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.
The Ritual Year is published by the lovely folk at Granta and will be available at all good bookshops.
With Malcolm Tait, I'm writing a book on Lost Nature.
It tells the stories of communities across the UK who are fighting harmful land use change.
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.