Join author and tarot reader Jill Dawson to explore the life of tarot artist Pamela Colman Smith, and what a pack of cards can really tell

What can a pack of cards really tell us?

Author Jill Dawson joins How You Find Your Voice for a special Sunday salon inspired by her novel Pixie, which brings to life Pamela Colman Smith, the extraordinary artist behind the images of the Rider–Waite–Smith tarot deck.

We'll talk about Pixie's life and art, the stories held within the cards, and what tarot actually is (and isn't). Is it fortune-telling? Divination? A tool for intuition and self-reflection? A way of telling ourselves stories? And do you have to believe in it for it to tell you anything at all?

As well as being a novelist and writing mentor, Jill is a Jungian Tarot reader, with 40 years of experience. There will be a prize draw on the night and one lucky attendee will win a full reading with Jill (worth £300).

There will also be time for audience questions, mingling, book-signing and drinks.

Can't make it in person?

An audio recording of the conversation will also be available to purchase separately. Or you can join the How You Find Your Voice Substack (https://howyoufindyourvoice.substack.com/subscribe) for less than the price of a coffee a month, and get access to this conversation and a growing archive of recordings from our live events with fascinating writers and thinkers.

About Jill Dawson

Jill Dawson is an award-winning British novelist. Author of twelve novels and editor of six anthologies of poetry and stories, her latest novel, Pixie tells the story of Pamela Colman Smith, illustrator of the Rider Waite Smith Tarot deck. Jill is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature and certified Jungian Tarot reader and has read Tarot for herself and other writers for many years. You can read more about her here. (https://jilldawson.co.uk/)

About Pixie

Spanning continents and doubling as an act of feminist reclamation, this immersive and wildly entertaining historical novel reimagines the boundaries-pushing story of Pamela ‘Pixie’ Colman Smith – artist, publisher and illustrator of an iconic tarot deck – at the turn of the twentieth century.

‘In Pixie, Jill Dawson has deftly conjured back into life a woman who is shrouded in mystery and the occult. For too long Pamela Coleman Smith has remained an anecdote to England’s rich history of magic, when indeed, via her life and drawings for the Ryder-Waite-Smith tarot deck, she played a central role . . . I not only rejoiced in this book, but welcome it as an important work of feminist reclamation . . . Pixie is a story that needed to be told. She is in good hands, here, and a work of magic has been done. It’s thrilling to live with this book’

– MONIQUE ROFFEY, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch

About Let's Talk About...

Let's Talk About... is HYFYV's ongoing salon series, exploring the questions, experiences and ideas shaping women's lives.

From menopause and ADHD to matriarchies, tarot and beyond, we invite writers, thinkers and experts to help us get beneath the surface of subjects that fascinate, challenge or puzzle us.

No lectures, no need to have all the answers. Just good conversation and the chance to see things differently.

About How You Find Your Voice

How You Find Your Voice (HYFYV) is a Bristol-based cultural project that brings people together to think, speak and create more freely.

Through live events, a podcast, literary salons and gatherings, HYFYV explores creativity, identity and the messy process of finding your voice. The work centres women's voices, but anyone curious about the conversation is welcome.

The project is curated and hosted by Jessie Huth, who previously co-founded and ran the literary events series 5x15 Bristol for over a decade and is now developing a programme of author conversations and cultural events across the city.

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