Literary Witches: A Celebration of Magical Women Writers

The word “witch” is curious because it’s used as an insult (and a rallying cry for those who mistreat and murder women), and yet, it implies depths of magic, of great power and influence. The word carries as much honor as it does condemnation.

So it’s quite apropos that Taisia Kitaiskaia and Katy Horan would use that word to celebrate the lives and legacies of numerous literary icons, women who were as inventive, trailblazing, and challenging as could be. Literary Witches reimagines these iconic women — some famous, some unsung — through a magical lens. Wordsmiths and creators become witches and spectres of immense power, their words becoming dangerous and influential in a different form.

It’s an intriguing idea, a peculiar and charming way to exalt women as diverse as Sappho, Sylvia Plath, Mary Shelley, Shirley Jackson, Jamaica Kincaid, and Agatha Christie. The book never once diminishes the seriousness or importance of their contributions to the world by fictionalizing them in these colorful magical vignettes. Instead, it’s spellbinding in all the best ways.

Literary Witches is a perfectly subversive tribute to a who’s who of incredible voices from literature.