An old, shadowy image of a dark haired woman in a flowing floral dress holding a sheep's skull under her chin. Her face is in shadow and she wears an intense expression. The surface of the photo is distressed — Wet plate portrait by Gordon Fraser using and antique collodion camera

I’m Allyson Shaw, author of Ashes and Stones: a journey through Scotland in search of women hunted as witches, published by Pegasus Books in North America and Sceptre/Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. I’m an award-winning poet and independent researcher with a background in Women Studies and Art History. I currently live in Orkney with my partner and a pride of three cats.

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Subscribe to Missives from the Verge with Allyson Shaw

I write about lore and the Scottish landscape from the perspective of a disabled, feminist outlier. Sometimes there are witches. I post every week with news and updates, and at the new and full moons I share longer reads.

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Allyson Shaw

@allysonshaw

Author of Ashes & Stones. Supported by Creative Scotland and the SoA Authors' Foundation. "Shaw passes over centuries-old footsteps like fingers on Braille; the lilt of her voice on the page is lyrical magic." --The New York Times