Explore the strange history of cats in myth and folklore, from worshipped gods to feared omens. Followed by Q&A.

Why were cats once worshipped as gods, and later feared as witches' companions? Few animals have been loved and feared in such equal measure throughout history. In this talk, we'll explore the myths and beliefs about cats from cultures around the world, and how they earned such a strange and powerful place in our imagination.

We'll look at how cats went from sacred animals in ancient times to symbols of superstition and fear, and what our long, complicated relationship with cats says about us. Along the way, expect strange stories, surprising history, and a closer look at why cats still fascinate us today.

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

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Speaker Bio:

Dr Joan Passey is a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Bristol where she specialises in the gothic, horror, and folklore in literature and culture. She has a Masters from the University of Oxford and a PhD from the University of Exeter, both focusing on the gothic and the supernatural. She is a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker and regularly contributes to and presents for BBC Radio 3, and has spoken at Hay Festival and from the BBC Proms. She edits anthologies for the British Library Tales of the Weird series, with titles including Cornish Horrors: Tales from the Land's End, Our Haunted Shores: Tales from the Coasts of the British Isles, and Phantoms of Kernow: Tales from Haunted Cornwall. Her monograph, Cornish Gothic, 1830-1913 (University of Wales Press, 2023) was the first to define a Cornish Gothic tradition in the nineteenth century, and she co-edited Shirley Jackson's Dark Tales: Reconsidering the Short Fiction (Bloomsbury, 2024) with Robert Lloyd.

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