Allyson Shaw's Blog, page 3

Rife Nights & the stones are out walking

“…wintering out/ the back end of a bad year…” -Seamus Heaney, “Servant Boy” 

It’s said that on Hogmanay the Stones of Stenness walk to the loch of Harray for a drink—yet none have witnessed this—perhaps until now…

The first instalment of my field notes on Stenness is up at my Substack. I explore the accused witch Alison Balfour’s relationship to what is now known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney. This one is for paid subscribers! Become a paid subsciber to read all my Orkney field notes.   Image is a picture I took of the Stones in the snow last January, 2023.

Yuletide Ghost Stories

Every month I share a curated list of what I’m reading, watching, listening to and thinking about with my newsletter subscribers. Read the latest, all about Yuletide Ghost stories—with a brief mention of the extraordinary ceremony held in Sweden this month to remember those persecuted for witchcraft. Find out more at r Rebecca Tiger’s Instagram. (more on this soon.)

The last Field note from stronsay

Two years ago I set out a plan to write about the folklore of witchcraft in Orkney and its intersection with the lives of Orcadian women accused of witchcraft. During the witch hunts in Scotland, the people of Orkney were slow to demonise witchcraft and the hunts never reached a full blown panic. There are reasons for this that I might unpack further in another Substack post, but the story of the accused is often eclipsed by legend. Scota Bess on Stronsay is an example of a larger-than-life persona—a mixture of storm witch with elements of a creation goddess. The lived reality of an actual woman named Scota Bess, and indeed any historical record of her life, is seemingly lost to the shadow of her tale. I have written about her for paid subscribers of my Substack.

My obsession with the painter John Atkinson Grimshaw is rekindled by the mouldy prints of his work hanging in an abandoned croft on Stronsay. Shipwrecks, mermaid chairs, selkie songs and seal culls…The final instalment of my Stronsay field notes is free to read at my Substack. 

Ashes & Stones is a Kindle Daily Deal

Ashes & Stones: a Scottish Journey In Search of Women Hunted as Witches is an US Amazon Daily Deal this Monday, October 28th. Kindle edition is only $1.99 for one day only!

download it here

Figureheads & weather witches

…On the Multivalence of Folklore.

My latest Substack post is the beginning of a series of irregular long reads for paid subscribers of my Substack—sketches for a book I thought I might write about Orcadian women accused of witchcraft.

Subscribe and read here: https://allysonshaw.substack.com/p/figureheads-and-weather-witches

Ashes & Stones shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s Christopher Bland Prize

What a joy it is to have Ashes & Stones Shortlisted by the Royal Society of Literature for the Christopher Bland Prize–a prize that celebrates older debut authors. What and honour. Thank you to the judges Josh Cohen, Niall Griffiths and @ShappiKhorsandi 

Read the article in The Bookseller or see the update on the RSL website.

In good company here!

HAUTE CONVALESCENCE

As a sick young woman I poured over Vogue Italia—imagining not wealth nor thinness but the ability and desire to get dressed, to adorn.

Bed rest, runway shows and being hame-drauchtit, or homesick: This month’s essay is free to read at my Substack.

Ashes & Stones is an Amazon Deal for April!

For the month of April, Amazon.com is offering the Kindle edition of Ashes & Stones at only $1.99!

Writing Yourself Home Online Workshop

In this two hour master class we will centre on facets of place writing informed by anti-colonial re-enchantment of land, place, and home. 

28th of April, 2024. 7pm GMT £25, tickets via Eventbrite

Book Your place now

I’ll share practical tips for forming or renewing a sense of place in your writing. Together we’ll examine our places, sharing discoveries and challenges as a group, exploring forces shaping our place-writing from gentrification to the Scottish Diaspora, and more. There will be prompts and inspiration for future work.

I bring decades of experience teaching writing to my online workshops. I’ve taught at the University of California and Colleges in the US, delivered community writing workshops as well as master classes for the Taibhsear Collective.

Register on Eventbrite

Paid subscribers to my Substack receive a 20%discount cod

Find out about past and upcoming workshops at my Workshops page.

Writing As Ritual Workshop

Writing as Ritual is a two hour masterclass for people are writing for publication as well as writers who are embarking on or renewing a writing journey.

January 28th, at 7pm GMT.

Book Your Place Now

Find your timezone here.

In decades spent facing the blank page, sometimes I’ve been dormant and other times I’ve needed to jumpstart my practice, and that’s changed over time. I’m going to be sharing ideas about my journey, also things I’ve learned over the last 30 years about maintaining a practice. In this video up at my Substack, I talk about what this workshop is about and what you can expect,

Register on Eventbrite