Smoke Hole Sessions:
a new series of podcasts hosted by Martin Shaw
Renowned storyteller and author Martin Shaw and book publishers Chelsea Green UK have teamed up to create a new long-form conversation podcast inspired by Shaw’s newest book Smoke Hole: Looking to the Wild in the Time of the Spyglass.
The ‘Smoke Hole Sessions’ is a series of vital conversations with inspirational writers, musicians, comedians, activists and more, delving into their work and what the last year has meant to them.

Guests will include actor Sir Mark Rylance, comedian Tommy Tiernan, writers David Keenan, Jay Griffiths and John Mitchinson, musician Natasha Khan (Bat for Lashes), John Densmore (The Doors) and storyteller Jan Blake.

Three episodes will be released to coincide with publication date of Smoke Hole (May 20, 2021), followed by an episode per week thereafter.

Shaw describes the podcast as a “series of conversations with men and women I admire, in the hope that in the crackle of the thinking, the fire of the language, the visioning and wildness of the whole thing we may find breadcrumbs in the conversations to lead us out of the forest again, and into a deeper life”.

The Smoke Hole Sessions will be available on all major podcast platforms and can be found in your favourite podcast app. Just search for Smoke Hole Sessions, and look out for the first episodes arriving in your feed shortly. A trailer is available here. Smoke Hole is already receiving critical acclaim. Author Ariel Burger says: “Martin Shaw is that rare teacher whose soul is a harp string strung between the urgency of heartbreak and the joyful ferocity of hope…the stories and lyrical teachings you will read in Smoke Hole help guide us to a more ethical, a more lucid future.” Read more reviews here.
See Smoke Hole Sessions trailer
Pre-order Smoke Hole book

Audio collection

The Cista Mystica shop has a varied collection of audio files for download, including full recordings of gatherings in Ireland and Devon, and a recently released brand new reading of the ancient Irish story The Birth of Ossian, recorded by the banks of the River Dart in Devon with violinist John Matthias (Radiohead/Coldcut). The audio shop also features Courting the Wild Twin and The Night Wagesaudiobooks.
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Visit the Cista Mystica audio shop

Books by Martin Shaw

Martin Shaw’s growing collection of books can all be found at Cista Mystica, including paperback editions of Martin’s first books the Mythteller trilogy –  A Branch from the Lightning Tree (with a foreward by the late Daniel Deardorff), Snowy Tower (with a foreward by Coleman Barks) and Scatterlings (with a foreword by David Abram and introduction by Paul Kingsnorth). They can be purchased separately or as a set.
Browse Martin Shaw’s books

Did You Know…

That the Cista Mystica was a secret casket used in the mystery cults of antiquity, particularly in the rites of Dionysus. Contained on a bed of rushes was a snake, the living god itself, utterly untamable.The press believes that eros can be the bedfellow of rigour, and that all these areas have something essential to contribute to the state of our times
Visit the Cista Mystica shop