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Clara Whitfield

Speaking

I talk about attention, slow craft, and why the interesting part of any job is the part nobody photographs. I keep travel to a minimum and combine events when I can.

Rows of empty wooden chairs with woven seats, set out before an event

If you would like me to speak, email me. I answer within a week, and I will tell you plainly if I am the wrong person for it.

I talk at conferences, festivals, libraries and craft schools. I try to minimise international travel and I combine events when I can, so a date six months out is far more likely to work than one next month. I do remote sessions and panels happily.

Upcoming

  • What the stonemason said
    14 October 2026, Bristol Central Library
    On maintenance as the actual work.
  • Attention as a craft
    7 November 2026, Hay Festival Winter Weekend
    Theme: making things slowly on purpose.
  • The long middle
    26 February 2027, Online
    A workshop for people stuck in month four.

Previous (selected)

  • Notice what you notice
    2 October 2026, Arnolfini, Bristol
    With Sophie Lund. The recording is online. My talk starts at 11 minutes 20 seconds.
  • Endangered trades and who pays for them
    18 September 2026, Heritage Crafts Association annual conference
    Host and chair of the Bench Award panel.
  • The Long Middle, in conversation
    3 June 2026, Topping & Company, Bath
    Launch event, with Hilary Tan.
  • Photographing work that does not photograph well
    21 March 2026, Royal Photographic Society, Bristol
  • Slow reading, in practice
    9 January 2026, Bristol Central Library
    A public session of The Long Table.
  • What a thatcher knows about weather
    4 November 2025, Museum of Somerset, Taunton
  • On keeping a notebook for twenty years
    17 July 2025, Online
    Guest session for a university writing programme.
  • The last letterpress in the county
    12 April 2025, St Bride Foundation, London
    With Ruaridh Blake of Harbour Press.

What I can talk about

  • Attention, and why it is a practice rather than a resource.
  • The long unglamorous middle of any piece of work, and how people survive it.
  • Documenting a craft without flattering it.
  • Running something small for a long time: a letter, a reading group, a bursary.
Fees: I charge for corporate events and I do not charge schools, libraries or anything run by volunteers. Ask.

If you are not sure whether it is a fit, send it anyway. I would rather redirect you than have you not ask.