Saturday, May 5, 2018

Interview with Madeline Miller

BH:
What was your favourite discovery whilst researching for the novel?

In the lost epic The Telegony, Circe makes a spear out of a sting-ray tail for her son Telegonus to defend himself with. What an eerie, witchy weapon.

...

You can invite six women (living or dead) for supper. Who and where do you go?

The feminist Matilda Joselyn Gage. She was one of the first writers to articulate that persecuting witches wasn’t about fighting the devil, but a hostility towards powerful women. Her work is mostly forgotten but lives on in her son-in-law, who was L Frank Baum, the creator of the world of Oz. Glinda the Good Witch was inspired by her writing!