The Little Witches are back in the neighbourhood


By Susan J. Atkinson
The Little Witches from Little Witch Press are going to be popping up here, there and everywhere in both the Glebe and Old Ottawa South throughout the month of October.
Little Witch Press, Old Ottawa South’s very own, small, independent book publisher, has a lot to celebrate this year. After a two-year hiatus from public appearances and a missed opportunity to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their fourth book, Witches Don’t Do Winter, the Little Witches are back to have some good old-fashioned fun! Well, good old-fashioned fun mixed with some new-fashioned fun would be more accurate as the press relaunches its Instagram account and plans some daily posts and fun-filled activities leading up to Hallowe’en.
To begin the fun, Little Witch Press has unofficially paired itself with the Little Libraries (the small wooden houses appearing on front lawns in the Glebe and Old Ottawa South).
The Little Witches can’t help but support and endorse the notion of take-a-book, leave-a-book, share-a-book. They certainly agree this popular way of embracing reading is pretty magical. More and more these little libraries are catering to children, and what could be better for a young child than to experience the joy and mystery of reading by checking out these small boxes?
For this reason, Little Witch Press is donating 20 copies of their first book Where Do Witches Go? and is scattering them in Little Libraries throughout the community for a whole new crop of young readers to discover and enjoy. Go on a scavenger hunt and see if you can find a copy!
The hope for this fun initiative is that once a child finds a book in one of the libraries, they take the copy, enjoy the story and then pop it back into either the same or a different library for others to enjoy. The Little Witches hope that before the book is returned, the reader will snap a quick picture of themselves with the book and then post it on the Little Witch Press Instagram account. That way the Little Witches will know where the witches went!
Of course, if anyone would like their own copy of Where Do Witches Go? or any of the other Little Witch titles, they can purchase the books from any of Ottawa’s independent bookstores or by directly messaging Little Witch Press or by going to littlewitchpress.com.
Don’t forget to follow Little Witch Press on Instagram to find out what fun and crazy things the Little Witches will be doing throughout October. Psst – expect some pop-up readings, surprise merchandise and great book giveaways.
In other words, expect the unexpected and “Happy Haunting!” from everyone at Little Witch Press!
Susan J. Atkinson (susanjatkinson.com.) is a poet living in Old Ottawa South. Her debut collection of poems, The Marta Poems, was published in 2020. She is also part of the Little Witch Press trio.