Witches

Covens. Girl bands. Ballet troupes. Convents. In all times and places, girls and women have come together in communities of vocation, of necessity, of support. And wherever women gather, magic happens. Female farmers change the way we grow our food. Online beauty communities democratise the intricacies of skincare. Teen girls invent phrases that enter the urban lexicon, and choose our next pop superstars. Patriarchal societies have long been content to uphold men's and boys' clubs, while viewing groups that exclude men as sites of rivalry and suspicion. In this deeply personal exploration of what women make together, Sam George-Allen delves into workplaces, industries and social groups to dismantle the cultural myth of female isolation and uncover evidence that these groups are formidable. Thoughtful, intimate, and convincing, Witches is a long-overdue celebration of the power and pleasure of working with other women.

Sam George-Allen is a writer and musician based in Tasmania. Her work has been published in The Lifted Brow, LitHub, Scum, Kill Your Darling, Stilts, Overland and The Suburban Review, among others. She has been shortlisted for the Qantas Spirit of Youth Award, the Scribe Non-Fiction Prize for Young Writers, and the Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Award.