Fiona Benson

The thrilling story of healers, artists, and miracle workers persecuted as witches—from the poet who was three times nominated for the T.S. Eliot Prize

Selection of the Poetry Book Association

In her exciting fourth collection, The Witch of Maiden, Fiona Benson enters the world of the familiar, superstitious, and hedge magic and focuses on the persistent myth—fear and false knowledge—that was magic.

These poems tell tales of imagined transformations and spell-casting, presenting a series of artists, dreamers, and outcasts and an examination of their ostracism. The poet examines how gifted, sometimes troubled individuals—generally healers, artists, prodigies, and almost always women—became scapegoats and victims of societal paranoia and persecution, banished for centuries, often to gratuitous, violent public execution.

In Midden Witch, these women speak to us with dark humor, insight, and genuine herbal knowledge. Taking into account midlife, marginalization, menopause, and the constant, unstoppable disappearances, this turbulent manuscript of remedies, spells, and stories speaks of the human fear in the face of the unknown, and the drive to protect our loved ones that transcends all rational thought. Inspired by archival accounts of witchcraft, this dark and eclectic book of spells bears witness to the end of witchcraft.

"Benson is one of the finest contemporary English poets." - Blake Morrison

"No one writes like Fiona Benson. No one matches her for anger and courage." - Daisy Johnson

“A new body of Benson’s wise and vital work represents a real opportunity… exciting… rich in detail and multifaceted.” - The Guardian