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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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    • Wool, a short essay by Amelia Hodsdon

      Once upon a time, sheep in the fields here, in their sheepcots on the wolds, were the source of fortunes.

      October 5, 2023
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Solastalgia Flights by Julia Brigdale

      Our childhoods were a lie I now see, our memories, skewed. And therein lies the problem.

      September 19, 2023
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Threads, a community poem

      Red, it’s my colour,

      the cuffs rippling in the wind,

      Hung lazily off an arm.

      September 8, 2023
      Poetry, The Clearing
    • Eisteddfod! And the Welsh Language Landscape by Julie Brominicks

      The bus had cruised north, Y Rhinogydd crisply defined. We collected a musician sucking vodka through a straw at Porthmadog

      August 21, 2023
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Searching for Life in a Burial Chamber by Elizabeth Black

      I felt buoyed by its energy as I descended towards the village and saw Silbury Hill appear singularly in the distance.

      July 25, 2023
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Robin Walter reads Arbor Vitae

      Robin Walter reads his poem Arbor Vitae.

      July 17, 2023
      Film, Poetry, Reading, The Clearing
    • Banal Utopia by JC Niala

      Allotments are also utopias, because they are impossible spaces. They are rural artefacts that migrated to the city with their people.

      June 26, 2023
      Essay, The Clearing
    • On Rain and Washing by Rebecca Smith

      I was interested in the men who built this incredible feat of engineering, and the families they brought with them.

      June 1, 2023
      Essay, The Clearing
    • A Symphony of Ancient Trees by Laura Parker

      The trees that remained had recently witnessed revelries wild enough to rival any modern music festival.

      May 22, 2023
      Essay, The Clearing
    • The Yellow Bittern by David Higgins

      Bitterns are easier to hear than to see. What tends to be heard, though, is not their ‘cry / In the wild sky’, but the male’s remarkable booming call emerging from reedbeds in the breeding season.

      April 24, 2023
      Essay, The Clearing
    • In High Places by Julia Brigdale

      a jet fighter appeared out of the north-west sky and slashed through the air directly overhead.

      February 20, 2023
      Essay, The Clearing
    • Children of the Forest by Juliette de Baïracli Levy

      Among our happiest forest events every year were the summer and autumn fruit gatherings.

      February 3, 2023
      Essay, The Clearing
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    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

    • How to Paint a Ditch by Hugh Dunford Wood
      We all pass through, for a Holloway is not quite …
    • Stepping Around Uneven Ground by Karen Jane Cannon
      Knowledge is not necessarily about ‘seeing’ everything, but about knowing …
    • On Noise by David Higgins
      I’ll tolerate the groan of earth, the crack of stone, …
    . . .

    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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