This is The Pollen Basket, a gathering of Sylvia V. Linsteadt’s biweekly reflections on “what the bee knows,” to quote mythologist & novelist P.L. Travers.

The term “pollen basket” is used to describe the bright little sacs of pollen visible on the hind legs of foraging honeybees, known in technical terms as corbiculae. (These are actually cavities located on each of a honeybee’s back legs, surrounded by little hairs that help hold the pollen in place. When full, they resemble baskets.)

In this space, after the manner of the foraging bee, you can expect anything from seasonal ecological notes and spiritual queries to explorations of ancient myths, most often expressed through pieces of short fiction or prose poetry that arise from my daily rhythms and inspirations.

(There may be beekeeping notes too.)

** Each new issue will (usually) arrive in your inbox on Sunday morning. **

                                             STATEMENT OF COPYRIGHT

The work in these pages is comprised of my original writing, poetry, and academic research, and is therefore protected by literary copyright laws, prior art and intellectual property rights. Delivering this work in lecture, spoken word, online, digital, social media or hard-copy does not constitute a privilege to share, extract, modify, commodify, assume collaboration, exchange of copyright ownership or implied permission to use or re-use the work for your own financial product as a third party. I do not offer third party licensing on any of my works without discussion and written consent.

No part of this work can be utilized, reproduced in structure, content or in part without correct citation, referencing and accountable credit to the original creator; please use the following credit format should you wish to cite my work in the future for the purposes of educational citation and creative accountability, in the standard format of — Sylvia V. Linsteadt; [specify publication/piece here]; Date.

About Sylvia & Her Work

Sylvia Victor Linsteadt is an author, a scholar of ancient history and myth, and certified wildlife tracker. She studied Literary Arts at Brown University, graduating with Honors in 2011. She is an associate of the Institute of Archaeomythology (devoted to the legacy of Marija Gimbutas) in Northern California, and has completed graduate level research at the University of Exeter with a focus on themes of maternity and the motherline as they relate to classical reception in early 20th century literature.

Sylvia’s writing—both fiction & non-fiction—is rooted in myth, ecology, feminism & bioregionalism, and is devoted to broadening our human stories to include the voices of the living land. She has a special devotion to the history, earth, language, music and mythscapes of Crete, where she lived on and off from 2018-2021 and where she continues to visit, study, dance and dream. Her latest collection The Venus Year (2023) traces the beginnings of this ongoing love story in both poetry and mythic prose.

Her other books include SOOTH, a set of divination cards and texts with painter Rima Staines (2025), the short story collection Our Lady of the Dark Country (2018), two novels for young readers, The Wild Folk and The Wild Folk Rising (Usborne, 2018 and 2019), and the folkloric novel Tatterdemalion (Unbound 2017), also with painter Rima Staines. Her works of nonfiction include the award-winning Lost Worlds of the San Francisco Bay Area (Heyday, Spring 2017), Wonderments of the East Bay (Heyday, 2015), as well as numerous essays. She is currently working on a forthcoming title for September/Duckworth, to be published in February 2027.

Sylvia is also the creator and course leader of When Women Were the Land, a seven-part lecture series through Advaya exploring the pre-patriarchal lineages and mythologies of Europe, inspired by the work of Lithuanian archaeologist Marija Gimbutas.

Sylvia now divides her time between her pine forest home on Coast Miwok ancestral land on the Point Reyes Peninsula in California where she was born, and Crete. Her hives of bees, textile work with her hands, walks with her dog, gathering wild herbs, and learning old songs to sing with her brother are some of Sylvia’s greatest joys when she’s not at her writing desk.

https://www.sylviavictorlinsteadt.com/