For this week’s interview, I’m joined by the author Katherine May, to discuss Katherine’s latest book, Wintering,* which is a brilliant blend of memoir, self-help guide and glorious nature writing.

Press the play button below to listen to our conversation:

In Wintering, Katherine describes the frozen, desolate state that can occur in the mind and body after a period of stress, trauma or illness.

By drawing parallels to the natural world and the incredible transformations that nature undergoes to survive the cold, Katherine shows how to both accept and withstand your own periods of wintering. In her book, Katherine interviews a range of people who have weathered extreme cold as well as times of extreme hardship. Katherine draws lessons from their experiences and blends these shared tales with her own poetic prose as she describes her adventures in swimming in the sea in freezing temperatures, travelling to witness the Northern Lights and battling her own demons of insomnia and anxiety.

I found Wintering a deeply comforting, hopeful and beautiful book that I’m sure will become an annual read for me. But much as Wintering is a fabulous choice for a winter read, it’s also an excellent book to curl up with as the thaws of March expose and sustain the first signs of spring and new life, which have been gathering strength and waiting for their moment of renewal and growth all through the darker months of winter.

Links mentioned in our conversation:

• Wintering by Katherine May.

• The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May.

• The Best Most Awful Job edited by Katherine May.

• Inferno by Catherine Cho.

• The Hungover Games by Sophie Heawood.

• Katherine May’s website.

• Find Katherine May on Instagram and Twitter.

*Please note: affiliate links are used for Blackwells. If you order a book from Blackwells using one of my affiliate links, I may make a small commission from your purchase, at no additional cost to yourself. I like to support Blackwells by linking to their website, as I’m a big fan of their flagship Oxford bookshop, and they offer reasonable overseas shipping. You in turn support my work by shopping through my affiliate link. Thank you!