#WitchWeek2022 wrap-up, plus …

#WitchWeek2022

Well, that’s it for 2022, our Witch Week exploration of fantasy offerings from around the world! As promised we travelled from the New World to the Old, from East to West, and across six of the inhabited continents in our quest to celebrate polychromancy. We hope you enjoyed the ride!

Polychromancy #WitchWeek2022

#WitchWeek2022. Design after artwork by Bunny Pierce Huffman

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.

#WitchWeek2021: wrap-up and 2022 theme

So, Witch Week 2021 has come to its end — hopefully with a bang and not a whimper! For the last few days we’ve put Treason and Plot under the spotlight as manifested in fantasy fiction, tales of adventure in settings both classical and modern, and in Shakespearean drama. Hosts and guests alike hope you’ve been mightily entertained, perhaps even shaken and stirred!

Co-hosts Lizzie and Chris are grateful for the help of everyone who participated:

• Lory of Entering the Enchanted Castle, who waxed lyrical about the work of Megan Whalen Turner;
• Jean of Howling Frog Books, for introducing us to an almost forgotten children’s adventure series written by John Verney;
• Ola and Piotrek, of Re-Enchantment of the World, whose enthusiasm for the late Roger Zelazny’s Amber Chronicles shines through in their post;
• I can’t not include Lizzie of Lizzie Ross, Writer herself who has not only shared in preparations and contributed a post but has also edited down our Tempest discussion for posting;
• Citizens of the social media world, too numerous to mention, who added comments and questions; who may have tweeted/Facebooked/Instragrammed links to our posts; and who included pingbacks, links, and reviews on their own blogs;
• Readers around the globe who’ve viewed posts or even just ‘liked’ them!

And, finally, once again, a special nod of appreciation to Lory, who seven years ago started this annual celebration of Diana Wynne Jones and fantasy fiction. The first wonderful series of Witch Weeks appeared on Lory’s former blog, the Emerald City Book Review, between 2014 and 2017; since she’s moved to her new website they may be available if you search its archive:

Witch Week 2017: Dreams of Arthur
Witch Week 2016: Made in America
Witch Week 2015: New Tales from Old
Witch Week 2014: Diana Wynne Jones

But she was brave enough to let Lizzie and myself take over, which we’ve now done for *checks records* the last four years. Here are links to our previous posts:

Witch Week 2020: Gothick
Witch Week 2019: Villains
Witch Week 2018: Fantasy & Feminism

Thanks again to all of you for sharing this event with us, and we hope you’ll rejoin us here next year, when our theme will be … Polychromancy.

We can imagine the look of puzzlement on your faces! What’s Polychromancy?! To get an inkling of the basic premise of this theme do have a look at this review of Maria Sachiko Cecire’s Re-Enchanted which investigates the disproportionate dominance of white writers in fantasy; as for what to expect next year, watch this space!

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Did you manage to read anything related to our theme during this Witch Week? Feel free to share in the comments below if you did! 🙂