Showing posts with label FT journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FT journal. Show all posts

Sunday, July 14, 2019

Obituary: Fairy Tale Scholar Prof. Bill Gray, Founding Director of Sussex Centre, Has Passed

Mourning Sand Dwarves in the Forest (China 2009) -photography by joeinchinatown
Professor Bill Gray (July 30, 1952 - April 8, 2019)

We are saddened to learn that William Gray, known as Professor Bill Gray, founder of the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy at the University of Chichester in 2009, considered one of the world's top fairy tale scholars, recently passed away on April 8th, 2019

"Bill’s work validated the importance of studying fantasy, which has a long yet often trivialised history in literature and folklore. His published scholarship used multiple perspectives to reveal the existential depth of fantasy and fairytales, and the rich intellectual substance in their study." (From an obituary in The Guardian, written by Donald Haase, published July 12, 2019)

Professor Gray was not only a scholar of fairy tale, fantasy and folklore, encouraging new thinking be applied to further studies in the field, but his interest and influence extended beyond academia as well. He put effort into making his knowledge, vision and enthusiasm for the field accessible to the public and himself available for the conversation. He's been a bridge between academic studies and pop culture, appearing in the media and making himself available to consult on theatrical projects (such as The Light Princess adaptation with Tori Amos for The National Theater in 2013), and was called by Universal Pictures to "serve as mythic and folklore advisor" for the blockbuster film Snow White and the Huntsman (2012).

The Sussex Centre is now called the Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction, so a quick reminder if you have been following "The Sussex Centre for Folklore" (for short) but are now seeing "Chichester Centre" on social media, be assured it's the same folks. The Sussex Centre/Chichester Centre is also known for the biannual scholarly journal Gramarye, of which Professor Gray was also Founding Editor in 2012 - a wonderful and continuously relevant journal which we highly recommended subscribing to.  We've included some recent covers at the end of the post which you can click to enlarge to see the content overview. (Do call Chichester Centre in the UK directly if there are problems subscribing from non-UK bases. The folks there are lovely and helpful.)

"The (Chichester) centre reflects (Bill's) vision for the study of fantasy and wonder on an international and interdisciplinary scale, as does its scholarly journal Gramarye, which he launched as founding editor in 2012. As a site for conferences, symposiums, lectures, exhibits, concerts and other public events, the centre has become a mecca for scholars and artists from the UK and abroad."
Snow White and the Huntsman (2012 Universal Pictures)
While Professor Gray's work in the field of fairy tale, folklore and speculative fiction can't easily be summarized, the obituary in the Guardian gives an overview which shows how important his work has been, and we recommend you click through to read it HERE.

And we have yet to look forward to more of his work:
World Treasure of Fairy Tales & Folklore
Compiled by Prof. William Gray (2016)
Bill’s transcultural approach informed his book Robert Louis Stevenson (2004), which elucidates the Scottish writer’s biography as a “literary geography”, reflecting the contexts in which Stevenson wrote, from Europe to the Pacific Islands, where he traded tales with the indigenous islanders. Bill’s forthcoming edition of Stevenson’s fables and fairytales will, for the first time, give access to all the author’s fantastic works in the order and form in which he intended them to be read.
We are so thankful for all his work and enthusiasm. Through Sussex Centre and Gramarye Professor Gray influenced Once Upon A Blog for the better. Though we never had personal interaction with him, we are grateful to all folks at the Chichester Center who followed his lead and engaged willingly in conversations about fairy tales, and gave social support to the fairy tale enthusiasts in our corner, over the past ten years. We have no doubt he will be very missed.

We extend our deepest sympathies to his family, and to his students, friends and colleagues.

Note: For those wishing to learn more about his work, please click on the image below to go to Professor Gray's website. It has a lot of wonderful information on his work in fairy tales as well as fantasy and includes links to his public writing, pieces in the press, interviews, a list of his books and other publications (with links where possible). The website now also includes a page dedicated to remembering Professor Gray. We recommend taking some time to read them.

Monday, August 3, 2015

Cabinet des Fées Releases A Wonderfully Gorgeous Issue in "Something Rich & Strange" (Review of Vol 1, Issue 2, Aug 2015)

A preview of what's to come TOMORROW!

Thanks to the kind folk at Papaveria Press for generously giving me a wonderful preview of Cabinet des Fées' latest sea-themed anthology of short works and poetry, and allowing me to gift myself with a lovely post on my birthday, in announcing the release slightly early, complete with permission to give you sneak peeks - of my choice! - at some of the wonderful writing!

'Presents' (aka excerpts) are below...

But first a look at the 'greeting' to readers and a list of tales and tellers:

 
The whole issue is beautiful to behold and the words are captivating too. The editors and team at Papaveria Press have put a lovely combination of art together - of words, images, fantastical tales and personal reflections. It's a very beautiful feather in an already very lovely hat!

Scheherezade's Bequest Volume 1, Issue 2. SOMETHING RICH AND STRANGE: TALES FROM THE SEA called authors to draw from folktales, personal experience, and the vast ocean of the imagination to reveal selkies, mermaids, sea nymphs, the great flood, and more in this wonderful collection of short stories and poems, each one a siren song luring us into the waves. This issue continues our tradition of offering original fairy tales and retellings of the old stories that leave us with a sense of wonder, a sense that something rich and strange is always just around the corner. 

There's a wonderful variety in the volume and yet there is a consistent feel of ebb and flow as you read through the various offerings. 

Some are amusing (for instance, a trickster Shower Muse), some have a distinctly different premise to the usual mer stories (like the mysterious, fathomless Lake of San Ezequiel, appearing alongside a desert town). 


There are turns of satisfyingly happy endings and tragically true endings. 


Mixed in is a wonderfully satisfactory amount of selkie stories with an unusual perspective (like Salt, which follow the motif of salt water in all it's forms through a selkie story and the subject of consent) and riffs on The Little Mermaid too, (like Sisters that looks at the issue of mermaids and souls in the best way I've read to date) without either dominating the issue.

As I mentioned above, I was gifted with choosing some excerpts to share with you and I have to tell you this was more difficult than I at first imagined it would be!  

I've finally chosen, in the end to share just a few excerpts to show you the variety of language, since I found it so difficult to choose favorites, as well as a few of the author notes on how they came to be inspired. The author's notes are just as fascinating as the stories themselves!

Please click on the excerpts and selected author's notes to read them full size. 

I think you'll be drawn in as quickly as I was and want to keep reading.

And as for a peek at the tales... take a look below:
This is only the beginning of a truly different version of The Little Mermaid, and one you'll love, especially if you love Andersen's tale or any variant of it.

"...people were a bit like fish..." and suddenly I couldn't help but begin to make comparisons myself! This story is the story of a girl and the story of a soul... and fish.
I dearly wanted to show you more, to show you how salt weaves through the life of this seal-woman, her husband and her children but I will leave that for you to discover on your own.

I hope you've enjoyed a special preview of the issue. Thank you again to the folks at Cabinet des Fées for this lovely gift today.

The paperback issue of Something Rich and Strange - Tales From the Sea is already available to order via Amazon HERE.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Introducing "Tiny Donkey" and the Brief Fairy Tale Essay

A donkey prince learns to play the flute and find happiness in “The Little Donkey.” by the amazing Andrea Dezsö

There's a new fairy tale journal in town! Fairy Tale Review - the respected literary fairy tale journal that publishes yearly - is supporting the launch of this new undergraduate journal, which invites people from all over to contribute.

From Fairy Tale Review:
Tiny Donkey: Brief Essays from FairylandWe are thrilled to announce the launch of Tiny Donkey, an undergraduate journal of short-form fairy tale nonfiction. The journal is the result of collaboration between Fairy Tale Review editorial assistant Wren Awry,Fairy Tale Review founder Kate Bernheimer, and Fairy Tale ReviewManaging Editor Joel Hans. 
Tiny Donkey will publish short essays (up to 400 words in length) that explore fairy tales through scholarly, personal and cultural lenses. 
We are incredibly excited to give undergraduate writers the opportunity to explore their love of fairy tales in a unique form. Through Tiny Donkey, we hope foster the next generation of fairy-tale writers, scholars, and educators—the very same kinds of people who have made Fairy Tale Review what it is today, and will continue to manipulate the contemporary fairy tale into wildly innovative forms.
And from Tiny Donkey itself, there is this information:
Donkey Prince by Paul Hey
You can write Tiny Donkey essays from a lot of different angles (our first three posts include a piece that analyzes a film in relation to Bluebeard, one that ties in wolf re-introduction in New Mexico to wolf tropes in fairy tales, and a personal essay about hollow mountains, Jack Tales and the coal industry in Appalachia). You might come up with an entirely new idea, or turn a class paper in to a polished micro-essay. We’re open to challenging and unique form and content, just get in touch!
Sounds pretty wonderful, doesn't it? I look forward to seeing future fairy tale essay innovations.

And if you're asking "why Tiny Donkey?" I can tell you that Tiny Donkey is an official off-shoot of Fairy Tale Review, which may give well read fairy tale readers a clue... (The particular donkey I believe they are referring to is a prince who is yet to come into his own.)

No matter what "skin" you are currently in, this journal gives you the opportunity to see what's really inside.

If you're looking for inspiration, checking out the Fairy Tale Review's mini-blog feature, Fairy Tale Files, which bring eclectic fairy tale related ideas together on a theme. They're like the written version of mini mind maps and are great for getting your creative juices pumping.

Good luck fairy tale writers!
Note: Did you know Angela Carter wrote a version of Tiny Donkey for children? It's a little illustrated book (now out of print of course).

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Fairy Tale Review's 10th (!!) Anniversary Issue Is Out and It's An 'Oz-Stravaganza'


Coinciding with the 75th anniversary of MGM's beloved The Wizard of Oz movie, Fairy Tale Review, the annual literary journal dedicated to publishing new fairy tales, has released their special 10th anniversary Oz-themed issue! (And it's EMERALD green... ;) )

Ten years! Wow and congrats to all editors  and contributors through the years. You make our world a much richer place. Thank you.

Speaking of contributors, fairy tale news friend and writer Cate Fricke (of Something to Read For the Train) has a short story, Tin Girl, in this landmark issue as well (congrats Cate!). Here's a quickie-peek on the inspiration for her achievement:
Love that heart too! And you can go read more about her news and story HERE.

Here's a little announcement from Fairy Tale Review with some more exciting fairy tale news as well (the grayed links are intact so you can go there directly to find out more):
Fairy Tale Review is now open for submissions. 
Our tenth-anniversary issue, The Emerald Issue, is now available from Wayne State University Press. 
The newest Pins & Needles interview features the fabulous Timothy Schaffert.
We’ve added a new blog feature, Fairy-Tale Files, launching this week with ten days of Oz in celebration of The Emerald Issue. 
See you at AWP!
Did you see that? Fairy-Tale Files! A new blog feature and new fairy tale reading! Here's the scoop (& the new header by Samantha Sweeting):
(Read more HERE.)

This is just wonderful. Plus: Baba Yaga! Tam Lin! Fearnot! These are in my all time favorites fairy tale list!! I cannot click on all the goody-links fast enough!

Now I just need to clone myself so I have time to read even more and then figure out a way to download my clone's brain back into my own so I don't miss anything...

Note: Apologies for all the exclamation marks... I take it back. It's too exciting to not add exclamation marks!!