Hello and welcome to series 6 of the Prompted by Nature podcast! Happy Beltane if you’re listening in real time and are celebrating! I’m Helen and I’m thrilled to be back after a little break. Not much has changed - read a few books, had some time out in Glastonbury, released this season’s newsletter over on Substack - get subscribed if you’re not already! - and generally had time to write and to get back to my own voice.
The action point for each episode will now be up on each episode’s page on the website.
Today’s episode is the perfect conversation to open with. It’s slightly longer than usual as we covered so much ground. We had to re-schedule it a few times due to covid and ended up speaking on the libra full moon - perfect for two chatty libras!
Victoria Bennet lives in Orkney with her husband and son, for whom she is also a full-time carer and home-educator. She is a writer, poet and creative producer, who founded Wild Women Press in 1999 and has spent the last 21 years facilitating creative experiences and curating platforms for women to share ideas, stories, inspirations and actions for positive change. Victoria has a wealth of creative experience and I encourage you to explore her website for all the information.
Victoria’s debut memoir, which we discuss in the episode, All My Wild Mothers, examines motherhood, loss, and the ancient art of wort-cunning (knowledge of medicinal plans and herbs) was long-listed for the Nan Shepherd Prize (2019) and the Penguin WriteNow Programme (2020) as well as winner of the Northern Debut Award.
When she is not juggling home-ed, freelance creative projects, research, study and chronic illness, she can be found howling with the Wild Women, her creative tribe.
In this conversation, we discuss:
And, two new questions for everyone:
You can find Victoria on Twitter and Instagram @beewlyd and on her website www.victoriabennett.me I’ve also popped the video created for the book using music inspired by it on the episode page on my website. You can find All My Wild Mothers via any independent bookshop or you can order it from the library. It’s also available on my Prompted by Nature bookshop. And if you’re in a book club, I highly recommend taking Victoria up on her offer of coming along to any online meet-up to talk about the book.
No change with me, I’m on @prompted.by.nature on Instagram, @promptedbynature on Facebook and @promptedxnature on Twitter plus you can subscribe to my Substack newsletter, read the latest on the blog and find out about upcoming events via my website www.promptedbynature.co.uk
Remember to pop back on Tuesday for the writing episode that follows this one.
Happy listening and I’ll speak to you soon. Bye!
