About

Moon-Birds is a creative collective of writers, crafters, bakers, modern day witches, and contemporary feminists. We are a loosely-organized agnostic coven exploring a witch’s craft, the occult in history, folklore, the sacred feminine, the macabre, traditional crafts, contemporary activism, and (most importantly) the power of a group nourished by feminine and gender nonconforming–rather than patriarchal–energies.

We revel in a witchy, weird, and haunting aesthetic. Some of our Editorial Team embrace traditional elements of witchcrafts–such as divination, meditation, and spell-work–while others take a more academic route to the witchy identity. All of us on the team have a weakness for the #aesthetic, and delight in opportunities to indulge it in our day-to-day lives; we are all also hopeless book lovers.

Moon-Birds is thus part lifestyle blog, part writing and literature blog, part history blog, and part curio collection. Here you will find recommendations for contemporary media and products; articles for the modern witch’s daily life: on self-care, design, recipes, crafts; and pieces exploring the witch in history, art, and literature. You will even find some original creative work, inspired by our adventures and investigations.

Meet the Birds

Colleen Ennen, Baba Yaga

Colleen is a Minnesota native, presently living in New York, where she is an MFA candidate at Sarah Lawrence College. When she is not writing weird, wild, and unsettling fiction (or doing her day job, or working on this site, or sleeping, or occasionally going outside), she is an Editorial Assistant for LUMINA Magazine, an Intern at The Believer, a Fiction Reader for The Rumpus, and a Contributor at The Lit Pub. Her work has been published, or is forthcoming, in Breadcrumbs Magazine, LUMINA Magazine, and The Lit Pub. She’s a bookworm, a history nerd, a baking enthusiast, an inappropriate embroiderer, a paranormal “documentary” enthusiast, and an all around “Nightmare Woman” according to her friends.

Follow her on Twitter: @abitunsettling and Instagram: @colleenisabitunsettling.

Joanna Bettelheim, Ursula the Sea Witch

Joanna is currently living in Bronxville, New York and pursuing an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She recently fulfilled her life’s dream of swimming with manatees, so everything else is gravy. Her work has previously appeared in Exposition Review’s Flash 405 and Breadcrumbs Magazine.

Follow her on Instagram at @thewelllostmind and Twitter at @thewelllostmind.

H.J. Shaw, The Sybil

H.J. Shaw is a writer based in New York and the blogger behind, Lizard is Writing. She’s a Catholic, a diviner, a Pisces (naturally), and a blonde. Shaw’s nickname, by her fiancé is “Lizard” – why? He says she’s cold-blooded. (He says this sweetly of course). She follows Fortean news, loves monster movies, and often writes ghost stories. She is known to drink copious amounts of Earl Gray.

Follow her on Instagram at @h.j.shaw and Twitter at @HauntingHJShaw.

Elizabeth Gaughan, Hermione Granger

Elizabeth is a midwest transplant and fiction writer currently pursuing an MFA at Sarah Lawrence College.  Her obsessions include breakfast food, craft beer, reality television, and gin-based cocktails.  She will work whatever odd job it takes to fund her book-buying addiction.  She lives with her familiar, an opinionated calico cat.

Follow her on Instagram @elizabethshere.

Riley Krembil, Anne Boleyn

According to her visa paperwork, Riley is an Alien. Her passport says she’s Canadian. Riley says she’s a fiction writer, maybe a witch, definitely a nerd. She has her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and is feverishly at work on her first novel when she is not contemplating the acquisition of many fluffy creatures.

Find her on Twitter @RKrembil and Instagram @life.0f.

Andrew Esposito, Willow Rosenburg

Andrew Esposito is a New York City based writer and queer activist who strictly follows the rule of three R’s: Reading, Writing, and Recommending you read this book. Completing their MFA at Sarah Lawrence College, they also work full-time programming author events for BookExpo, BookCon and New York Comic Con. When they’re not writing queer YA, urban mysticism, or epic fantasies, you will most likely find them reading the nearest book, reading all the major headlines or reading the house down.

Queer, redheaded and capable of immense power, Andrew’s witch icon has always been Willow Rosenburg. Their motto towards life is the same as writing a good book: characters take priority over plot.