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Little Toller Books
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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

        • 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.
        • The Lost Dens of Leicester by Sharon TyersSixty years later, I often find myself deep within our den in my dreams.
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    • The Ramsbury Elm by Peter Marren

      The village of Ramsbury, where I live, is best known for a natural landmark: a tree. It stands, or rather it stood, where four roads meet, in the exact centre of the…

      December 2, 2019
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Interchange by John Wedgwood Clarke

      She squeezes the stone in her hand. Light ripples along traffic cones.

      November 19, 2019
      Poetry, The Clearing
    • Ring of Downs: Extracts by Maryanne Grant Traylen

      Dog imprisons the thing, clamping it into his quivering, jaunty jaw…

      October 23, 2019
      Diary, The Clearing
    • Places of Poetry: Oval Time by Zaffar Kunial

      The O of their open mouths watching a last innings. A last Test. Of not knowing how many summers you’ll have left.

      October 15, 2019
      Poetry, The Clearing
    • Places of Poetry: a northerly aspect by Kayo Chingonyi

      …here where the landscape is a long conversation …

      October 15, 2019
      Poetry, The Clearing
    • Time and Place by Alexandra Harris – an extract

      In medieval almanacs the year was often represented on a dial, with the months arranged around the edge.

      October 9, 2019
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Wild Horses by James Roberts

      Our relationship with the wild, and with what’s left of the wild inside us, is at a critical stage.

      September 23, 2019
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Places of Poetry: A Night Jar by Jack Underwood

      I wanted to look inside the eye of that bird. I had heard its message, become obsessed.

      September 9, 2019
      Poetry, The Clearing
    • Ivy bees by Philip Strange

      …the air seems to be suffused with a liquid energy.

      September 9, 2019
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Protected: Lissen Every Thing Back by Kathleen Jamie

      There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

      September 4, 2019
      Essay, The Clearing
    • New poetry by Sharon Phillips

      sacred to the memory slab of gritstone dark with summer drizzle

      September 3, 2019
      Poetry, The Clearing
    • GAVDIVM: new work by Seán Lysaght

      Our hearts are pitched forward Into the foreknown Because we cannot stay forever And soon must spiral away

      August 28, 2019
      Poetry, 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 (243)
    • Film (16)
    • illustration (11)
    • Interview (14)
    • Photography (4)
    • Podcast (6)
    • Poetry (124)
    • Reading (2)
    • Short Story (1)

    You May Also Like

    • 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. […]
    • The Lost Dens of Leicester by Sharon Tyers
      Sixty years later, I often find myself deep within our den in my dreams. […]

    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

    • The Water’s Question / The Wind’s Answer by Phil Cope
      This was the time of the fiction of early promises. …
    • Protected: White Horses, Kiwi, Trench by Susannah Walker
      There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
    • The Corvid’s Shadow by Rose Fulton
      "We were on a walk in the forest above our …
    . . .

    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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