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The Sunday Read

The Sunday Read is published twice a month (sometimes more, sometimes less). It brings the same global adventures and stunning pictures as Wild Fibers Magazine but with the convenience of online access and the addition of on-location videos.

To enjoy a selection of excerpts, please go here.

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A Thousand Sheep and A Thousand Broken Pieces - The Rise of Iona Wool

Linda Cortright

Jun 10, 20239 min read

A Thousand Sheep and A Thousand Broken Pieces - The Rise of Iona Wool

By some standards, my religious upbringing might be considered wanting. My parents unanimously decided that neither my brother nor myself...

Linda Cortright

May 28, 20238 min read

Two "Bools" In Paradise

You won’t find throngs of people waiting to the board ferry in Canna, the outermost isle of Scotland’s Inner Hebrides. At less than five...

Linda Cortright

May 22, 20235 min read

From Sheep To Ship

The story begins more than five hundred years ago inside a stone church in northern Norway. Someone, perhaps several someone’s, decided...

Linda Cortright

May 13, 20236 min read

Brooms, Blankets, and Vodka

When Anna Miller was four years old, she would travel twelve hundred miles to visit her grandmother. On the way home, she would sit in...

Linda Cortright

Apr 29, 20235 min read

One pair of socks, $1500

On my last day in New Zealand, I thought there were no more surprises left. I had already been surprised to learn that as part of...

Harakeke-The Fiber That Nearly Killed the Māori

Linda Cortright

Apr 22, 20236 min read

Harakeke-The Fiber That Nearly Killed the Māori

I am nothing short of appalled to learn my view of New Zealand’s natural fiber industry has been myopic. In a country that touted 78...

Linda Cortright

Apr 8, 20237 min read

Plant a Tree, Kill a Sheep?

An alarming number of New Zealand ranchers are beginning to yell "Timber!" The last time I visited New Zealand was in 2008; it had all...

Linda Cortright

Mar 26, 20239 min read

From the Back Of The Plane

I have never understood the Zen of running. No mixture of sweat, spandex, and battered joints will ever elicit any semblance of...

Linda Cortright

Mar 12, 202310 min read

Diamonds in the Rough

The remarkable story of how a fortune in diamonds led to a sheep farm in Namibia, and eventually poverty.

Robert Burton

Feb 18, 202315 min read

The Stunning Story of Seal Wool

Historian Robert Burton reveals a forgotten chapter in natural fibers with his investigation of wool from the Antarctica fur seal.

Linda Cortright

Feb 12, 202313 min read

Penguins, Wool, and Wine

Back in November, when most folks were spewing expletives as they navigated miles of Thanksgiving traffic and other challenges that come...

Linda Cortright

Jan 3, 20235 min read

"Down" on the Farm

There is no shortage of sheep to see during my tour of Iceland, particularly during lambing season when the population swells from...

Linda Cortright

Dec 3, 20228 min read

Crossing The Arctic Circle

It’s the middle of June and I am putting on my thick wool sweater, a red Gore-tex jacket, and a pair of tall rubber boots. I have just...

Linda Cortright

Nov 19, 20225 min read

The Mighty Mekong

At one time, long . . . long . . . ago, Cambodia was the epicenter of progress. The carvings along the temple walls at Angkor Wat tell...

Linda Cortright

Nov 5, 20227 min read

My Promise to Chum Mey

Several years ago, I visited the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.; a sunken wall of polished granite bearing tribute to more than...

Linda Cortright

Oct 20, 20229 min read

Wet and Sticky, Soft and Silky

A lesson in Vietnamese lotus silk Ms. Thuan is seventy-one-years-old, a fact she is quick to share in a country that reveres its elders....

Linda Cortright

Oct 2, 20225 min read

Chicken Feet

And other delicacies in Hanoi's old city “Do you like chicken feet?” My guide asks. “I have very good place in old city. Best chicken...

Linda Cortright

Sep 18, 20226 min read

Bikaner: The Ultimate Wool Stash

My Indian driver is making a hard sell that we stop at Karni Mata Temple, commonly referred to as rat temple. “Very holy place,” he...

Linda Cortright

Sep 4, 20224 min read

Pizza Night in the Thar Desert

Their names are Arfan, Arbaj, Akaram, Mangi, Saiid and little Arman. They are Merasi, the storytellers of India’s Thar Desert who have...

Linda Cortright

Aug 28, 20225 min read

Cruising Through The Desert

Camels and deserts are all but synonymous. At least, they used to be. In the last ten years, India’s camel population has plummeted by...