Horatio Clare on madness, mania and healing; on migrating swallows; on keeping a diary; on being the other in othering; on "the love of many things" and Van Gogh — with TWBC

The Wandering Book Collector

Welcome to the travel/literary podcast The Wandering Book Collector with host Michelle Jana Chan. This is a series of conversations with writers exploring what's informed their books and their lives around themes of movement, memory, sense of place, borders, identity, belonging and home.

In this edition, I speak with the inimitable travel writer Horatio Clare to discuss his latest book — Heavy Light: A Journey through Madness, Mania and Healing. It recounts Horatio’s personal breakdown, his sectioning, his psychiatric treatment, and his recovery. His body of work includes memoir, stories of nature and children’s literature, such as his first book Running for the Hills — on his childhood, growing up on a sheep farm in South Wales. Then the novella Truant: Notes from the Slippery Slope, on his drug addictions, depression, mania, psychosis. A Single Swallow follows the journey of these birds from South Africa’s Cape to a branch of a tree in Wales, and telegraph wires in Dorset. There’s also Down to the Sea in Ships and Icebreaker - A Voyage Far North, stories of time at sea, passages across the vastness of our oceans.

Please consider supporting your local bookshop.

The Wandering Book Collector would like to thank the supporters of this podcast:

Abercrombie & Kent — Creating unique, meticulously planned journeys into hard-to-reach wildernesses and cultures.

TUMI — Creating world-class business, travel and performance luxury essentials.

Ultimate Library — Creating bespoke book collections to educate and inspire.

If you’re enjoying the podcast, I’d love you to leave a rating or a review. To learn about future editions, please subscribe or hit “follow” on your podcast app of choice. Thank you for listening! For more on the podcast, book recs, what books to pack for where’s next, and who’s up next, I’m across socials @michellejchan. I’d love to hear from you.

And if you’ve missed any, do catch up. From Janine di Giovanni to Bernardine Evaristo to Afua Hirsch to Carla Power to Maaza Mengiste to Kapka Kassabova to Sara Wheeler to Brigid Delaney.

All credit for sound effects goes to the artists and founders of Freesound.org and Zapsplat.com. All credit for music goes to the artists and founders of Soundstripe.com

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