‘So, I’m a hag now, am I?’: Writing the Menopause Studio

Revel in the upraised voices of peri and menopausal women and banish the taboo of writing about the life transition.

The menopause is still one of the taboo subjects which is why most women know nothing about it until they find themselves somewhere in its throes. Perhaps like me, you’ve been to the doctor about a whole bunch of unrelated things, and your body is feeling like a stranger. Despite celebrities extoling the virtues of HRT, when the menopause is discussed in Western society, it’s often viewed as a joke, or even an illness.

There are myths, silences and fears around female ageing which have become ingrained in our culture. Monstering descriptions of the accused during the witch trials in 16th-century England detailed fragile bones, wrinkled skin and thinning hair, all physical changes that can be attributed to menopause. In The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) Reginald Scot gives an account of the accused women as: commonly old, lame, bleare-eyed, pale, fowle and full of wrinkles. Part of the evidence-gathering for the witch trials, was seeking the devil’s mark on the bodies of these women; a supernumerary nipple for a witch to suckle the devil or her familiars. Now we see they were likely warts or skin tags that often appear on women’s bodies as we age.

According to NHS England: It is estimated that there are around 13 million people who are currently peri or menopausal in the UK) which is equivalent to a third of the entire UK female population. That’s a lot of people not talking about this natural yet often distressing experience. Jennifer Gunter says with dry wit in The Menopause Manifesto:

Menopause is like being sent on a canoe trip with no guidebook and only a vague idea
where you are headed . . .There will be no advice on how to get there or how to manage
any of the obstacles, such as rapids . . .Have fun figuring it out! . . .Oh, and don’t write.
No one wants to hear about your journey or what it is like when you arrive.

Oh, but we do! Only recently is the menopause being seen as a valid subject for poetry, so let’s lift up our voices and continue the conversation. On this course we’ll be looking at work by among others, Fiona Benson, Sharon Olds, Vicki Feaver, Kathleen Jones, Carole Bromley, Elinor Cleghorn, Lucille Clifton, and Mary Reufle.

Studios are 4-week intensive courses. Reading material will be distributed before the course begins. There are no live chats so they are suitable for both UK & International students.

Concessions & Accessibility

To apply for a concession rate, please send relevant documentation showing your eligibility for one of our concessions to [email protected]. Conditions of eligibility are detailed here. If you have any questions or wish to be added to the waiting list of a sold-out course, please email [email protected].

What to Expect

Please check the left hand side of this page for information on how this course works in practice, under the heading ‘Course Style‘. If you’re unsure as to what any of the terms there mean, or if this course is a good fit for you, please visit our What to Expect page which includes some further information on how our courses function.

Image credit: @paulglucaci

About Helen Ivory View Profile

Helen Ivory is a poet and visual artist who makes shadowboxes and collage. She was awarded a Cholmondeley Award by the Society of Authors in 2024. She edits the webzine Ink Sweat and Tears and has led workshops in a largely adult education setting for around twenty-five years. She teaches for the National Centre for Writing Academy and Arvon. A poem from her surrealist chapbook Maps of the Abandoned City (SurVision 2019) is one of the Poems on the Underground. She has work translated into Polish, Ukrainian, Croatian, Spanish, and Greek as part of the Versopolis European poetry platform. Her Wunderkammer: New and Selected Poems appeared from MadHat in the US in 2023. Constructing a Witch (October 2024), her sixth collection with Bloodaxe Books, is a PBS Winter Recommendation and explores the monstering and scapegoating of women, the fear of ageing femininity, cultural representations of the witch as an outsider, female power and disempowerment, the menopause, and how the female body has been used and misunderstood for centuries. In Summer 2025, Constructing a Witch was translated into Greek by Nikolas Koutsodontis and published in Greece by Thraka.

"The Poetry School continues to provide a wealth of inspiring poetry courses - all of which have the best tutors and are completely accessible and inclusive."

– Summer 2025 survey response