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    • THE CLEARING
        • the clearing

          An online journal published by Little Toller Books that offers writers and artists a dedicated space in which to explore and celebrate the landscapes we live in. Our contributors are encouraged to go forth and find distinctive visions that startle us, rural or urban, modern or prehistoric, industrial, post-industrial, fantastical, natural, political, however they come. But each must be meaningful, surprising, felt.
        • READ THE CLEARING
        • Submissions & Mentoring

        • Murujuga by Sally McEnallayOur history hides underneath, requiring forensic and patient excavation sometimes with tweezers and small brushes.
        • Harry and Pierse by Hana LoftusWhat drew Becker to crouch in the fields day after day, obsessively documenting his neighbours as they worked?
        • Montol and Midwinter Light by Ysella SimsWe wind through the streets, the rain giving way to the winds of the next winter storm.
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    • Perhaps All Art Is Ritual by Jackie Morris

      Is this giving back of the stones ritual; back to the land, to the sea, to the living, to the dead?

      July 4, 2022
      Essay, illustration, The Clearing
    • At the Very End of the Road by Phillip Edwards, an extract

      …fine nebulae of plovers high above loose weavings of lapwings above tighter sprays of redshanks…

      June 14, 2022
      Diary, Essay, Poetry, The Clearing
    • Milk by Robert Ashton

      A hundred years ago, the Evans family were far from alone in keeping a cow in their backyard.

      May 9, 2022
      Essay, The Clearing
    • The Last of Our Green Space by Jalal Abukhater

      Ramallah’s residents have a lingering sense of claustrophobia: it’s not hard to see why.

      April 19, 2022
      Essay, The Clearing
    • This is not the Wasteland by Caroline Beck

      The dale is full of dreamers, dry-stone wallers, artists, writers, potters, stargazers and poets all quietly soaking up its rich raw elements.

      April 4, 2022
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Shalimar, an extract, by Davina Quinlivan

      Hepworth carved a Burmese Baby from the blackest wood, silent and shining. She conjured him with her own hands.

      March 24, 2022
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Tanera Mor – the Summer Isles by Simon Page

      Crayon on paper illustrations of the Summer Isles, by the artist Simon Page.

      March 24, 2022
      illustration, The Clearing
    • Song of the Iris by Nic Wilson

      Each bold bottlebrush is tinted a timid pink, so pale it’s almost white, as if their painter lost conviction after the first wash.

      March 2, 2022
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Provenance by Anjana Khatwa

      As my fingers stroked the gnarled surface of this ancient branch, I heard its secret whisper.

      March 1, 2022
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Something in the Air by Vron Ware

      A few days ago I unearthed an old folder containing material from the road protest movements of the early-mid 1990s.

      February 22, 2022
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Confluence by Jane Lovell

      Unlike the birds, we seem to be at odds with the current, the flow, the speed of change.

      February 21, 2022
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Place, Protest and Belonging by Nicola Chester

      How do we belong to a place, a landscape, or anywhere? How do we belong to more than one place in the world?

      February 14, 2022
      Essay, The Clearing
    Show more All posts are shown

    About

    THE CLEARING is an online journal published by Little Toller Books that offers writers and artists a dedicated space in which to explore and celebrate the landscapes we live in. Our contributors are encouraged to go forth and find distinctive visions that startle us, rural or urban, modern or prehistoric, industrial, post-industrial, fantastical, natural, political, however they come. But each must be meaningful, surprising, felt.



    Submissions

    The editors welcome original submissions in written, audio and visual genres. Submission should reflect The Clearing/Little Toller’s concern with the natural environment, but within this broad subject-matter we encourage a diversity of interpretation and approach.

    If you’d like to submit work to The Clearing, please email theclearing@littletoller.co.uk. Please refer to the submission guidelines. While we receive many submissions we will get back to you as soon as we are able.

    Categories

    • Diary (33)
    • Essay (244)
    • Film (16)
    • illustration (11)
    • Interview (14)
    • Photography (4)
    • Podcast (6)
    • Poetry (124)
    • Reading (2)
    • Short Story (1)

    You May Also Like

    • Protected: Murujuga by Sally McEnallay
      There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
    • Harry and Pierse by Hana Loftus
      What drew Becker to crouch in the fields day after day, obsessively documenting his neighbours as they worked? […]
    • Montol and Midwinter Light by Ysella Sims
      We wind through the streets, the rain giving way to the winds of the next winter storm. […]

    Podcast

    • A walk along Chesil by Sarah Acton
    • I’m a bat, I’m totally a bat
    • Paul Kingsnorth in conversation with Charles Foster: a podcast

    From the Archive

    • To the pantheon of charismatic animals, can we add another? By Hilary Macmillan
      If you are lucky enough to witness roosting horseshoe bats, …
    • Feeding the Hungry by Emma Rose Barber
      I walk on. In that excited city, there is a …
    • A Rewilding Diary by Emily Warner
      My work in Glen Affric has also been a tale …
    . . .

    Whats in the name

    Tollern river valley in West Dorset. Recorded in the Domesday survey as Tolre, derived from a Celtic word for stream in a hollow valley.

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