Katherine May

Katherine May (born 18 September 1977),[1] also writing as Katie May and Betty Herbert, is a British author and podcaster. Her writing includes memoirs (Wintering, Enchantment and The Electricity of Everyday Living), novels, and journalism.

Career

After graduating, May worked for arts organisations including Tate Britain and Creative Partnerships. She later worked as a literary scout for Lucy Abrahams Literary Scouting, and for Faber Academy as a manuscript assessor.[2] She was the Programme Director for the Creative Writing BA and MA at Canterbury Christ Church University from 2013 until 2018. She became a full-time writer in 2021 and that year launched a podcast series called The Wintering Sessions, followed by a podcast series called How We Live Now.

She has written three memoirs. The Electricity of Every Living Thing: A Woman's Walk in the Wild to Find Her Way Home describes walking the South West Coast Path and the North Downs Way and recognising that she is autistic after hearing a radio programme about autism.[3][4] In Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times she discusses coping with difficulties in life, after her husband became critically ill.[5][6] In Enchantment: Reawakening Wonder in an Exhausted Age, she "begins to explore the restorative properties of the natural world" after the COVID-19 pandemic.[7][8][9] Both Wintering[10] and Enchantment[10] were The New York Times and The Sunday Times bestsellers. Wintering was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week.[11][12] She used the pseudonym Betty Herbert to write 52 Seductions, a memoir about sex in a long-term relationship, and an associated blog, but "came out" with her real name after it was published.[13][14]

She has written essays and journalism for publications including The New York Times,[15] The i paper, The Guardian[16] and Aeon.

Her 2018 novel The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club, written under the name of Katie May, is set in her home town of Whitstable in Kent, and has been described as "a fun and ultimately uplifting story that promises hope for the future and the gift of second chances"[17] and as a book which "will reinforce for you the importance of friendship, of solidarity against the vicissitudes that life can throw and of standing up for what you truly believe in; be it your right to live without fear, to choose how to manage illness and old age or even just your right to swim in the sea".[18]

Neurodivergence

May has written about being neurodivergent in her books as well as in essays and journalism. She wrote an account of having face blindness for The Guardian newspaper: "I didn't always know I was face-blind. I grew up thinking that I just didn't remember people."[19]

Her book The Electricity of Every Living Thing described her realisation that she is autistic, and the process of being diagnosed. "People like me can live entire lives wondering why everything is so hard for us. Doctors, teachers and mental health professionals are still routinely unable to spot our autism, and their knowledge is often agonisingly out of date. The invisibility endures." She wrote about her experience of realising she was autistic as an adult in the i paper: "This new self-knowledge is complex and imprecise. It can be hard to unpick a lifetime of concealing your autism."[20]

She has compiled a collection of "Autism Resources" to help people with a diagnosis of autism or who think that they may be autistic.[21]

Awards and achievements

The Electricity of Every Living Thing was adapted as an audio drama by Julie Parsons and Caitriona Shoobridge for Audible. Described as "An immersive audio drama based on the original memoir", it won silver in the "fiction" section at the British Podcast Awards in 2023.[22]

Wintering won the Porchlight Business Book Awards personal development and human behaviour category 2020,[23] and was long-listed for the 2020 Wainwright Prize for UK nature writing.[24]

Personal life

May lives in Whitstable, Kent, with her husband and son.[25]

Selected publications

Works of non-fiction

  • The Electricity of Every Living Thing: A Woman's Walk in the Wild to Find Her Way Home (2018, Trapeze: ISBN 978-1409172512)
  • Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times (2020, Rider: ISBN 9781846045998)
  • Enchantment: Reawakening Wonder in an Exhausted Age (2023, Faber & Faber: ISBN 9780571378333)

Writing as Betty Herbert

  • The 52 Seductions Paperback (2012, Headline: ISBN 9780755362530)

Works as an editor/contributor

  • (Edited) The Best, Most Awful Job: Twenty Writers Talk Honestly About Motherhood (2021, Elliott & Thompson: ISBN 978-1783964871)

Works of fiction

  • Ghosts & Their Uses (short stories) (2006, Urban Fox: ISBN 978-1905522071)
  • Burning Out (2009, Snowbooks: ISBN 978-1906727390)

Writing as Katie May

  • The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club (2017, Trapeze: ISBN 978-1409172383)

Essays

References

  1. ^ May, Katherine (18 September 2024). "Happy birthday to me! 47 today ..." www.instagram.com. Retrieved 7 July 2025.
  2. ^ "Homepage". katherine-may.teachable.com. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  3. ^ "The Electricity of Every Living Thing". Kirkus Reviews. 10 August 2021. Archived from the original on 11 March 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  4. ^ Hertzel, Laurie (31 October 2021). "Don't Miss". Concord Monitor. pp. b6. Archived from the original on 14 June 2025. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  5. ^ Kellaway, Kate (4 February 2020). "Wintering review – learning to love the cold". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  6. ^ Lyall, Sarah (22 December 2020). "'Wintering' Offers Hopeful Perspective on Embracing Difficult Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 9 June 2025.
  7. ^ "Enchantment: Reawakening Wonder in an Exhausted Age by Katherine May". Faber. Archived from the original on 17 November 2024. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  8. ^ White, Lucy (19 March 2023). "Magic moments to both savour and summon". Sunday Independent (Dublin ed.). pp. 24–01. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  9. ^ "Enchantment". Katherine May. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  10. ^ a b "Hardcover Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers - Books - March 19, 2023". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  11. ^ "Wintering". www.bbc.com. Archived from the original on 22 February 2025. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  12. ^ Caron, Christina (27 February 2023). "How to Feel Alive Again". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 June 2025.
  13. ^ "EP45: Katherine May – Creative Writing Cocktails". The Bestseller Experiment. 31 July 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  14. ^ "Hello!". Betty Herbert. Archived from the original on 19 July 2017.
  15. ^ May, Katherine (27 February 2023). "How To Feel Alive Again". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 January 2025. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  16. ^ May, Katherine (29 March 2023). "'There I was, a tiny speck in a vast universe' ... How awe made my life worth living again". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  17. ^ "Book review: The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club by Katie May". Lancashire Evening Post. 6 February 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
  18. ^ Byrom, Karen (1 March 2018). "Katie May | The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club | A Master Stroke". My Weekly.
  19. ^ May, Katherine (30 August 2020). "My face blindness is embarrassing – but it tells me a lot about other people". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  20. ^ May, Katherine (18 November 2021). "Like Sykes and McGuinness, I was diagnosed with autism as an adult. I'm now so much happier". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  21. ^ "Autism Resources". Katherine May. Archived from the original on 20 May 2025. Retrieved 7 July 2025.
  22. ^ "Results 2023". British Podcast Awards. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  23. ^ "Porchlight Books 2020 Business Book Awards". 17 November 2024. Archived from the original on 9 November 2024. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  24. ^ "2020 Longlist - UK Nature Writing - The Wainwright Prize". The Wainwright Prize. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020.
  25. ^ "About". Katherine May. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
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