Maria Dahvana Headley
@mariadahvana.bsky.social
NYT-bestselling, Hugo Award winning monster and myth maker. Most recently, VERGIL! A Mythological Musical (Audible) , Beowulf: A New Translation, The Mere Wife, & many other items in the wondertale category & beyond. https://linktr.ee/mariadahvanaheadley
Read More Grimoires. In honor of the small Grimoire in the middle.
October 16, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Read More Grimoires. In honor of the small Grimoire in the middle.
A 20th Century cocktail in a coupe, sandwiched between two halves of a golden crocodile bookend. 20th Century's are good - 1.5 oz gin, 1/2 oz Lillet blanc, 3/4 oz lemon juice, 1/2 oz white crème de cacao, shaken. Named after a train.
October 13, 2025 at 10:17 PM
A 20th Century cocktail in a coupe, sandwiched between two halves of a golden crocodile bookend. 20th Century's are good - 1.5 oz gin, 1/2 oz Lillet blanc, 3/4 oz lemon juice, 1/2 oz white crème de cacao, shaken. Named after a train.
Also, related, the time I was the Voynich Manuscript for Halloween and painted my own version of Voynich and made it into a manuscript dress.
October 8, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Also, related, the time I was the Voynich Manuscript for Halloween and painted my own version of Voynich and made it into a manuscript dress.
I made cornbread & my child thought it smelled like pizza cooking so he requested garlic tomato sauce as a dip. This is a good & comforting thing to make for dinner. Who doesn't need good & comforting right now? (The cornbread's Anna Thomas' New Vegetarian Epicure recipe, see pics)
September 20, 2025 at 11:55 PM
I made cornbread & my child thought it smelled like pizza cooking so he requested garlic tomato sauce as a dip. This is a good & comforting thing to make for dinner. Who doesn't need good & comforting right now? (The cornbread's Anna Thomas' New Vegetarian Epicure recipe, see pics)
A certain child in the best ever dragon shirt with zip-out flames. I got him this shirt, and he came rushing into the bedroom to show me this morning.
September 14, 2025 at 1:57 PM
A certain child in the best ever dragon shirt with zip-out flames. I got him this shirt, and he came rushing into the bedroom to show me this morning.
Ten years ago on this date I was finishing the first draft of Mere Wife on a hilltop in Italy.
August 27, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Ten years ago on this date I was finishing the first draft of Mere Wife on a hilltop in Italy.
In case you need something glorious: the cocktail I just made of fat figs snatched from my neighbor's tree. I based it on this recipe lepetiteats.com/fig-cocktail/ but I swapped in gin, lemon juice, & vanilla simple syrup for the rum, lime, & fig leaf simple. I didn't strain it, bc fresh figs!
August 17, 2025 at 12:03 AM
In case you need something glorious: the cocktail I just made of fat figs snatched from my neighbor's tree. I based it on this recipe lepetiteats.com/fig-cocktail/ but I swapped in gin, lemon juice, & vanilla simple syrup for the rum, lime, & fig leaf simple. I didn't strain it, bc fresh figs!
Hello you little mofo masquerading as a tomato leaf, sucking my tomato leaves dry, lurking, lurking, lurking. The green hornworm, folks, with his stabby little thorn and his beautiful tomato leaf stripes.
August 15, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Hello you little mofo masquerading as a tomato leaf, sucking my tomato leaves dry, lurking, lurking, lurking. The green hornworm, folks, with his stabby little thorn and his beautiful tomato leaf stripes.
Here's a basil icecream & tomato sorbet/granita combo, with olive oil & some flake salt. Not quite grail item yet, but a viable start. And if you've ever wanted to make sorbet or icecream without heating fragile herbs, I learned this from The Herb Farm cookbook, which is uniformly incredible.
July 23, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Here's a basil icecream & tomato sorbet/granita combo, with olive oil & some flake salt. Not quite grail item yet, but a viable start. And if you've ever wanted to make sorbet or icecream without heating fragile herbs, I learned this from The Herb Farm cookbook, which is uniformly incredible.
Updates on my basil ice cream quest. I made basil lemon olive oil icecream, by cold grinding basil, sugar and lemon juice and then adding cream, olive oil, a little salt, a little pepper. It kills. And I'm making tomato water sorbet. It also kills? Though it took ages.
July 23, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Updates on my basil ice cream quest. I made basil lemon olive oil icecream, by cold grinding basil, sugar and lemon juice and then adding cream, olive oil, a little salt, a little pepper. It kills. And I'm making tomato water sorbet. It also kills? Though it took ages.
The best traveling companion. Yes, he is wearing two hats.
July 9, 2025 at 6:28 PM
The best traveling companion. Yes, he is wearing two hats.
The event promo image below (I screencapped it), of @levgrossman & me is pretty amazing. We look like either a two-headed writer, me growing out of his shoulder, or like one person who is very different in profile vs face on. This is so totally appropriate for an Arthurian myth discussion.
July 7, 2025 at 2:55 PM
The event promo image below (I screencapped it), of @levgrossman & me is pretty amazing. We look like either a two-headed writer, me growing out of his shoulder, or like one person who is very different in profile vs face on. This is so totally appropriate for an Arthurian myth discussion.
Just for resurrection purposes, here is a photo of me making a wish(es), having a birthday, and appreciating the profound good fortune of being here, still ticking, on my 48th summer solstice birthday.
June 24, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Just for resurrection purposes, here is a photo of me making a wish(es), having a birthday, and appreciating the profound good fortune of being here, still ticking, on my 48th summer solstice birthday.
Much chaos during this Santa Fe writing retreat - not involving the writing which has been killer, but involving a really major bite from an unpredictable cat - but now I am on a hillside eating a dim sum happy hour? And it's so fucking amazing.
June 1, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Much chaos during this Santa Fe writing retreat - not involving the writing which has been killer, but involving a really major bite from an unpredictable cat - but now I am on a hillside eating a dim sum happy hour? And it's so fucking amazing.
Is there such a thing as a squirrel proof birdfeeder? Because this one was up for two days & squirrels chewed a giant hole in it. We've tried the usual things. The metal slinky on the pole, the staring daggers, the threats in chitters, but squirrels, man, they get the job done. Any recommendations?
May 10, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Is there such a thing as a squirrel proof birdfeeder? Because this one was up for two days & squirrels chewed a giant hole in it. We've tried the usual things. The metal slinky on the pole, the staring daggers, the threats in chitters, but squirrels, man, they get the job done. Any recommendations?
Update: I made a version! Garlic paprika aioli, charred mushrooms and charred red peppers, provolone, arugula, salt and pepper, pressed into hoagies between two cast iron skillets. This is pretty damn good.
April 23, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Update: I made a version! Garlic paprika aioli, charred mushrooms and charred red peppers, provolone, arugula, salt and pepper, pressed into hoagies between two cast iron skillets. This is pretty damn good.
Here are a few of my mom's paintings - the 2 angel paintings from around 2009-10, the 2 landscapes from...the early 70s? They just got unearthed during a visit home. She's had a couple surgeries & is back on chemo. This fundraiser is helping to pay for all of it. ❤️https://gofund.me/1655b623
April 15, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Here are a few of my mom's paintings - the 2 angel paintings from around 2009-10, the 2 landscapes from...the early 70s? They just got unearthed during a visit home. She's had a couple surgeries & is back on chemo. This fundraiser is helping to pay for all of it. ❤️https://gofund.me/1655b623
Just boosting this for my mom, who is an artist with Stage 4 colon cancer. I know it's a lot out there - out here - in America. Times are rough, but hearts are kind, and I am grateful for the many fierce and generous people I know. ❤️ www.gofundme.com/f/help-our-m...
March 14, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Just boosting this for my mom, who is an artist with Stage 4 colon cancer. I know it's a lot out there - out here - in America. Times are rough, but hearts are kind, and I am grateful for the many fierce and generous people I know. ❤️ www.gofundme.com/f/help-our-m...
This post brought to you by my current dress, a 1970s Little Red Riding Hood print, in which the colors are reversed into oranges and greens and blues, and little red wears a green hood. It's such a great print.
March 12, 2025 at 12:44 AM
This post brought to you by my current dress, a 1970s Little Red Riding Hood print, in which the colors are reversed into oranges and greens and blues, and little red wears a green hood. It's such a great print.
I'm so lucky to have a little beastling who understands that it's necessary to rush into the bedroom in the morning and give me my morning snuggle. In this case scaling the bed in a mountaineering hat.
March 10, 2025 at 12:22 PM
I'm so lucky to have a little beastling who understands that it's necessary to rush into the bedroom in the morning and give me my morning snuggle. In this case scaling the bed in a mountaineering hat.
I eBay foraged my five year old lair companion some William Morris Liberty bunkbed sheets recently, and now he laments if they are not fully visible as he sleeps. We like a wild heap of patterns in this house. The liberty ones are the top sheet. He's obsessed.
March 9, 2025 at 2:08 AM
I eBay foraged my five year old lair companion some William Morris Liberty bunkbed sheets recently, and now he laments if they are not fully visible as he sleeps. We like a wild heap of patterns in this house. The liberty ones are the top sheet. He's obsessed.
A few fave pics of my mom & her art - the 1st one is her w/kids & grandkids. 2nd, a painting in my sister's house. 3rd, Grimoire enjoying a painting on his 1st birthday. Here's a link to help care for her in this cancer crisis. Anything helps, sharing & giving alike! www.gofundme.com/f/help-our-m...
March 8, 2025 at 2:49 PM
A few fave pics of my mom & her art - the 1st one is her w/kids & grandkids. 2nd, a painting in my sister's house. 3rd, Grimoire enjoying a painting on his 1st birthday. Here's a link to help care for her in this cancer crisis. Anything helps, sharing & giving alike! www.gofundme.com/f/help-our-m...
To the young dude I just saw walking through LaGuardia airport in a shirt that read "there are 2 genders!!" True, there *are* two, and then there are some more, and it's nobody's business but that of the person whose gender it is. He stopped to stare nervously at me, and this is the look he got.
March 5, 2025 at 3:30 PM
To the young dude I just saw walking through LaGuardia airport in a shirt that read "there are 2 genders!!" True, there *are* two, and then there are some more, and it's nobody's business but that of the person whose gender it is. He stopped to stare nervously at me, and this is the look he got.
Decided to offer a love bonus for folks who register for my class on finishing your books (we'll talk about how anyone can write right now too, rest assured - it is HARD). So, register for this & get a pitch-me-anything group session too! See pics. www.theshipmanagency.com/classes/fini...
February 6, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Decided to offer a love bonus for folks who register for my class on finishing your books (we'll talk about how anyone can write right now too, rest assured - it is HARD). So, register for this & get a pitch-me-anything group session too! See pics. www.theshipmanagency.com/classes/fini...
Woke to the sound of someone standing on the bathroom counter jingling things. It was Grimoire, supposed to be washing his hands, but instead rummaging through a selection of "fancy jewels," looking to choose skeleton earrings for me. Or for himself.
January 31, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Woke to the sound of someone standing on the bathroom counter jingling things. It was Grimoire, supposed to be washing his hands, but instead rummaging through a selection of "fancy jewels," looking to choose skeleton earrings for me. Or for himself.