Welcome to this year’s Witch Week event! The brainchild of Lory, of Entering the Enchanted Castle, it runs from Halloween on 31st October to Bonfire Night, 5th November. Co-host Lizzie Ross, writer and I aim to celebrate fantasy books and authors during the week designated by Diana Wynne Jones – in her fantasy called, of course, Witch Week – as “a time when anything can happen.”
This year’s theme is Polychromancy, a word concocted via Greek from 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 or celebrate Black, Asian, Indigenous, or people of specific ethnicities such as Roma – or indeed who claim a multiethnic ancestry.
The schedule, below, includes 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 conducted an online discussion of this, but please feel free to comment on the conversation we had.
Day 1: Monday 31st October.
Daphne Lee discusses a nearly completed fantasy trilogy focusing on Filipino magical beliefs.
Day 2: Tuesday 1st November.
Chris Lovegrove reviews a tale of Roma people in eastern Europe, a novel inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Day 3: Wednesday 2nd November.
Lizzie Ross reviews some North American fantasy titles from indigenous writers.
Day 4: Thursday 3rd November.
Group discussion of Zen Cho’s Black Water Sister with Daphne Lee, Jean Leek, Lory Hess, and Mallika Ramachandran, plus Lizzie and Chris.
Day 5: Friday 4th November.
Mallika Ramachandran on a Persian-inspired fantasy first published in Hindi but also available in English.
Day 6: Saturday 5th November.
Lizzie Ross gives a sample of works by diverse writers from around the world.
Day 7: Sunday 6th November.
Wrap-up post and 2023’s theme revealed.
So, we hope you have your bags packed, ready to travel around the globe to see what fantastic stories we have selected for you to enjoy!
Calmgrove 
Pingback: #WitchWeek2022 starts tomorrow | Lizzie Ross
This looks wonderful! Can’t wait to read all the discussions.
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Yay! Thanks, Janet, it promises to be really varied and stimulating even though I say so myself! 🙂
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Did you see this painting by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite? I was very taken with it. And your post brought it to mind.
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I follow #WomensArt on Twitter but I hadn’t yet seen today’s tweet, Josie, so thank you for this! Yes, we will have some witches this week but none quite like this … 😁
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I’ll look forward to reading all the posts this week! I’m reading a book at the moment that I think might fit this theme, but I’m not sure when I’ll finish it.
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We’d love to hear about it on any of the posts, Helen, whether or not it’s directly related, even if you’ve not quite completed it! And I hope you’ll enjoy what we have on offer. 🙂
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