Pamphlet
woman | folk
Feminist retellings of Celtic folklore and the destructive power of the patriarchy.
“i know how a woman drowns…”
In woman | folk old tales are made new, made brutal. Folklore is reclaimed and given a voice enraged by the fragility of being a woman in a society ruled by men. Tales of women experiencing sexual and emotional abuse, domestic violence, miscarriage, tales of women fighting for the right to bodily autonomy, independence, freedom: all emerge screaming from the page.
”Poetry that surges and swells, the lifeblood of women flow through this collection, deep as the ocean and just as dangerous. Dark, visceral, and sprinkled with magic, Chambers’ words hit like a dark knuckled fist that leaves you reeling. A breathtaking debut.”
— Angela Readman, author of ‘Book of Tides‘
“In Karan Chambers’ glimmering collection woman|folk, verdant language torrents down the shape of every poem. The figures of women are at times the restless unfolding of Hebridean heather, and at others, a glassdark sea that breaks like a wave across the page. “i know how a woman drowns,” Chambers writes, and within this knowledge, water becomes a site of transformation and purveyor of myth, “a soft question pebbled into dark.” These poems unfurl like “coralreef ribs expanding with breath from the breadth of becoming.” They are perceptive, haunted, and visceral as they slip between forewarning and freedom.”
— Alycia Pirmohamed, author of ‘Another Way to Split Water‘
Purchase →“These are poems of raw and brutal beauty, blood-stained myths of women, earth and saltwater that are full of defiance, rage but also furious love. A vivid cauldron of a collection.”
— Zoe Gilbert, author of ‘Folk’