Louise Kenward on Creativity, Chronic illness and Care

On Moving Mountains…

'An anthology to treasure and return to' ELINOR CLEGHORN
'Uniquely compelling, dynamic and powerful' LUCY JONES
'Deeply affecting' TOM SHAKESPEARE
'Promises to change the landscape of nature writing' LIZZIE HUXLEY-JONES

Hi friends,

Three things prompted me to reach out to writer and editor

Louise Kenward

for this conversation, which is a bonus episode of the Cost of Caring series where I talk to writers whose work sits at the intersection of care and creativity.

Firstly, I knew she was celebrating both the UK paperback release and US/Canada release of Moving Mountains — a first-of-its-kind anthology of nature writing by authors living with chronic illness and physical disability. Her publication of the same name was launched in tandem with the hardback release in 2023, and in Louise’s words it:

“is about noticing the small and the slow, living with unpredictability and instability. It is not about overcoming or conquering, but of living with and connecting. It explores our connection to nature, and of living with chronic illness/disability.”

Secondly, I wanted to hear about how her her health journey maps onto her creative one. Originally a psychologist in the NHS, Louise charts what happened to her career following her first period of illness and how the events that unfolded brought her to writing, editing and further study. With Moving Mountains, I was interested in her experience of steering a creative project from inception to completion supporting 24 other creatives whose lives are also impacted by health conditions and wanted to reflect upon what incredible work can be produced with simple accommodations and proper funding (and yes, we go there too).

Lastly, I knew she would have opinions, to put it bluntly, on the shock benefit reforms announced in our Labour government’s Spring Statement in recent weeks which, shamefully, serve to push up to 400,000 people living in the UK with disability and chronic illness into poverty. In fact, Louise got right in about it this week in a post that I encourage everyone to read and share:

How can I make people care?

Listen in for all this and more…

The comments on this post are open to free subscribers and we’d love to get chatting with you. For accessibility, this post is available to watch with closed captions or listen to. Your choice.

Lindsay and Louise x