Helen Ivory’s sixth collection Constructing a Witch fixes on the monstering and the scapegoating of women and on the fear of ageing femininity. 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 finger hold of agency, when life is chaotic and fragile. In the poems of Constructing a Witch 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.
 
Following Helen's performance both the Bar and the Mic will be open for our annual Open-Mic where the audience will be able to read their own poetry and share their spoken word and works in progress. Please book your slot for the Open Mic on arrival - spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
 
Helen Ivory is a poet and visual artist who makes shadowboxes and collage. She was awarded a Cholmondeley Award by the Society of Authors in 2024. She edits the webzine Ink Sweat and Tears and teaches for the National Centre for Writing Academy, The Poetry School and Arvon. A poem from her surrealist chapbook 'Maps of the Abandoned City' (SurVision 2019) is one of the Poems on the Underground. . She has work translated into Polish, Ukrainian, Croatian, Spanish and Greek as part of the Versopolis European poetry platform. Her 'Wunderkammer: New and Selected Poems' appeared from MadHat in the US in 2023. 'Constructing a Witch' (October 2024) her sixth collection with Bloodaxe Books, is a PBS Winter Recommendation. In summer 2025 A Greek translation of 'Constructing a Witch' (trans Nikolas Koutsodontis) is published in Greece by Thraka.