Helen Ivory

Helen Ivory is a poet and visual artist who lives in Norwich. She edits the webzine Ink Sweat & Tears, and teaches for the The Poetry School and Arvon. In 2024 she received a Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors, an award recognising the achievement and distinction of individual poets. Her sixth Bloodaxe Books collection is Constructing a Witch, (2024) was a PBS Winter Recommendation. It has been translated into Greek and published by Thraka.

A poem from Maps of the Abandoned City, by SurVision in 2019 is a Poem on the Underground. MadHat Press (US) published Wunderkammer (New and Selected Poems) in 2023. She CoEdited, with Martin Figura 'Ten Poems from Norfolk' (Candlestick Press 2025)

'Helen Ivory, a highly individualistic poet and visual artist, conjures a world that is both magical and sharply real. As in freshly conceived fairy tales, everything is transmutable. She expresses the intrinsic strangenesses of life, and makes a brilliant contribution to female empowerment through poems that are disturbing, agile, and visually telling.' – Moniza Alvi, Cholmondeley Award co-judge

'Constructing a Witch is spellbinding. [...] No word is wasted here as Ivory persuasively assembles the subversive history of the woman-as-witch. [...] This impressive collection tackles the fear and denigration of ageing women whilst advocating for a womanhood that is as "mutable as the day is long" ('More thoughts about the body').' – Jo Clement, PBS Selector, Poetry Book Society Winter Bulletin 2024