Introduction
Elaine Morrison and Sandy Winterbottom
In early 2023, an informal gathering of nature writers with some loose connection to Stirling University, took place. We talked of the ways in which
Writings
Paperboats Zine
The urge to explore and celebrate all the kinds of lives of Planet Earth is stronger than ever, but the environmental and ecological crisis demands we also lift our eyes, and our voices, to species extinction and habitat loss, to what is happening to the forests and hills, the rivers and seas, our streets and gardens. The writer’s instinct to pay attention has never been more vital. Literature can help us to see the natural world – and our place in it – differently.
August 2023
ISSUE ONE: THIS IS WHAT THE WORLD WAS LIKE
Loch Striven
Chris Powici
This is what the world was like. The Atlantic narrowed to a slither of sea between long, gorse-yellowed hills. A gannet flew close to
The Forth Whales
Kathleen Jamie
It’s a sky-blue afternoon, with combed out clouds and an onshore breeze. From your bench high on grassy bluff, the view is of twin coastlines
Solan Goose Summer
Polly Pullar
Troup Head – Scotland’s only mainland gannet colony: a pungent aroma of guano fills the air as I walk closer to life on the
Diary: Fragments on Walking, Writing, Mythology, Rowans, Dogs, Deer and Trains.
Leonie Charlton
Day 12, 1.6.23: walking from camp at Tigh na Cruaiche, by Loch Laidon, to Rannoch. Train from Rannoch to Corrour. The train slows, stops,
Run! Run! Towards the Flames!
Karen Lloyd
A Provocation for Writing about Nature and the Environment I have never glued my fingers to a train nor brought motorway traffic to a
WRITE FOR US
We publish essays, short fiction and poetry that reflect our commitment, and which focus on Scotland as home ground – writing that shows honesty, care, curiosity and skill. Submissions in English, Scots or Scottish Gaelic, are welcome from writers within and outwith Scotland and we particularly welcome submissions from under-represented groups.
Submissions for Issue Two have now closed. Find out more here.
DEAR SCOTLAND
The climate crisis is global. While our nature in Scotland is only beginning to suffer the impacts of an increasingly unstable climate, we recognise the majority world has been on the frontline of this crisis for more than thirty years.
We welcome contributions on the climate and ecological crisis from further afield in our Dear Scotland section of the zine. Please get in touch if you would like to share your stories
Message us at: hello@paperboats.org
a wee note about payment
We would love to pay our writers – we really would, but we’d love to pay our admin staff too. As it is, paperboats has been put together using our own time and funds in solidarity with activists worldwide who dedicate their time and energies to the climate movement without recompense. That said, if anyone would like to contribute to paperboats, then that might change. However, our first priority for funding is to pay our Dear Scotland writers who stand on the frontline of the climate emergency, yet have done so little to cause it. Their stories need to be told.
If you are interested in making a financial contribution to paperboats, please say hello@paperboats.org
