I'm thrilled to announce that Prompted by Nature has been shortlisted in the podcast category for a Bookshop.org Indie Champion Award. This was completely unexpected and I immediately felt sick when I got the initial email a couple of weeks ago! I wanted to record a quick episode to share this news, and a little about my writing sabbatical, with you. Thank you for listening and supporting this podcast. I'm so happy you're here; I'll be back soon (and remember you can always find me on Substack www.promptedbynature.substack.com , on Instagram @prompted.by.nature and my bookshop.org shop is he ..read more

Hello, welcome to series 6, episode 5 of the Prompted by Nature podcast.  I’m your host, Helen, and this is the final episode for some time.  I’ve made the difficult decision to put the podcast on ‘indefinite sabbatical’ so that I can be more present and consistent with my writing.  I have a short solo episode coming up to talk about it but you can get all the updates on my Substack newsletter.  Just search ‘Prompted by Nature’ on the app or website. Onto today’s episode.  Today, I’m speaking with Lucy Power from Rowanbank Environmental Arts & Education.  This ..read more

Hello, welcome to series 6, episode 5 of the Prompted by Nature podcast.  I’m your host, Helen, and this is the final episode for some time.  I’ve made the difficult decision to put the podcast on ‘indefinite sabbatical’ so that I can be more present and consistent with my writing.  I have a short solo episode coming up to talk about it but you can get all the updates on my Substack newsletter.  Just search ‘Prompted by Nature’ on the app or website. Onto today’s episode.  Today, I’m speaking with Lucy Powers from Rowanbank Environmental Arts & Education.  Thi ..read more

Hello!  Welcome series 6 episode 4 of the Prompted by Nature podcast.  I’m Helen, your host and today I’m thrilled to release a conversation I had earlier this week With Marchelle Farrell.  Long-time listeners of the podcast will remember Marchelle from series 2 episode 10 - a conversation we recorded what feels like a lifetime ago, in November 2020. Marchelle has a new book out, Uprooting, and it was wonderful to chat up with Marchelle and talk all things gardens and writing. In this episode, we discuss: What Marchelle has been up for over the past two years Her new book, U ..read more

Hello and welcome to your writing prompt for my conversation with Katie Holten.  For this one there are a couple of invitations. The first is to, of course, download Katie’s tree alphabet as a font to your computer and have a play.  It’s really fun turning your words into a forest and seeing that forest come alive on the page. You could write something new, inspired by the letters as trees, or translate an existing piece into the tree alphabet. www.treealphabet.ie   The second invitation is to put the title of this episode on a sheet of paper and see where it takes you.  Th ..read more

Welcome to series 6, episode 3 of the Prompted by Nature podcast.  I’m Helen and I’m really happy to be back with this conversation with Katie Holten.  As I mentioned previously, because art and nature are so inextricably linked for me, this week’s action point, should you wish to get involved, is on the episode page for this conversation over on the website. This week we’ll be hearing from the very wonderful Katie Holten.  Katie Holten is an artist and activist based in New York City and Ardee, Ireland.    For over twenty years Katie has made unconventional works that ..read more

Welcome to series 6, episode 2 of the Prompted by Nature.  I’m Helen and I hope this finds you well.  Lots going on on this side of things but I’m going to jump straight into today’s episode. If you enjoy non-fiction at the moment today you may have heard of today’s guest, Katherine May. Katherine is an internationally bestselling author and podcaster living in Whitstable, UK. Her most recent book, Enchantment became an instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. Her internationally bestselling hybrid memoir Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times was adap ..read more

Hello and welcome to series 6 of the Prompted by Nature podcast!  Happy Beltane if you’re listening in real time and are celebrating!  I’m Helen and I’m thrilled to be back after a little break.  Not much has changed - read a few books, had some time out in Glastonbury, released this season’s newsletter over on Substack - get subscribed if you’re not already! - and generally had time to write and to get back to my own voice. The action point for each episode will now be up on each episode’s page on the website.  Today’s episode is the perfect conversation to open with.  ..read more

Action point:  www.ecotalk.co.uk  Welcome to series 5, episode 11 of the Prompted by Nature. How have you been? Imbolc has just passed here in the UK and I can feel the very tangible promise of the lighter months slowly creeping up. The full snow moon has just passed and has been illuminating the early mornings with an almost solar glare - it’s been so bright! I’m in the midst of planning my upcoming e-zine in time for the Equinox as well as working on a few pieces that I’m feeling really inspired by. Onto to day’s episode. Today I’m speaking with illustrator, Elin Manon. Elin is a f ..read more

Action point: Right to Roam campaign www.righttoroam.org.uk Today on the pod we have the lovely Moya Lloyd of the Boundary Project in Wolverhampton. I first heard about the Boundary Way Project and their work on Instagram during lockdown and have been inspired with their creativity and arts projects ever since. This episode is quite close to my heart due to my work with Benfield Valley Project and I came away with lots of ideas for creative initiatives we could run. It was an absolute pleasure to speak with Moya, who is a quiet powerhouse of creativity and inspiration. Moya is visual artist wi ..read more