Sharon Blackie

Dr Sharon Blackie is a writer, a psychologist who has specialised both in neuroscience and narrative, and a mythologist with a specialisation in Celtic Studies. Her unique approach to working with myth, fairy tales and folklore highlights the insights these traditions can offer us into authentic and meaningful ways of being which are founded on a deep sense of belonging to place, a rootedness in the land we inhabit. Sharon is the founder of EarthLines Magazine, described by Jay Griffiths as ‘a deeply intelligent publication’, by George Monbiot as ‘a rare combination and much needed’, and by Robert Macfarlane as ‘a real point of convergence for many thought-tributaries and philosophical paths’. She is the author of The Long Delirious Burning Blue, a novel which the Independent on Sunday called ‘hugely potent. A tribute to the art of storytelling that is itself an affecting and inspiring story’, and which The Scotsman called ‘powerful (reminiscent of The English Patient), filmic, and achieving the kind of symmetry that novels often aspire to, but rarely reach.’ Her most recent book is If Women Rose Rooted, a nonfiction work about Celtic women in myth and contemporary life, described by bestselling novelist Manda Scott as ‘mind-blowing in the most profound and exhilarating sense … an anthem for all we could be. It’s an essential book for this, the most critical of recent times.’ Her articles have been published in a wide range of popular and academic magazines and journals. Sharon is an experienced lecturer and workshop leader, and has performed at a number of book and other cultural festivals. She is currently working on a new book, The Enchanted Life, planned for publication in spring 2018. Sharon was formerly a crofter on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, but now lives in the hills of Donegal, in Ireland. Her experiences on the westernmost edges of the Celtic fringe give her a unique perspective on the psychology of belonging, and our relationship with place.