In much of the inhabited world (90% of the global population lives in the northern hemisphere) the start of September marks the beginning of meteorological autumn, the season when our thoughts may turn to shorter days, colder temperatures and things sempiternally supernatural.
In just a few fortnights’ time Lizzie Ross and I will be celebrating another Witch Week, an event inaugurated by Lory Hess and inspired by fantasy writer Diana Wynne Jones’s novel of the same name.
This year’s theme is Polychromancy, a word concocted via Greek polychromos (‘many-colours’) and manteia (‘divination’) to suggest a focus on fantasy/sci-fi by authors from diverse backgrounds. The idea is to explore the work of SFF authors who identify as Black, Asian, Indigenous, or other colours and ethnicities such as Roma – or indeed who claim a multiethnic ancestry.
What can you expect, then, during the week running from Halloween to Bonfire Night, 31st October to 5th November? We’ll have posts from a couple or so guest bloggers who’ll be looking at fantasy away from the usual fantasy confines of North America and Europe, as well as pieces from a couple of familiar names looking at other polychromantic themes.
And of course, Witch Week 2022 will include a readalong that complements our theme: Black Water Sister by Zen Cho, a Malaysian author based in the UK. A number of bloggers have already signed up to read and join an online discussion of this, and you are welcome to add your comments to the post of that discussion when it appears.
There’ll be reminders (as if you’ll be needing them!) in the weeks leading up to the commencement of Witch Week itself, and at the end a reveal of the theme for next year’s Witch Week. In the meantime it may be worth looking at Re-enchanted: The Rise of Children’s Fantasy Literature in the Twentieth Century* by Maria Sachiko Cecire, should any reason be demanded for looking beyond the Anglo-American dominance of the fantasy genre.
* The link is to my review.
Calmgrove 
Interesting theme Chris! I may well read Black Water Sister for this one.
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Yay! Your thoughts on this would be very welcome, Cathy.🙂
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Very interesting Chris! Not sure if I can squeeze anything in, but will look forward to following what everyone reads!
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Whatever you can manage or contribute would be very welcome, Karen, even if it’s the briefest of asides!
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That’s a great theme for this year. I’ll see if I have anything suitable to read but if not I’ll look forward to reading all the posts during the week!
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If you do read anything that echoes the theme we’d be pleased to hear about it, Helen, because even a week-long event wouldn’t be long or broad enough to include all that might come under a polychromantic umbrella title! 🙂
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Can I just say… I had no idea 90% of people live in the northern hemisphere? Mind blown…
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It’s an extraordinary thing to contemplate, Laura, isn’t it?! You might, incidentally, like this post I did some time back, https://wp.me/s2oNj1-westward, to help reorientate our western view of the world which too often distorts our global perceptions and leads to faulty geopolitical beliefs…
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Fabulous idea! I’m terrible at reading things on schedule, but at the very least I’ll read the posts/discussions; I love fantasy & sci-fi and have read very little by non U.S./U.K. writers (Black Water Sister looks very, very interesting).
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I’m well over halfway through the Zen Cho and seeing fantasy through different eyes, as it were – in fact there’s an incident in the novel where the protagonist sees spirits through one eye but not through the other, which is a perfect symbol of the approach BWS takes I think. If you do get to read it we’d Iove to see your thoughts on it!
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I didn’t know 90% of people lived in the northern hemisphere. That’s a amazing statistic.
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Just under 90%, Bart – in 2015, around 87.0% was the figure quoted, more recently it seems to be 88%. Even though about ⅓ of the earth’s land mass is below the equator its harsher climate (in Australia or Antarctica for example) restricts the number of people there – but that <90% figure is still astounding, I agree.
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Wait, it’s time for Witch Week already?! Sigh, the year really did fly. I’ll have to comb through my TBR to see which books can hobnob together this time.
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I keep meaning to revisit DWJ’s Castle in the Air as I remember feeling uncomfortable about the Arabian Nights vibe in it; it’d be good to compare and contrast it with offerings for this year’s Witch Week theme.
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Good luck, guys! Really wish I could join, but no luck this year…
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No worries, Ola, but hopefully you’ll enjoy the posts that go up!
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