Category Archives: Witchcraft

2016: A Year In Non-Fiction

22 Thursday Dec 2016

Posted by in Amy Winehouse, Books, Brighton, Film, History, Lana Del Rey, Music, Non-Fiction, Politics, Witchcraft, Writing

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British journalist Gary Younge has a sharp eye for how political events impact on ordinary lives. While living in Chicago, he investigated the stories behind the blunt statistics of ten children and teenagers shot dead in a single day. Never intrusive, but quietly devastating, Another Day in the Death of America illuminates with rare power. Continue reading →

The Art of Witchcraft

17 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by in Art and Photography, History, Witchcraft

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Lachlan Goudie, son of the Scottish figurative painter Alexander Goudie, is an artist himself. In 1999, Alexander finished a cycle of paintings based on Robert Burns’ 1791 narrative poem, Tam o’ Shanter, about a farmer led astray by a young and beautiful witch, Nannie Dee. He was strongly influenced by the work of Albrecht Dürer and Francisco Goya. Continue reading →

Best Books of 2012

20 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by in Art and Photography, Books, Fiction, Marilyn Monroe, Non-Fiction, Witchcraft

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My ten favourite reads of 2012, including new fiction; books commemorating the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death, and the 400th anniversary of the Pendle witch trials; and some previously published books that I’ve just caught up with.

I had never read Kate Grenville’s work before, but Sarah Thornhill (and its predecessor, The Secret River) really evokes the stark beauty of the outback, contrasted with the tumult of the early settlers.  Continue reading →

The Curse of Pendle

28 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by in History, Radio, Witchcraft

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Installation on Pendle Hill: photo by Brett Dixon/BBC, 2012.

The Curse of Pendle is a 30-minute documentary, broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on November 23rd, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Lancashire Witch Trials. It is presented by the novelist Jeanette Winterson, who grew up in Accrington, within view of Pendle Hill.

‘We all knew the stories of Chattox and Demdike – names you’d never forget,’ Winterson recalls. ‘Were they witches? Did they still haunt the hill? It scared us kids to death.’ Continue reading →