Editing Ithell Colquhoun (section)

== Writing ==
Along with her visual art, Colquhoun was a prolific writer, producing works including poetry, essays, novels, and travel guides.{{sfn|Hale|2012|p=309}}  From the 1950s, Colquhoun's output as a visual artist decreased, and she increasingly focused on her poetry and essay writing.{{sfn|Hale|2012|p=314}}

Colquhoun published her first article, "The Prose of Alchemy", in 1930.{{sfn|Morrisson|2014|p=593}}  In 1939, she published several pieces of short fiction in the ''London Bulletin'', along with an essay, "What Do I Need to Paint a Picture?".{{sfn|Colquhoun|2014|p=187}}  In the 1940s she continued to publish short works in anthologies such as ''New Road: New Directions in Art and Writing'' and ''The Fortune Anthology'', and organised surrealist poetry readings with del Renzio.{{sfn|Hale|2020|pp=74&ndash;75}} During this period, her writing was influenced by the [[New Apocalyptics|New Apocalypse]] literary movement, as well as the [[Mass Observation]] project.{{sfn|Shillitoe|2019|pp=20–21}}  She wrote articles on automatism: "The Mantic Stain" &ndash; which she claimed was the first English-language essay on surrealist automatism{{sfn|Morrisson|2014|p=593}} &ndash; in 1949, "Children of the Mantic Stain" in 1951, and "Notes on Automatism" in 1980.{{sfn|Bachet|2023|pp=55&ndash;56}}  Later in life she contributed articles to surrealist revival journals.{{sfn|Ferentinou|2011|p=3}}

Colquhoun wrote three travel books: ''The Crying of the Wind'' and ''Living Stones'', about Ireland and Cornwall respectively, were published in the 1950s; a third book on Egypt, begun in the 1960s, was never published.{{sfn|Hale|2012|p=314}}  In 1975 she published ''The Sword of Wisdom'', a biography of the British occultist [[Samuel MacGregor Mathers]].{{sfn|Hale|2020|p=12}}  She published a novel, ''The Goose of Hermogenes'', which was largely written by automatic processes.{{sfn|Morrisson|2014|pp=604&ndash;605}}  The novel tells the story of a girl lured to an island by her uncle to help him in his search for the [[Philosopher's Stone]].{{sfn|Hale|2012|p=319}}  Colquhoun wrote two more surrealist gothic novels, ''I Saw Water'' and ''Destination Limbo'', neither of which was published in her lifetime; ''I Saw Water'' was published in 2014 and ''Destination Limbo'' in 2021.{{sfn|Bachet|2023|pp=49&ndash;50}}  She also published two volumes of poetry during her lifetime.{{sfn|Morrisson|2020|p=157}} ''Grimoire of the Entangled Thicket'' was a short poetry book inspired by the [[Tree of Life (Kabbalah)|Tree of Life]] in 1973, and ''Osmazone'', published in 1983, was an anthology of prose poems, many from much earlier in her life.{{sfn|Hale|2020|p=107}}