Seed Talks: Sylvia Plath, Witchcraft & Radical Poetry (16+)The Glee Club Glasgow

Book ticket Times & prices Times & prices

Explore the politics of the witch trials and powerful witch imagery in Sylvia Plath’s poetry. Followed by Q&A.
With Dr Dorka Tamás

Advance price

£17.00 VIP Show Entry
£12.00 Show Entry - Earlybird
£12.00 Wheelchair - Show Entry - Earlybird
£14.00 Show Entry - Standard
£14.00 Wheelchair - Show Entry - Standard
£17.00 Show Entry - Final Release
+ £2.75 booking fee per ticket

Times

Doors open 6:30 PM
Last entry 7:00 PM

More info

Seating type Unallocated
Food available Yes
Minimum age 16+

Seed Talks: The History of Witchcraft & Women – The Glee Club Cardiff – Tuesday 25 August 2026

Explore modern witchcraft in a new light and its connections to feminism and political movements throughout history. Followed by Q&A.

The witch is a deeply important and appealing figure, and her story is more relevant than ever. Witches weren’t evil, and they certainly didn’t wear pointy black hats. Instead, society has long used the idea of the witch as a dumping ground for everything it fears or hates in women. Witches are old – too old to be sexy, too old to bear children – and even today, we stigmatise older women as “problematic” or “ugly”. Exploring the true history of witches reveals much about ourselves, how we got here, and how we can change.

But who hunted witches? Surprisingly, it wasn’t mostly men. It was often younger women, pressured by patriarchal systems to blame older women in exchange for temporary favour, that disappeared as they aged. This history still echoes today, as generational divides between women persist and even worsen. Learning about witches reminds us of the importance of solidarity between generations – why we must stand together to break free from these old patterns.

Doors open at 6:30pm, talk starts at 7:30pm – come down early to grab a good seat!

Speaker Bio:

Diane Purkiss is Professor of English at the University of Oxford, and a fellow of Keble College. She has published on witchcraft, fairies, and also on the English Civil War, the occasion of England’s biggest witchhunt. She has been in more than a dozen television documentaries; she even has an IMdb entry and a Wikipedia page… She has spoken to general audiences at numerous literary festivals and to many local history societies.

Seed Talks: Sylvia Plath, Witchcraft & Radical Poetry – The Glee Club Glasgow – Wednesday 04 November 2026

Sylvia Plath is best known for her novel The Bell Jar (1963) and her emotive, striking poetry. She grew up in Massachusetts, close to Salem, a place closely linked to the history of the witch trials. During the 1950s, renewed public interest in these events influenced Plath’s writing and imagination. Plath often used images of witches and witch trials to explore power, identity and injustice. Her poetry reflects her concerns about control and authority in society, while also showing sympathy for those unfairly accused.

In this talk, Dr Dorka Tamás explores how Plath connects with witchcraft and poetic language, and how the figure of the witch appears in different forms in her work. We’ll look at the contrast between fictional “evil” witches from fairy tales and the real historical victims who were accused of witchcraft, and punished by patriarchal systems of power.

Doors open at 6:30pm, last entry 7pm, talk starts at 7:30pm – come down early to grab a good seat!

Speaker Bio:

Dr Dorka Tamás is a researcher and teacher based at Royal Holloway, University of London. She earned her PhD in English literature from the University of Exeter (2022) and her Master’s degree from the University of Sussex (2018). Dorka is specialised in twentieth-century women’s poetry, particularly Sylvia Plath, the legacies of early modern witch-hunt in literature, and post-1945 American culture. She has spoken at the Sylvia Plath Literary Festival at Hebden Bridge (2022), at numerous academic conferences, and at the Romancing the Gothic lecture series. She is the author of Sylvia Plath and the Supernatural, published by Cambridge University Press (2026) and the editor of The New Sylvia Plath Studies, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.

⭐ Super Interesting talks! Fun and Informative
- Ally S.

⭐ Expertly run, talks are always super informative and a lot of fun! Couldn’t recommend these enough! 5 star.
- Owen S

⭐ Very interesting topics, and very well organised. Would 100% recommend
- Jordo S