new book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UKLinks from the episode:Catherine’s websiteCatherine’s book, CloisteredJoin Katherine's SubstackFind show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.Follow Katherine on Instagram