KIERA CHAPMAN
writer & academic
The Ritual Year is out in August
It's a calendar of the traditions, customs, and rituals that mark our year, from wassails and plough blessings to cheese rolling and well dressings. We've tried to create a journey that is proudly multicultural, showing the ways in which these 'traditional' customs have long linked us to a wider world.
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The Ritual Year is published by the lovely folk at Granta and will be available at all good bookshops.
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With Malcolm Tait, I'm writing a book on Lost Nature.
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It tells the stories of communities across the UK who are fighting harmful land use change.
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What they face will shock and surprise you, but their bravery and sheer tenacity makes their stories moving, inspiring and uplifting.
In the longer term, I'm slowly writing a book about walking.
But it's not like most walking books. It doesn't feature an individual striding and thinking their way across a landscape on a journey of self-discovery. It is about struggling to move because of physical illness, and facing restrictions because of gendered violence. It's about the implicit class bias in a lot of writing about walking, and the figures who remain excluded and vulnerable because they don't have protection and power. Through a deeper understanding of embodiment, I seek to unfold a radical and more inclusive way of being in nature.
Spelt columns
More people should know about Spelt magazine. It provide a platform for creative writers (prose and poetry) to explore nature, landscape, the natural world and the liminality of natural areas within the urban landscape. Plus, it focuses on creating a supportive infrastructure for writers who live outside of cities. The quality of work they publish is terrific, and I'm not just saying that because I had the privilege to be a columnist for them in 2022-23
About me
Apparently if you can see a picture of me, you are more likely to think I am friendly, approachable, interesting, and likeable. I really want you to think I am all of those things. I try to be, but I think sometimes I fail at most of them.
Anyway, here I am.
PS This feels awkwardly like false advertising.