Wild Women Writers' Salon 18 - Crone Witch, Wild Woman (BSL Supported)

Wild Women Writers’ Salon 18 – Crone Witch, Wild Woman:reclaiming the fierce, wise and unapologetically wild

Online & Recorded. This event is BSL SUPPORTED thanks to Creative Scotland.

As the nights draw in and the veil between worlds thins, join us for an evening of fierce words and untamed wisdom. In this salon, we explore the representations and demonisations of the crone, witch, and wild woman across history, culture, and story, reflecting on what it means to inhabit later womanhood on our own terms.

Together with an inspiring line-up of authors, we will ask: What does it mean to grow into later womanhood on our own terms? How do we reclaim the wisdom and power of those who came before us? And how can we reimagine these figures not as warnings, but as guides for our changing lives?

Our guests for the evening are:

• Maya Jordan, author of Chopsy: Resistance Tales of a Working-Class Woman -- who writes of the powerful reclamation of her wild voice in later life.
• Cathryn Kemp, author of A Poisoner’s Tale, who dives into the shadows of women’s histories and the radical power of reclaiming those labelled dangerous.
• Helen Ivory, author of Constructing A Witch, who explores how ageing women have been monstered, scapegoated, and silenced, revealing both the fear of female power and its value in a chaotic world.

Hosted by Victoria Bennett, this salon invites you to join the conversation, share in the stories, and honour the fierce, wise, and unapologetically wild women who have walked before us — and those we are discovering now.

Come with curiosity. Leave with fire.

Date: Thursday 30th October 2025

Time: 7-8.30pm UK time

Location: Online, live, and recorded for delayed viewing

Access: Online, caption-enabled and BSL interpretation available.

Tickets: Pay What You Can (we encourage the building of collaborative, mutually supportive creative communities)

Introducing our Salon Guests

Cathryn Kemp is a Sunday Times bestselling ghostwriter and author, with a prolific career writing celebrity, inspirational, true crime, addiction and nostalgia titles. Her personal memoir, Coming Clean, won the Big Red Read Prize for Non-Fiction. A Poisoner’s Tale is her first foray into historical fiction. A spellbinding reimagining of real events, it follows healer and herbalist Giulia Tofana and her circle of female poisoners in their quest to free the downtrodden women of Rome from their abusive husbands, one deadly drop at a time.

Helen Ivory Helen Ivory is a poet and visual artist, and editor of the webzine Ink Sweat & Tears. . Her collaborative Tarot deck with artist Tom de Freston, Fool’s World, won the 2016 Saboteur Award for Best Collaborative Work. In 2024, she received a Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors, recognising her achievement and distinction as a poet. She has published six collections with Bloodaxe Books, including Waiting for Bluebeard (2013), The Anatomical Venus (2019), and Constructing a Witch (2024), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation that explores how superstition, fear of the ageing woman, and cultural myth have shaped the figure of the witch, examining both her demonisation and her enduring power as a symbol of female agency.

Maya Jordan is a working-class writer and storyteller living in Mid-Wales. A winner of the 2021 A Writing Chance award, her work has been published in The New Statesman, the Daily Mirror’s Lemon-Aid newsletter, and performed by Michael Sheen on BBC Radio Wales. She writes fiction, creative non-fiction, and children’s stories, and has shared her storytelling with audiences in schools, libraries, festivals, and even the House of Commons. She also facilitates Wild Women Meditation Circles, creating space for women to connect, reflect, and share. Her memoir Chopsy: Resistance Tales from a Working-Class Woman will be published by September Publishing in early 2026.

Introducing your Salon Host & Curator

Victoria Bennett is an award-winning 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. She has curated and hosted the Wild Women Writers' Salons since 2023, bringing together writers and readers from around the world to explore the things that matter.

Her debut memoir, All My Wild Mothers: Motherhood, Loss, and an Apothecary Garden offers a quietly positive manifesto for a changing world. Nautilus Book Award Winner 2024.

Her forthcoming book, The Apothecary By The Sea: A Year in an Orkney Garden, is due to be published by Elliot and Thompson in April 2026.

WHAT ARE THE WILD WOMEN WRITERS’ SALONS?

When we tell our stories and listen to others, we connect. In this ever-divisive world, it feels essential to do so. As an author and the founder of Wild Women Press and the Wild Women Writers’ Salons, I am passionate about creating positive change. I believe words can help us do this. That is why I share mine, and why I have dedicated over half my life to creating spaces where others can share theirs.

Each salon is carefully and individually curated, with considerable thought given to pairing authors and their writing. This pairing brings something new to the conversation, intersecting and beginning to tell an additional story. All author participants read and respond to the selected books, engaging with them as readers, writers, and creative peers, thereby fostering genuine conversation, reflection, and a vibrant creative community.

In this collaborative, creative space, the audience and authors come together to delve deeper into the words and what it means to write them. Together, we are growing a welcoming and inspiring space to gather, engage and inspire positive change.

ACCESSIBLILTY

As a disabled author and carer, accessibility is close to my heart and built into everything I do. This means that, at every salon, I prioritise comfort and self-care throughout — and all the time too!

The salons are held 100% online via Zoom, usually on the last Thursday of each month. These sessions are typically held from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. UK time, with some sessions scheduled from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. UK time to accommodate authors with other commitments or specific needs.

The salons support live captions and are recorded and subtitled for delayed viewing.

Funding from Creative Scotland has enabled us to increase access to the salons by providing British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation for select events throughout the 2025-26 programme. This will be noted on the individual events.

How do they work? What is Pay What You Can?

I make no personal profit from the salons — all revenue generated from ticket sales and subscriptions is reinvested in the project to support the authors, those working behind the scenes, and to ensure the project's future sustainability.

This year, I have been fortunate to receive a small grant towards research and development from Creative Scotland, which will help me build in further access, support my work and contribute towards the authors’ time and commitment. However, it does not cover the full cost of the programme, or the hours it takes to make it happen.

That is where your support comes in.

The salons are offered as Pay-What-You-Can. This is because we want to create an equitable space where everyone can participate, and where we foster a community that values worth but does not exclude people based on their ability to afford it. It is not because we have a secret income or don't need the money!

When deciding what to pay, it might be helpful to have the following price points as guides.

£8, £16, and £24 are offered as realistic price points, as estimates of the cost to support the project, acknowledging the time, creativity, and energy generously given by our guest authors and all those involved in making the salons happen.

A minimum ticket donation of £5 (+ Eventbrite fee) is suggested. This is because we have a cap on the number of people admitted to each salon. A £5 + fee won’t cover the salon or the work, but it goes some way to making sure it can run.

HOWEVER, please do not feel you cannot attend if you cannot meet these price points. As a disabled, low-income parent-carer, I am very aware that there are times in life when we can’t find those funds, no matter how much we want to. If this is you right now, please know that you are still very much welcome.

All and any donations and paid subscriptions are vital to this space's ecosystem, and as always, we are grateful for your support.

So let’s get the conversation started… Book your ticket now!