Helen Ivory Readings
Helen Ivory’s sixth collection Constructing a Witch, published October 2024, fixes on the monstering and the scapegoating of women and on the fear of ageing femininity. The witch appears as the barren, child-eating hag; she is a lustful seductress luring men to a path of corruption; she is a powerful or cantankerous woman whose cursing must be silenced by force. The collection includes ten collages by Helen Ivory. Scroll down to watch a video of Helen's joint online reading and discussion launch event with Bloodaxe.
Constructing a Witch is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation for Winter 2024. It follows Helen's 2019 collection The Anatomical Venus, which examines how women have been portrayed as ‘other’; as witches; as hysterics with wandering wombs and as beautiful corpses cast in wax, or on mortuary slabs in TV box sets.
Helen Ivory is a poet and visual artist. She edits the webzine Ink Sweat and Tears, and teaches for UEA/National Centre for Writing online. She has published five collections with Bloodaxe Books, with a sixth, Constructing a Witch, out in October 2024. Her fifth collection The Anatomical Venus was shortlisted for the poetry category of the East Anglian Book Awards 2019. The cover of The Anatomical Venus, which features her own artwork, won the East Anglian Writers Book by the Cover Award (East Anglian Book Awards 2019). Her work has been translated into Ukrainian, Polish, Spanish, Croatian and Greek for Versopolis. Her US retrospective, Wunderkammer: New and Selected Poems, was published by MadHat in the US in 2023. In June 2024 she won a Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors, an award recognising the achievement and distinction of individual poets. She lives in Norwich.
'Helen Ivory, a highly individualistic poet and visual artist, conjures a world that is both magical and sharply real. As in freshly conceived fairy tales, everything is transmutable. She expresses the intrinsic strangenesses of life, and makes a brilliant contribution to female empowerment through poems that are disturbing, agile, and visually telling.' – Moniza Alvi, Cholmondeley Award co-judge
‘Helen Ivory is a past-master of atmospherics and this collection drips with intrigue. Its power lies in setting the record straight and there’s a magic in her words which is hard to resist. As a result this encyclopaedic little handbook of witchcraft is likely to become a well-thumbed companion on every poetry bookshelf. It is no surprise that it is also one of this year’s Poetry Book Society’s recommendations.' – Hilary Hares, The High Window, on Constructing a Witch Read the full review here.
‘This already pulsating book is further energised by Ivory’s striking collages ... Overall, both she and Bloodaxe deserve the highest praise for a collection that is as meticulously produced as it is expertly and unflinchingly composed.’ – Nick Cooke, London Grip
Read the full review online here.
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Helen Ivory was one of the two guest poets invited to read their poetry on The Poetry Place on West Wilts Radio on 24 November 2024. Helen read and introduced ten poems from her sixth collection Constructing a Witch. Helen features in the introduction and then from 30:24. Listen here.
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Helen Ivory will be giving number of joint events with her husband Martin Figura through Spring 2025. She will also be giving a solo reading in Leeds.
Friday 9 May 2025, 8pm
Reading at the Poets’ Café, Reading, 8.30pm
Poets' Café, South Street, Reading
Helen will be reading with Martin Figura.
All Welcome. Doors open at 8pm for an 8:30pm start.
More details here.
Tuesday 13 May 2025, Shrewsbury Poetry
The Hive, 5 Belmont, Shrewsbury, SY1 1TE
Helen will be reading with Martin Figura.
More details to follow.
Friday 30 May 2025, Chemic Tavern, Leeds
9 Johnston Street, Leeds, LS6 2NG
Helen Ivory will be reading at the Chemic Tavern in Leeds.
More details to follow.
Sunday 1 June 2025, Bilston, Wolverhampton
Gazebo Theatre
Yes We Cant
Martin and Helen will be reading in Wolverhampton.
More details to follow.
Monday 2 June 2025, Alchemy of Words, Worcester, 5pm
Script Haven 1 Amber Gate, City Walls Road, Worcester WR1 2AH
Martin and Helen will be reading in Worcester.
Tickets £15
More information & booking, see here.
Thursday 24 June, Assembly Room, Chichester, 7.30pm
Festival of Chichester, Poetry of Jazz Cafe
Martin and Helen will be reading in Chichester.
More details will be available in due course: https://festivalofchichester.co.uk/
Thursday 3 July 2025, National Centre for Writing, Norwich
Camarade
Martin and Helen will be reading in Norwich.
More details to follow.
PAST EVENTS
Bloodaxe online launch reading by Dzifa Benson, Nia Davies and Helen Ivory - Monday 21 October 2024
Bloodaxe hosted this free launch reading by Dzifa Benson, Nia Davies and Helen Ivory, celebrating the publication of our October 2024 titles. All three poets will be read live and discussed their work with the host, Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley. Watch the recording below. Helen read last in each set.
ONLINE VIDEO
[01 March 2024]
