In 2013 a group of writers and poets set up The Clearing, an online journal for new writing about nature and place by both new and established writers. The aim was to create a dedicated space for writers to explore and celebrate landscapes, finding distinctive and sometimes startling visions of place: rural, urban, suburban, industrial, post-industrial, fantastical and natural.
Since then The Clearing has grown an international audience, garnered enthusiastic reviews, supported writing projects and has helped emerging writers at the beginning of their careers. In Going to Ground is some of the best and most distinctive writing from The Clearing's archive of hundreds of essays and poetry. Its themes are natural, political, historical, archaeological, ecological, scientific, personal, urgent and true, from more than thirty extraordinary writers. Contributions from: Louisa Adjoa Parker, Eleanor Anstruther, Chris Baker, David Hinchliffe Bradford, The Byker Wall Poets and Lee Mattinson, Nancy Campbell, Tim Dee, Alex Diggins, Kerri ni Dochartaigh, Raine Geoghegan, Tim Hannigan, Meriel Harrison, David Higgins, Jane Hughes, Jeremy Hughes, Kathleen Jamie, Jennifer Jones, Amina Khan, Ann Lingard, Mary Malyon, Martin Maudsley, Graham Mort, JC Niala, Baz Nichols, Christina Riley, Jack Thacker, Susannah Walker, Elspeth Wilson, Nic Wilson, Alex Woodcock.
