It is my great pleasure to welcome poet, Zoe
Mitchell, onto the blog today to talk about her debut collection HAG (Published by Indigo Dreams
Publishing), which was the joint winner of the 2018 Indigo-First Collection
Competition. I first met Zoe at Chichester University on the MA in Creative
Writing then later joined a workshop group with her (and two others) where we
meet regularly to share and review each other’s work (and to eat cake!). We’ve
now been sharing work since the summer of 2015 and it’s been a real privilege
to have seen many of the poems from this collection at an early stage of their evolution. It’s
also incredibly satisfying to now hold the final collection, brought to life, and share it with others so they too can appreciate Zoe
Mitchell’s incredible talents.
About Hag
HAG is the debut collection from Zoe Mitchell. The poems address
the ongoing search for magic in the modern world.
Using ancient history and
mythology as well as the inspiration provided by a wild landscape, the poems consider how to live and endure in an increasingly complex and challenging world.
From uncertain heroes and heartbroken heroines to vengeful and lovelorn
goddesses, Hag considers the human cost of
history and how each individual must carry the weight of their own experience.
About Zoe
Zoe Mitchell is a widely-published poet whose
work has been featured in many magazines including The Rialto, The London
Magazine and The Moth. She graduated from the University of
Chichester with an MA in Creative Writing and was awarded a Distinction and the
Kate Betts Memorial Prize. She is currently studying for a
PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Chichester, examining witches in
women’s poetry. Her collection, Hag, was a joint winner of the Indigo-First Collection competition
and was published in April 2019.
Q. Congratulations,
Zoe, on the publication of your debut poetry collection HAG, can you tell us
how it has been brought to life?
With regard to the individual poems, each one has their own story.
Some of the poems were written whilst studying for my MA at the University of
Chichester, some emerged from my current PhD research and others were written
simply because they demanded to be written, for one reason or another. I wish I
could tell you that I have a meticulous and fool-proof process for writing
poetry, but I don’t really have one. The poems are inspired by things I’ve read
or seen and blended with the real world, both in terms of news stories and my
own personal experience. I have a particular interest in mythology and
folklore, and I think some of those ancient stories hold great wisdom which
still applies to our lives today.
The collection itself came about thanks to Indigo Dreams Publishing. I entered a selection of the poems found
in Hag to the Indigo-First Collection Competition last year, and first of all I
was excited and honoured just to have reached the shortlist. The prize was
announced on National Poetry Day last year, and for me it took a while to
really sink in that I had won. Even when I was working on the proofs for the
book and discussing the cover with the Indigo team, I still couldn’t really
wrap my head around it. Ronnie and Dawn at Indigo are a pleasure to work with,
they helped me through every step of the process and I learned a lot about how
collections are put together. I am very proud of the final collection, and a
lot of that is due to their care and attention. Indigo Dreams really nurtures
and supports writers, through their magazines as well as pamphlets and books, and
it’s run by creative and caring people who understand poetry and poets so it
was an honour and a privilege to work with them to bring Hag into the world.
Q. I understand for
the collection and your PhD you have been immersing yourself in some
interesting research. Tarot readings and witch summer school for example. You
have to tell us more …
My
PhD is focused on examining witches in women’s poetry. It’s a creative PhD,
which means that alongside an analysis of major female poets who have written
on the subject, I am compiling a collection of poems inspired by witches. As
part of that, I’ve read a lot of history and mythology and visited various
exhibitions and heritage sites, but I’ve also considered the value and practice
of witchcraft in the modern world. I attended the WitchFest conference, taught
myself to read the tarot and learned various simple spells, which I have since
reflected on in poetry.
Recently,
I was lucky enough to win a scholarship to attend a ‘Witch Summer School’ in
Tuebingen, Germany. The weekend brought together academics from a wide range of
fields to discuss the significance of the witch in culture. I met some
brilliant and fascinating people, including a practising witch who had some
excellent insights into the role of the witch in the modern world and in her
life. I think perhaps my niece and nephew were a little disappointed that witch
summer school didn’t turn out to be anything like Hogwarts – and honestly, I’m
probably more Mildred Hubble than Hermione Grainger anyway – but I found the
whole weekend very inspiring.
One
of the things I really love about creative research is that it gives me a good
excuse to explore the world and have adventures. Maybe no one really needs an
excuse, but life so easily gets in the way of things and booking trips, whether
that’s to a witch summer school or a visit to a historic site like Hadrian’s
Wall, really help me with writing poetry. I think it’s because when we’re
somewhere new, or with different people, we pay attention in a different way
and poetry benefits from that close attention.
Q. What and who
inspires your work? Do you have particular favourite poets or poems you always
return to?
Is
it too vague to say that the whole world inspires my work?! As I said, I am a
very curious person and I love learning new things. I read a lot and also
listen to a lot of podcasts – not just poetry podcasts but also factual
podcasts like HistoryHit or Radio 4’s The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry –
and I horde all the facts that fire my imagination and blend them for poems.
The poem The Scarlet Mark from my collection came from a programme about the
history and science behind red hair, for example. I am also a bit of a word
collector, when I learn a new word, I make a note of it so that I can use it in
a poem. Sometimes it might take years before the right poem emerges, but they
all get used in the end.
Most
recently, I’ve been writing poems which integrate the real world more closely
with the mythological one. I doubt I’ll ever let go of my love of mythology, but
we are living in strange and uncertain times and I think it would be impossible
to ignore the political dimension at the moment. Sometimes I think it’s rather
depressing that my work on witches is so relevant, but the truth is that women
and particularly powerful women, are still treated with suspicion in the world.
Poetry is a way for me to express my frustration and rage at the current
situation, but also it’s a way for me to reflect on more personal aspects of my
life.
In
terms of favourite poets and poems, that is a very long list! My first ever
favourite poet was Roger McGough because my Dad used to read me one of his
books as a bedtime story and I used to request it over and over until he could
recite the whole thing from memory, so he has a very special place in my heart
for awaking my love of language and poetry. In my teenage years, I was very
immersed in the work of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath and they’re still among my
favourites. I love the work of Audre Lorde and I would recommend that alongside
her poetry, everyone should read her essays, especially Poetry is not a Luxury
and The Uses of Anger. With regard to poets working today, I am in absolute awe
of Glyn Maxwell, he has a delicacy and tenderness to his writing that is breath
taking and however many times I re-read his work, I can’t quite see how he’s
done it. I loved Helen Mort’s collection No Map Could Show Them about
pioneering female climbers, and I would also recommend checking out the work of
Kate Garrett, who is a bit of a magical pixie in the poetry world, editing
poetry magazines filled with magic, folklore and mythology as well as writing
her own unique and very striking work.
I
have spent a very long time thinking about which poems to recommend – I have
decided to compile some from poets working today to narrow the field but that
still makes it very difficult to make choices because there are so many poets
working today and producing exceptional work.
The
poem Unsung by Kei Miller
has haunted me ever since I read it, and I admire the quiet tenderness and
insight.
Maggie
Smith’s poem Good Bones often
re-circulates on the internet when a tragedy occurs and for good reason; it
holds the very delicate balance between sad realism and hope.
And
I know I said I would pick from poets working today, but I feel that the list
wouldn’t be complete without including the poem Wild Geese by the
late, great Mary Oliver because it has saved me more than once. There is such
comfort in that opening line, “You do not have to be good.”
Q. Do you have any
events/readings planned to promote collection so LitPig can put them in his
diary?
I
am speaking at the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic conference on 18th
May, and I currently have readings booked for Loose Muse in London in
September, Gloucester Poetry Festival in October and Loose Muse in Winchester
in December. I keep a full list of my upcoming events on my website
and I’m always happy to have the excuse to read my work and talk poetry with
other writers and readers, so I can also be contacted through my site if anyone
wishes me to read at an event.
HAG is available to buy HERE from
Indigo Dreams.
It’s also worth noting that Indigo Dreams are running a great offer again this
year; if you buy four books from them throughout the year, you can choose a
fifth one free. You don’t have to buy them all at once, you can buy them
throughout the year and it all counts to a free book… which means that buying
more books is saving money, which I feel is excellent news for anyone trying to
decide if they need more books! (Although, and I am sure you will agree with
me, LitPig, the answer is yes, you ALWAYS need more books.)
Thank you, Zoe, for such an interesting and informative interview.
My
review:
If you love mythology,
folklore and ancient history then I highly recommend HAG by Zoe Mitchell. Her poetry is infused with energy and jumps
off the page. The writing is equally vivid, visceral and incredibly lyrical.
Her classical knowledge is woven seamlessly with the everyday, her characters
will linger in your dreams and often inspire you to go search out more details
on what lies behind their stories. The
natural world appears in several poems, one of my particular favourites is ‘Sycamore
Gap’ featuring an argument between the famous sycamore and Hadrian's Wall. ‘Lullaby’
really is the stuff of nightmares and ‘A Matter of Common Talk’ will make you either laugh out loud or cringe (depending on your gender). There are goddesses, Ancient Britons, lovers and the lovelorn, along with
the forgotten voices of women doomed for simply being women. Once read and
devoured, then this collection is one to read again and out loud so you can savour
the delicious rhythms and joy of words that Mitchell has crafted.
HAG is endorsed by dragons.
This is the terrific debut thriller from Wendy Clarke that kept me absorbed to the end and ticked so many boxes: super twists, page-turning story, characters you care about and a Lake District setting. Quality writing that quickly hooked me in, I read this almost in one sitting.
