When we launched our Feminist Fairy Tales boxes, we had no idea how many conversations it would spark. We’ve seen them happening across our social media platforms, in our Members Facebook group, and in our emails with our team. One that particularly stuck with us was a conversation we had with subscriber, Laura, who told us she was currently writing …
Disney characters are considered hallmarks in a young person’s upbringing. This is to such an extent that 67% of polled Brits highlighted the importance of Disney princesses being good role models for children. However, Disney’s battling struggle with satisfying its more traditional fan base has led to a miserable lagging in terms of representing our ever-diverse society. The result: intersectional …
We’ve started the new year (and the new decade) with the age-old genre of the fairytale, retold for the modern era through the incredible stories in Little Book of Fairy Tales from Dancing Bear Publications, the book featured in our January box. The origin of the fairytale is much debated, in part because it finds its roots in the tradition …
Society is lagging behind literature. A cruel intolerance against outspoken women pushing for reform remains strong. Meghan’s race and identity has led to her rejection. While she may have jumped, it is society’s entrenched racism and the abuse she has received which amounts to a violent push. Their retirement is owed to the intrusive coverage and bullying of a British …
‘tis the season… of sisterhood! Here at Books That Matter we’re celebrating our December theme: the Season of Sisterhood! As we reach the end of the year it’s the perfect time to reflect and appreciate the sisterhood that surrounds us. Check out these 10 women-supporting-women organisations which champion that sisterhood with their work: Integrate UK is fighting to end FGM …
As we near the end of National Novel Writing Month, there seems to be an increased amount of anxiety about completing before the deadline. Regardless of whether you’re participating in NaNoWriMo or not, getting deadlines finished before the year end has never felt more frantic as we approach Christmas and what’s supposed to be relaxing time off! Whether you’re creative …
“A particular Declaration of the most barberous and damnable Practises, Murthers, wicked and diuelish Conspiracies, practized and executed by the most dangerous and malitious Witch Elizabeth Sowthernes alias Demdike, of the Forrest of Pendle in the Countie of Lancaster” – Thomas Potts, The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster. The witch hunts of the 16th and 17th …
The witch lives between dark and daylight, the safely settled village and the wil writes: “It’s no coincidence that the reclamation of the witch as a symbol of female power and persecution started with the suffragettes, and later saw a renaissance in the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s. (…) In this new age of sexist turmoil, it’s fitting she …
There’s something to be said for the allure of the classics, stories that never get old. Time and time again we go back to Shakespeare, Shelley, Dickens, the Brontes, and of course, Ancient Myth. However, even the very best of Greek Mythology has excluded or shadowed it’s female characters to the point where their narratives are that of plot devices …
Picture this, a boat washes ashore on the beautiful island of Aiaia, carrying Odysseus after his long quest fighting in Troy. Silver wolves and golden lions drape themselves over the threshold, and striking witch-sorceress Circe emerges over the rocks. The story of the Odyssey begins with depicting Circe as vivid, powerful and unique, a cunning witch who transforms Odysseus’s men …
