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Historia Magazine

The magazine of the Historical Writers Association

  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • TV, Film and Theatre
    • One From The Vaults
  • New books
  • Columns
    • Doctor Darwin’s Writing Tips
    • Watching History
    • Desert Island Books
  • Advertising
  • About
  • Contact
  • Historia in your inbox

Witch’s Mummy: corpses and cure-alls

4 June 2023 By Naomi Kelsey

A powder made of corpses helped cause the execution of two of the North Berwick Witches at the end of the 16th century. Yet ‘mummy’ was used as a cure-all by royalty. How did ground-up dead bodies come to play a part in early modern medicine? Naomi Kelsey, author of The Burnings, explains. On 28 […]

His Mother’s Quilt by Naomi Kelsey (the 2021 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story winner)

13 March 2022 By Naomi Kelsey

Naomi Kelsey’s His Mother’s Quilt won the HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition in 2021. It’s a dark, gothic-tinged story of oppression and loss with supernatural undertones, which the judges praised for its “tense, delicate writing. Lace woven with steel threads.” To celebrate the opening of 2022’s HWA DDS competition to entries, we’re publishing Naomi’s […]

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New books by HWA members

The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House by Jenni Keer

11 October 2025

The August Uprising, 1924 by Eric Lee

9 October 2025

Dominion of Dust by Matthew Harffy

9 October 2025

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Greek Fire, the early medieval weapon of mass destruction

9 May 2024

The gift of writing historical fiction

17 September 2022

The Georgian Experiment

18 September 2017

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Historia Magazine is published by the Historical Writers’ Association. We are authors, publishers and agents of historical writing, both fiction and non-fiction. For information about membership and profiles of our member authors, please visit our website.

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ISSN 2515-2254

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  • The August Uprising, 1924 by Eric Lee
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