Hollie Starling

I am author and editor Hollie Starling. I grew up in north Lincolnshire and now live and work in London. I run the page Folk Horror Magpie on social media.

My memoir, The Bleeding Tree: A Pathway Through Grief Guided by Forests, Folk Tales and the Ritual Year, was published by Rider/Ebury in May 2023 and is available in hardback, ebook and audiobook in the UK. It is now also available in Australia and will be published in the US and Canada in late 2024.

I am currently working on a fiction collection, Bog People : A Working-Class Anthology of Folk Horror, to be published by Chatto & Windus in 2025.

I like to write about folklore and folk horror, and have particular interests in suicide prevention, mental illness, grief and bereavement, health policy, class and labour, nature and folk medicine, the history of witchcraft, death culture and ritual practices. For commissions for features, reviews and editing, or podcasts, festivals and events bookings, please contact me using the details below.

I also work as a Lived Experience Influencer and have been fully trained by the National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA), part of the Samaritans. I am available to write content, develop workshops and training, speak at conferences, consult on policy and other work within suicide prevention advocacy. If you represent a charity, employer or local government and are interested in hiring me, please get in touch.