Explore the witch in pop culture – from Wicked to Wednesday – as a symbol of power, identity, and humanity. Followed by Q&A.

Witches in fiction are often instantly recognisable: broomsticks, black pointy hats, cats in tow, and a cackle in the wind. But while these familiar tropes are rooted in centuries of fairy tale traditions, the witch is far more layered than she first appears.

This talk explores how popular culture has conjured up a new wave of witches – complex, subversive, and often deeply human. From the rise of ‘witcherature’ to film and TV, the witch has become an icon through which we can reimagine identity, power and, resistance. Take Gregory Maguire’s Wicked, where Elphaba is framed not as evil, but misunderstood – a theme carried through the musical and its film adaptation. Or Juno Dawson’s Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, which weaves together witchcraft, gender, and race to explore ideas of belonging and exclusion. On screen, series like The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Wednesday and A Discovery of Witches continue to rethink what witches represent, challenging long-held tropes.

As we’ll discover, witches are not just wicked – they’re lenses through which we can explore the complexities of the world around us.

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

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Speaker bio:

Dr Zoë Enstone is Associate Professor of English Literature at York St John University. She has a research background in medieval literature, with a particular focus on Arthurian Romance. She has previously worked on areas such as the intersection of the religious and supernatural and the origins and development of characters, tropes and ideas. Her academic interests also extend to medievalism, particularly the influence of medieval themes and concepts on contemporary works and thought. She is the co-lead of the Interdisciplinary Witches Research Group, with much of her current research focusing on the portrayal of witches in medieval and early modern literature and the ongoing influence of these representations in contemporary literature and culture.