{"product_id":"constructing-a-witch-9781780377193","title":"Constructing a Witch","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFeaturing ten collages by the author, Helen Ivory's new poetry collection \u003cem\u003eConstructing a Witch \u003c\/em\u003efixes on the monstering and the scapegoating of women and on the fear of ageing femininity.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this collection, the witch appears as the barren, child-eating hag; she is a lustful seductress luring men to a path of corruption; she is a powerful or cantankerous woman whose cursing must be silenced by force. These bewitching poems explore the witch archetype and the witch as human woman. They examine the nature of superstition and the necessity of magic and counter-magic to gain a fingerhold of agency, when life is chaotic and fragile. In the poems of \u003cem\u003eConstructing a Witch\u003c\/em\u003e Helen Ivory investigates witch tourism, the witch as outsider, cultural representations of the witch, female power and disempowerment, the menopause, and how the female body has been used and misunderstood for centuries. \u003cem\u003eConstructing a Witch\u003c\/em\u003e is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHelen Ivory\u003c\/b\u003e is a poet and visual artist. She edits the webzine\u003ci\u003e Ink Sweat and Tears\u003c\/i\u003e, and teaches for UEA\/National Centre for Writing online. She has published five collections with Bloodaxe Books: \u003ci\u003eThe Double Life of Clocks\u003c\/i\u003e (2002), \u003ci\u003eThe Dog in the Sky\u003c\/i\u003e (2006), \u003ci\u003eThe Breakfast Machine\u003c\/i\u003e (2010), \u003ci\u003eWaiting for Bluebeard\u003c\/i\u003e (2013) and \u003ci\u003eThe Anatomical Venus\u003c\/i\u003e (2019), with a sixth, \u003ci\u003eConstructing a Witch\u003c\/i\u003e, a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, out in 2024.\u003ci\u003e Fool's World\u003c\/i\u003e, a collaborative Tarot with artist Tom de Freston (Gatehouse Press), won the 2016 Saboteur Best Collaborative Work award. The cover of \u003ci\u003eThe Anatomical Venus\u003c\/i\u003e, which features her own artwork, won the East Anglian Writers Book by the Cover Award (East Anglian Book Awards 2019). In 2024 she received a Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors, an award recognising the achievement and distinction of individual poets.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bloodaxe Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50901484798226,"sku":"9781780377193","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c7f7ab00-ef47-4a6a-b0f2-734fafe8f6e8.jpg?v=1738427201","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/constructing-a-witch-9781780377193","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}