Guest Author Appreciation

A round-up of the published essays and a call for reader photos!

Thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to respond to our creative prompts, share the work we’ve published, and help grow the Fieldfare Substack community—it’s been a pleasure to read about your experiences and see this space take shape.

If you haven’t had a chance to catch up on the essays we’ve featured, this round-up is a great place to start. We’re so glad to share these voices and the stories they’ve trusted us with.

A big thank you to all our guest authors—we so appreciate your thoughtfulness, humor, generosity, and heart.

The next round of prompts will arrive next week, and we hope you’ll find something that sparks your interest. If you’ve never submitted before, we’d love to hear from you! We’ll continue featuring some of our favorite submissions in the weeks ahead, and we’re also adding a new way for you to get involved. Scroll down to see what we’re introducing next!

• “Legacy” by

  Lindsay Johnstone
  — After a decade of home and family life in a Victorian Glasgow house, recently marked by the felling of two ancient trees, Lindsay traces the layered histories of its past inhabitants and contemplates the small acts of stewardship that connect generations to a place.

• “Unmapped, For Now” by

  Rachel Beglin
  — An homage to Boca de Lurá, a remote Panamanian village once invisible on Google Maps. Rachel’s essay explores a landscape where tradition and modernity coexist and where change arrives slowly, yet inevitably.

• “We Used to Be Here” by

  Maureen Tai
  — A deeply personal reflection on Hong Kong’s vanishing landmarks. Maureen guides us through remnants of the past in a constantly changing city, in this tribute to the people and places that once were—and the quiet power of remembering.

• “Kissing Toads Again” by

  Peter Carlyon
  — In a North London garden, frogs, tadpoles, and even mosquito larvae become the source of fascination (and dare we say, pride?) as Peter wryly reports of the joys of a teeming bog. It’s a charming look at the small, unexpected wonders close to home.

• “Je suis arrivée” by

  Christina Clark
  — Set against the backdrop of Montreal, this essay traces Christina’s path from childhood upheaval to motherhood’s hard-won clarity, as she learns to build a lasting sense of home.

• “In the Hollow of Winter” by

  Lindsey Murray
  — An essay on personal endurance, Lindsey reflects on the rituals that sustain us through long, unforgiving winters. From the heat of the sauna to the comfort of winter meals and stories that feel like home, she finds herself grounded in intentional rhythms and gentle self-acceptance.

• “Ghosts on the Stairs” by

  Ellen Chapman
  — A moving meditation on grief and the evolving meaning of home. In her childhood house on the North Wales coast, Ellen traces the everyday encounters with absence and change after her mother’s death—revealing how places hold both presence and loss, anchoring us even as we learn to let go.

• “The trees can keep their secrets” by

  ccommisso
  — New poetry from Corrie Commisso.

• “Wild Turkeys” by

  Hannah Clarkin
  — A subtle exploration of unseen grief and what it means to begin again. Set against the winter rhythms of a Cape Cod home, Hannah observes the unexpected presence of wild turkeys and navigates the space between past and present, uncertainty, and the slow unfolding of a life still taking shape.

• “Into the Presence of Still Water” by

  Jessica Groenendijk
  — At dawn on the Cocha Cashu, a remote lake in Peru’s Manu National Park, Jessica vividly captures her morning canoe ride as the rainforest comes to life. A field journal where giant otters glide, jacanas complain, and stillness hums with wild presence.

• “The Weight of All We Leave Behind” by

  Erica Ivanov
  — After losing both parents, Erica returns to the cluttered Victorian house of her childhood. Amid the forgotten objects, hoarded memories, and signs of long-held grief, she uncovers the complicated and unfinished story of her family.

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Stykkishólmur, Iceland 2015 (photo by Mendy Waits)

We’d like to include more of you in the visual side of Fieldfare, so we’re starting something new—Reader Photo Galleries. These will be themed collections of images submitted by you, and we’re kicking things off with a classic: travel photos.

Have a favorite shot from a trip? A place that really stuck with you? We’d love to see it. Just pop it in the Fieldfare chat by 2 July, and we’ll pull together a gallery of our selections to share in an upcoming post. Nothing fancy—just a way to celebrate the places that move us, make us pause, or make us feel at home (even far from it).