Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (forthcoming 2016, ELJ Publications) & Xenos (forthcoming 2017, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Huffington Post, Columbia Journal, and elsewhere. She has lead workshops at Brooklyn Poets. joannavalente.com / Twitter: @joannasaid / IG: joannacvalente
Read MoreWitch has become trendy. Contemporary witchcraft is booming. Women and men alike are reclaiming this word, this title, with surmounting pleasure and empowerment.
Read Morethe weyward sisters began this whole thing. they have dirty faces and the lip of their caldron is not a perfect circle. no matter. their words are true and macbeth will still die.
Read MoreI still remember the first Halloween after my mom died. Halloween was a magical time of year for us, almost transcendent. Without her, my favorite holiday felt a little hollow, like it shouldn't be allowed to exist without her there to share it with.
Read MoreWhen we left, we left quickly. We didn’t bother doing the dishes or making the bed.
Read MoreThe average person will spend over seventy-five hours of their childhood quivering under the covers, afraid of the monster nestled just under the bed.
Read MoreSamhain is drawing near. You find the photos I have hidden on the computer. "I see you're into group stuff now," you say, the disgust evident in your voice. "This is certainly…a discovery."
Read MoreA few fantastical and ghastly comics from female writers and illustrators to indulge in this Halloween.
Read MoreSo far, the smells had all been wrong. Their names had been wrong, with their overuse of words like “crystal” and “mystical.”
Read MoreThey’d long since fallen asleep but something wouldn’t allow her to quite shut her eyes.
Read MoreMy inspiration for this work mostly comes from the sky and indigenous rituals, and people here in the Americas. Many of the types of mythology and places in these works come from the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Read MoreI always wondered why the most famous contemporary exorcism story took such liberties with its main character.
Read MoreMy house is dead. I look for my house.
Read More"If you tell anyone about any of this, they won't believe you. I did the same thing to another girl last year. When she went to the principal, he didn't believe her either. She was nasty like you, and that guy knows I can do much better."
Read MoreNew Orleans offers limitless exploring, from the many bars and jazz clubs on Frenchmen St. to the hedonistic Bourbon St. The whole attitude of the city is one of living for the day and I am convinced there’s not an unfriendly soul in the city. For witches: the appeal is even greater—see sights like the altar above (at Hex, the Old World Witchery shop) or learn to read tarots and palms.
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