"To be ourselves causes us to be exiled by many others and yet to comply with what others want causes us to be exiled from ourselves.”

― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, 'Women Who Run With The Wolves'.

A word from Victoria Bennett, Founder of Wild Women (Press)

Wild Women was founded in 1999. Inspired by the work of Clarissa Pinkola Estés, and informed by my own experience of using creative writing for self-empowerment, I wanted to create a space where women could meet together to create, explore, question, grow, dream, and disrupt. It would be a space where we could express ourselves authentically, without shame or apology, accepting ourselves and each other as we are, and celebrating that beautiful, wild self. 

For those of us who have been here from the beginning, what began as a workshop group, has now become a place we call home; a wild family. You will find us curled up beside fires, or walking along the edge of the sea, or tending the weeds in our gardens. We howl often, laugh lots, and when needed, bare our teeth. 

Over the years, we have worked together on a number of amazing projects, and used our creativity to encourage positive change. At the centre of our ethos, is this fundamental belief: when we live in the world as ourselves, what we create from that place is more powerful and more beautiful than we can ever imagine.

When we love and nurture our wild (inside us, and in the world around us) then the most amazing things find roots to grow.

Wild Women Press continues to celebrate stories from wild women around the world, through the Wild Woman Web Spinners, and other online projects. We do not define wild woman by biological birth/gender assignation, but by soul and spirit. In other words, if this space is one where you feel at home, then you are welcome. Together, we hope to create a better world, thread by thread, seed by seed, word by word...

... and as Clarissa Pinkola Estés says, 

“... go out and let stories, that is life, happen to you, ... work with these stories ...water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom. That is the work. The only work.”