Writing Wild Issue 7
Words from the Wild Women Writers' Salons
Apologies for the delay in getting this issue out. I have been busy attending to a family care situation. But fear not, Salon 8 is still happening on 27th June, bringing together a gorgeous line-up of guests for an evening of exploring embodiment in creative practice, and how ancient practices can help us connect with and nuture our own creative seasons. I hope to see you there!
A Look Back…
‘Hope is the hardest love we carry’ — Jane Hirschfield - Hope and Love.
Salon 7 was a very special gathering in which we talked about grief, healing, nature, and the discovery of hope in unexpected places. It was an honest, open conversation that encompassed the often unspoken aspects of grief—from the reality of PTSD following sudden bereavement to the unexpected moments of joy and deepening connection to radical hope that is born out of a place of profound sorrow.
Thank you to Sophie Pierce*, Liz Jensen, and Freya Bromley for sharing their wonderful and poignant memoirs and their vulnerability and strength. It was an honour to join the conversation, and to share it with others. All in attendance held the space with grace and gentleness, for which we are always grateful.
*If you are interested in hearing more about writing grief, nature and finding hope, you can catch Sophie at Heffers Bookshop in Cambridge on Thursday, June 6th, at 6 pm and in conversation with novelist Fiona Williams at First Draft Books in Bovey Tracey on 10th July 2024 at 5.30 pm.
(Remember, you can catch up with this salon and all previous salons by upgrading to our paid subscription.)
Coming June 27th
Wild Women Writers’ Salon 8
Embodied: Honouring our seasons in life and art
Join us for a deep dive into nature's cycles and how we can draw on ancient practices to honour our seasons in art and life, and nurture a more connected creative practice and compassionate community. With guest authors Dr Rebecca Beattie, Dr Alice Tarbuck and Lia Leendertz.
Thursday 27th June at 7 pm UK Time/GMT+1 (Online)
The event is recorded with English subtitles and has captions enabled.
Introducing our Salon Guests
Dr Rebecca Beattie
Rebecca Beattie grew up on Dartmoor, which gave her an early appreciation of the power and joys of nature. She has been practising solitary witchcraft for twenty years and an initiate of the Gardnerian Wiccan tradition for fifteen. She is acclaimed for her highly informed teaching of witchcraft subjects at Treadwell’s Books in Bloomsbury. She holds an MA in Modern and Contemporary Literature and a PhD in Creative Writing. She is the author of several books, including The Wheel of the Year and A Way Through The Woods, published earlier this year.
The Wheel of The Year
Rooted in an appreciation of the rhythms of the seasons, from Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas and Samhain to the Spring Equinox, Midsummer, Autumn Equinox and Yule, The Wheel of the Year allows us to pause and still the chaos of modern life, offering offers rituals to celebrate each seasonal festival and enchanting folklore and traditions.
Alive with the natural world's ebb and flow, The Wheel of the Year helps you chart your moments of transition, reflection, and healing alongside the changes in the outside world.
Dr Alice Tarbuck
Alice Tarbuck is an award-winning poet and writer. Her debut non-fiction book A Spell in the Wild: a year (and six centuries) of Magic is published by Hodder & Stoughton. With Claire Askew, she is the co-editor of The Modern Craft, published by Watkins. She is a previous winner of the Scottish Book Trust New Writer’s Award for poetry, and recipient of their award for programming. She has taught Creative Writing at the Universities of Dundee and York and is a Lead Reader for Open Book. Alice is currently a Writer in Residence on the AHRC-funded Print Matters project at the University of York. She splits her time between Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders.
A Spell in the Wild
In a world that sometimes feels like it makes no sense, many people have begun reaching out to the numinous for a sense of understanding and connection. Looking back to ancient wisdom, folklore, and classic texts for answers can be helpful, but sometimes, without the context of the contemporary, it can be hard to see how these old ways apply to the here and now.
In A Spell in the Wild, Alice Tarbuck explores what it means to be a witch today. Rooted in the real world but filled with spells, rituals and recipes, this book is part personal reflection and part accessible, seasonal guide to witchcraft in the twenty-first century. Following the course of a witch’s calendar year while also exploring the history and politics of witchcraft, A Spell in the Wild is the perfect primer for the contemporary witch.
Lia Leendertz
Lia Leendertz is an award-winning garden and food writer based in Bristol. She presents a monthly podcast, ‘As the Season Turns’, about what to look out for in the month ahead and writes a free monthly newsletter, ‘Lia’s Living Almanac’. Her reinvention of the traditional rural almanac has become an annual must-have for readers eager to connect with the seasons, appreciate the outdoors and discover ways to mark and celebrate each month.
A Year in Story and Song: A Celebration of the Seasons
We humans love stories. We love to hear them, tell them around fires and by bedsides, and use them to make sense of our world. The seasons, in all their ever-changing variety, give us many opportunities for storytelling: the full moons and their names, Epiphany in January, St Patrick’s Day in March, May Day, Midsummer, Halloween and more. Featuring mischievous boggarts and fairies, saints and sailors, leprechauns and dragons, pilgrimages and charms, milkmaids and rose queens, and Robin Hood and the Green Man, the songs and stories gathered into A Year in Story and Song range from shanties and love songs to bawdy ballads and wassails to carols and rounds and have been sung for hundreds of years, often at particular moments in the calendar.
Drawn from Lia Leendertz's bestselling The Almanac, her latest book, A Year in Story and Song, is a compilation of stories and songs that celebrate the activities and festivities of the seasons and add a little magic to your journey through each year.
Introducing our Salon Host — Victoria Bennett
Victoria Bennett is a disabled writer, carer and mother. A firm believer in everyone’s right to write their own story, she has dedicated much of her working life to nurturing spaces where people can do just that, founding Wild Women Press in 1999. When not juggling writing, care and chronic illness, she can be found in Orkney, close to where the wild things grow, tending her new apothecary garden.
Her debut memoir, All My Wild Mothers: motherhood, loss, and an apothecary garden, was published by Two Roads in 2023. An intimate memoir of motherhood, grief and care, it offers a handbook on survival and a testimony to the love and radical hope that can grow in even the most broken places.
Nautilus Book Award Winner 2024.
‘A treasure map back to 'living', for those who have been away too long…’ — DONNA ASHWORTH, author of WILD HOPE
Wild Women Writers’ Retreat 2024
We are assembling a fantastic programme for the Wild Women Writers’ Retreat to celebrate a year of salons. Provisional dates are 11 to 15 November 2024, and it will be a delicious week of community, wonderful guest authors from our Wild Women Writers’ project, inspiring workshops, informative industry panels, and nourishing creative practice sessions.
And it's all accessible from the comfort of your own room!
The week will be hosted on Zoom). Please note that if you are in a different timezone, the sessions will run from 9.15 a.m. UK time every day.
The retreat will be kept small to encourage space for making creative connections, so early booking is essential.
If you’re interested in attending and want to receive advance booking details when they are ready, please email vik@wildwomenpress.com
What are the Wild Women Writers’ Salons?
The Wild Women Writers’ Salons are on the last Thursday of every month (except December) and include day and evening events. The programme, which focuses on memoir and creative nonfiction, runs until November 2024.
With a treasure chest of excellent writers from across the globe, these are different from your regular Zoom sessions or author events. Together, we're creating a welcoming and inspiring space to gather and engage in meaningful conversation and reflection, where writers can share and explore their inspirations and writing journeys.
Each salon will feature three (and sometimes four!) fantastic guest writers. Here’s a sneak peek of what you can expect:
Dive deep into the world of words.
Hear authors share their works.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process.
Real talk about publishing highs and lows.
Engage in some heart-to-heart during the Q&A session.
Remember, ticket sales and paid subscriptions help value and pay the amazing people making these salons possible—from behind the scenes to the fabulous authors!
Be part of the growing Wild Women Writers’ community
Why Upgrade to Paid?
The salons are entirely unfunded. All paid subscriptions support the work behind the scenes to make the Wild Women Writers’ Salons and the newsletter happen. In exchange for your support, you receive access to:
access to recordings of all the salons;
additional interviews with our guest authors on their writing and inspirations;
further reading/resources and book suggestions from our guest authors;
writing prompts from our guest authors;
you can submit your writing questions to our guest Author Agony Aunt. One will be picked to be answered in each issue;
listed opportunities and courses;
the chance to be part of a nurturing community of creative practice!
Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription today.
Writing Wild (Wild Women Writers' Salons) is a reader-supported publication. By taking out a paid subscription, you support the work behind the scenes to make this project possible. Thank you.
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