In each episode writer and researcher Ian Grosz talks with a different writer from the Paperboats collective – a group of writers working across Scotland and beyond to highlight the impacts of climate change, the ecological collapse we are witness to, and the things we can do to bring about positive change.
If you’re concerned about climate change, want to delve further into the issues surrounding it, and like great writing, follow and subscribe to the Paperboats podcast to hear from a host of fantastic Nature Writers.
Episode One: Writer and Researcher Ian Grosz talks with Paperboats co-founders Sandy Winterbottom and Elaine Morrison.
We hear Kathleen Jamie’s inspirational poem, ‘What the Clyde said after Cop 26’, holding politicians to account and inspiring the Paperboats movement. Sandy and Elaine discuss the formation of Paperboats and how writers might connect with people on the issues surrounding climate change. The pair also talk about the importance of a just transition, the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and the work of the Scottish Rewilding Alliance.
Episode Two: Ian Grosz talks with author Linda Cracknell about Scotland’s Flow Country, her book Doubling Back, and how important walking is to her writing practice.
Linda reads an extract from the new edition of Doubling Back, published by Saraband in May 2024, highlighting how important the peatbogs of Caithness are in alleviating the impacts of climate change, and how vulnerable they have been to commercial forestry practices and land misuse. She describes her time spent in the Flow Country in writing the new chapter of her book, her life-long relationship with walking, and the importance of landscape and place to her work.
Episode Three: Ian Grosz talks with naturalist, photographer and nature writer Polly Pullar, about the plight of the gannet and Polly’s lifelong relationship with nature and wildlife.
Polly talks about the beginnings of her deep connection with nature and wildlife growing up in Ardnamurchan on the west coast of Scotland, how that brought her solace through a difficult period and continues to inspire her passionately today. She discusses the plight of Scotland’s wildlife under the pressures of climate change and habitat loss, and reads from her Paperboats Zine piece, A Solan Goose Summer.
Episode Four: Ian Grosz talks with author and poet Karen Lloyd about microplastics and pollution in the UK’s Lake District National Park, about the Rights of Nature, and how we might protect it.
Karen outlines her connection to Paperboats Writers, her views on the role of the writer in a climate and ecological crisis, and reads from her piece Inside the Rockpool Shrimp there is a Dying Star, first published on Dark Mountain in 2022 and featuring in the Anthology of Speculative Nature edited by Jos Smith and Harry Saunders at the University of East Anglia. Karen talks about the pressures of tourism on the Lake District’s vulnerable habitats, the solutions found in Europe to protect fragile ecosystems from human disturbance, and how we might approach that in the predominantly cultural landscapes of the UK.
Episode Five: Ian Grosz talks with Poet Chris Powici.
Chris Powici lives in Perthshire in Scotland. For many years he taught creative writing at the University of Stirling, as well as at the Open University, but now concentrates on writing his own poetry and essays, mainly about how the human and natural worlds overlap. He is co-editor of New Writing Scotland and one of the key people behind the formation of the ‘Paperboats’ collective.
Chris talks about his role in the formation of Paperboats, his approach to writing poetry, and his thoughts on the role of the writer in the climate and ecological crisis. He reads his poems Night Fishing and Deer from his first collection, This Weight of Light (Red Squirrel Press, 2015), and explains how capturing a sense of the intangible – the ‘otherworlds’ we inhabit through imagination – is an important feature of his work. He closes with a reading of his poem Loch Striven from Issue 1 of the Paperboats zine.
Chris’s latest collection, Look, Breathe, is available from Red Squirrel Press at redsquirrelpress.com.
Episode Six: Ian Grosz talks with author and poet Leonie Charlton
Leonie lives in Argyll and is currently undertaking a practice-based PhD exploring Scotland’s ‘wild deer dilemma’ through the University of the Highlands and Islands. Her publications include her debut poetry pamphlet Ten Minutes of Weather Away (Cinnamon Press, 2021), and her travel-memoir Marram (Sandstone Press, 2020), which was Waterstone’s Scottish Book of the Month for April 2022.
Leonie reads an extract from her diary essay Fragments, which first featured in Issue 1 of the Paperboats Zine and is included in the travel writing anthology There She Goes, edited by Esa Aldegheri and published by Saraband in March 2025. She discusses the spiritual connections we have lost with nature, and the way she approaches writing about the more-than-human world. Leonie also talks about her PhD by practice, and the conflict of interests inherent in deer management and rewilding.
Episode Seven: Ian Grosz talks with Merryn Glover.
Merryn was born in Kathmandu to Australian missionary parents and grew up in Nepal, India and Pakistan. She settled in Scotland after travelling around the world and meeting her husband, Alistair. She was the first Writer in Residence for the Cairngorms National Park, co-hosts the Cairngorms based Storyland Sessions with musician Hamish Napier, and is a regular Guardian Country Diary columnist. Her books include A House Called Askival (Freight Books, 2014); Of Stone and Sky (Polygon, 2021), longlisted for the Highland Book Prize; and The Hidden Fires: A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd (Polygon, 2023), shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature.
Merryn describes her early life in Nepal and India, and how that has shaped her as a writer. She talks about the beginnings of her career and the deep connection she has found with the Cairngorms through her writing, her involvement with the Storyland Sessions community project, and her time as first Writer in Residence for the Cairngorms National Park. Merryn also reads from her most recent book, The Hidden Fires, and gives an insight into how her spiritual faith informs her thinking on Nature and the Environment.
You can learn more about Merryn’s work at merrynglover.com
Episode Eight: Ian Grosz talks with artist and writer Christina Riley.
Christina was born in Florida, but moved to Ayrshire when she was eight-years-old. Her practice often focuses on the small details of the natural world, particularly in coastal and underwater environments, and incorporates collections and found objects. In 2019, Christina started The Nature Library – a roving library of books aimed at connecting people to land, sky and sea, which in 2024 took up a long-term location at a former shipyard worker’s flat in Irvine in Ayrshire in association with the Scottish Maritime Museum. Her photo book The Beach Today was published by Guillemot Press in 2021, and her debut collection of essays was longlisted for Canongate’s Nan Shepherd Prize for Nature Writing in 2019.
Christina reads an extract from her series of prose fragments, The Same Sunlight, published in Gutter Magazine, Issue 30. She discusses her residency at the Mission Blue Argyll ‘Hope Spot’, and the remarkable biodiversity that can be found along the Argyll coast. Christina also gives a fascinating insight into her writing, her artistic practice, and the books that have inspired her. She talks about the formation and aims of The Nature Library, and about the lasting importance of physical books and focussed reading. She closes with an outline of her current projects and future plans, and a reading of her beautiful fragment ‘Brittle Star.’
Christina is currently working on a series of essays exploring Scotland’s biodiversity, stemming from her time on the artist residency in Argyll. You can learn more about Christina’s work at christinariley.co.uk
Episode Nine: Ian Grosz talks with Matt Sowerby.
Matt Sowerby is a poet, writer, performer, and environmental activist. His work focuses on finding hopeful approaches to living in a climate crisis. He was National Youth Slam Champion in 2018 and National University Slam Champion in 2023. He has performed in the Houses of Parliament and on BBC Radio 3, and his work has been exhibited at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. He has partnered with the British Library, NBC Universal, Paines Plough, the Open University, and Lancaster University. Matt is also the current Programmes and Community Officer at The Resilience Project and the Climate Action Lead on the National Trust’s Regional Advisory Group for the North of England. His essay Hope is the Thing with Flippers was the winning entry to the highly prestigious Nature Chronicles Prize in 2024.
In this episode of the Paperboats Podcast Matt reads extracts from Hope is the Thing with Flippers. He discusses the inspiration and thinking behind the writing of the essay, the legacy of whaling and what we can learn in context with the climate crisis and our continued reliance on fossil fuels. He talks about his journey as both an activist and writer, the relationship between writing, activism and performance, and his current writing focus on oil and the ocean. Matt closes with his thoughts on what hope might mean in the face of the climate emergency, and a second reading from his award-winning essay.
You can learn more about Matt’s work at mattsowerby.co.uk
Episode Ten: Ian Grosz talks with Sandy Winterbottom.
Sandy is a writer and environmental campaigner. She spent most of her career as an academic, teaching and researching in the Environmental Sciences and working in the renewables industry. She embarked on a life-changing journey to the Antarctic by tall ship in 2016. The book of her travels, The Two-Headed Whale, was short-listed for the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award in 2023 and Adventure Travel Book at the Banff Mountain Festival, 2024.
Sandy reads an extract from The Two Headed Whale, which describes her experience finding the grave of a young whaler while visiting an abandoned whaling station on South Georgia during her voyage. She talks about the journey of discovery and understanding the writing of the book took her on as she uncovered the tragic details of the young whaler’s life, drawing parallels between whaling and a self-perpetuating fossil fuel industry. She also describes an event that Sandy organised to bring writers and activists together at Aberdeen’s Maritime Museum in 2024; and she talks about hope, action, and the importance of a just transition. The episode closes with a reading from recent work Sandy published in the Scotsman.
