Placecloud is a location-based storytelling platform that connects short, place-specific audio stories to precise geographic viewpoints. Using a mobile device and map interface, listeners can discover recordings tied to particular locations and hear them while standing at or looking toward the place being described. Each recording typically highlights a fragment of history, an overlooked anecdote, or a curious detail about the surrounding environment, turning ordinary viewpoints into entry points for exploring the layered narratives of a city or landscape. The platform emphasizes concise, well-researched micro-histories that enrich a visitor’s experience of place without requiring a full guided tour. Contributors can create new viewpoints by recording short narrations linked to specific coordinates and directions, allowing a distributed network of storytellers to expand the collection over time. Through this approach, Placecloud builds a growing archive of geographically anchored stories that encourage people to slow down, observe their surroundings, and encounter places through unexpected historical and cultural perspectives.

I’m a writer of novels and narrative non-fiction as well as radio plays, essays and short stories. Place, memory and motion are at the heart of my writing and I take Susan Sontag’s advice: ‘Love words, agonise over sentences and pay attention to the world.’ It seems to be important I engage bodily with writing, so getting mud on my boots, sleeping high up in the hills, or being slapped by salt water can all be part of my inspiration. In fiction, the interplay of character, place and the past is often my focus.