Jane Yolen, "America's Hans Christian Andersen", Passes Away at 87

 

Jane Yolen (February 11, 1939 – June 11, 2026) - photo portrait by daughter, Heidi Stemple

We lost one of the most prolific and inspiring American authors who wrote across multiple genres and generations last month, and the loss is huge across literature and for the many who worked with and were inspired by her. Fairy tale folk, especially, are feeling the loss in the sort of way that marks the end of an era. Due to her constant work with and championing of fairy tales, Yolen was affectionately dubbed "America's Hans Christian Andersen"*, by the press and beyond.

Heidie Stemple commenting on her late mother's response to the affectation for Louisville Public Media

The author of over 450 books, Yolen didn't just write and work with fairy tales, of course, but they were a subject never far from her mind and heart. The range of tales she told and retold, for kids through to adults, reflected how integral they were to her own life and way of thinking, and that's what I will be focusing on in this tribute.

*She was also referred to as the "Aesop of the 20th century".

Reclaiming Women's History & Retelling Fairy Tales For Brave Girls

Yolen's first book sale, Pirates in Petticoats, happened on her 22nd birthday, February 11, 1961. The feminist non-fiction story already showed her proclivity for telling tales with strong and unusual female protagonists, something she continued to do throughout her life in her fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and in mining fairy and folktales for forgotten stories to retell in freshly inspiring fairy tale anthologies. Sometimes, as in Sister Bear, her retelling of a favorite Norwegian tale of mine (The Cat on the Dovrefjell), she would change the male hero into a girl or woman, asking that we reframe traditional ideas of bravery and heroism.

Tribute piece for Jane Yolen June 12, 2026 by Astrid Sheckles

Raising Up Forgotten Voices and Stirring Up Controversy

Born to Jewish parents and considering herself a secular Jew, Yolen identified as a poet and journalist/non-fiction writer, though she was most often referred to as a children's book author, as these became her most well-known works. Both Briar Rose and The Devil's Arithmetic, dealing with aspects of the Holocaust, were included on reading lists for middle and high school for a time, and later banned due to censorship for the subject matter and due to the sexual orientation of a key character. In a similar vein, her book on Christopher Columbus, Encounter, in contrast to other books at the time, portrayed the "discovery of America" as not only disruptive but frightening to the indigenous populations, which also drew controversy. Her writing on these subjects and others of a similar nature continued unapologetically throughout her life, encouraging and empowering many others to not only learn about these hidden histories but to investigate history themselves, take up their own pen, and continue to do the same.

A Champion of the Power of Fairy and Folktales

Winner of multiple prestigious awards (including a Caldecott, two Nebula Awards, the World Fantasy Association's Lifetime Achievement Award, and many more), Yolen's writing spanned multiple genres, with her use of folktales, fantasy, and poetic imagination drawing readers of all ages to both explore history in new ways and to see the world through eyes primed to discover and create their own wonder. A running theme through her life and work, she believed strongly in the power of fairy tales to succinctly communicate truths she believed people need to hear in a "non-messy" and memorable way, and to spread the type of hope they need to really live.

Writing With Her Children

Jane Yolen married David Stemple in 1962 and had three children, all of whom write ("the family business", as Heidi joked), and have creative careers. Jason Stemple is an author, photographer, and drone pilot, Adam Stemple is a musician and author (of seven books and many short stories to date), and Heidi Stemple is an author and speaker, writing mainly for children (with over thirty books published, at this writing). Yolen has creatively collaborated and co-authored multiple books with all three of her children. "Family business" indeed!

Yolen's Briar Rose

Yolen's Briar Rose (published in 1992) deserves a special mention on a fairy tale blog, as you will see. It was originally published as part of the Fairy Tale Series of novels, compiled by Terri Windling. It won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature in 1993. For those who are unfamiliar with, or need a refresher on, the book, I am including a quote from an education guide (on unbancoolies.org) to give a quick overview and to explain why its particular intertextuality was so unique at the time, as well as why it was, and remains, critically acclaimed (emphasis in bold and underline is mine): 

Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose is not just a story about a sleeping princess but a narrative that connects fairy tale motifs with real-world history. The book intertwines the traditional story with the experiences of a Holocaust survivor, who is the grandmother of the narrator. This blending of fantasy and history creates a powerful juxtaposition that brings new meaning to the themes of survival, memory, and the power of storytelling. By incorporating the Holocaust into her version, Yolen transforms Briar Rose into a story about resilience and the enduring strength of the human spirit amidst unimaginable darkness. This approach encourages readers to see fairy tales not only as escapist fantasies but also as vessels for preserving history and teaching important lessons.

Yolen’s use of storytelling within the narrative serves as a metaphor for healing and remembrance. The act of telling and retelling the story of Briar Rose becomes a way for the characters—and readers—to confront trauma and find hope. This technique highlights the transformative power of stories, a recurring theme in Yolen’s work.

With countless adaptations of Briar Rose or Sleeping Beauty, Jane Yolen’s version is distinguished by its emotional depth and historical context. Many fairy tale retellings focus on romance or fantasy elements, but Yolen’s narrative challenges readers to think critically about history, memory, and the importance of passing down stories through generations.

Another aspect that enriches Yolen’s Briar Rose is its subtle incorporation of Jewish folklore and cultural references. This adds authenticity and depth to the story, especially given the Holocaust context. Readers gain insight into how cultural identity and storytelling intertwine, making the narrative resonate on multiple levels. 

Despite multiple attempts and much enthusiasm from fans and entertainment industry professionals around the globe, this dream was never realized, though many other of her works found new life across the visual mediums of movies and TV.

Here is a little background on how this book came to be, which reads a little like a magical story all on its own. This screenshot is from Jane Yolen's personal website, in which she recounts how the book came to be. (It should be noted that this book was originally published for adults.):

Jane Yolen's personal recounting of the inspiration and impact of her historically-based retelling of Sleeping Beauty, Briar Rose

Briar Rose was an influential work for me* and sits on my favorite works bookshelf. Her more recent verse novel, Finding Baba Yaga (written as a series of connected poems), in which this blog was delightfully and weirdly mentioned through an odd misunderstanding I can't help but treasure, now sits beside it, and there's a story to that book, too, which I will tell below.

*I also recommend the audiobook - something I rarely do.

How Once Upon A Blog Ended Up In Finding Baba Yaga

Finding Baba Yaga credits OUABlog ("...the very strange website Once Upon A Blog... Fairy Tale News.." is how she refers to it) in the preface of this book, published in 2018, with writing the "Ask Baba Yaga" regular "advice" feature, which Yolen says inspired her to write this unique verse novel. While I did present the column in my own way, the "Ask Baba Yaga question and "advice" was not my work, but the brainchild of mythic writer and seer Tiasia Kitaiskaia. At the time, Kitaiskaia was publishing these brief pieces of advice to a niche readership in The Hairpin, and had generously given me written permission to re-publish them in my own format on Once Upon A Blog as a regular feature. Once Yolen's new book hit shelves, and I discovered the mistaken credit, I immediately began a flurry of messages and emails to Yolen, her publisher, and Kitaiskaia to rectify the mistake as quickly as possible. Though I never heard what passed between Yolen and Kitaiskaia regarding the mistake, it had been revealed that Yolen was a regular reader of Once Upon A Blog, and the discovery, via reading OUABlog, has remained a part of the preface (with adjusted wording so Kitaiskaia's genius is clear), becoming an odd part of the lore here, which I remained tickled by and treasure.

Screenshot from GoogleBooks showing the mention of OUABlog across two pages. Note: this is the adjusted mention

Always An Insightful, Generous Poet - Even When Commenting On Posts & Socials

Yolen was not only a prolific writer but also remained actively interactive with writers and artists of fantasy and fairy tale, often responding to comments on posts with spontaneous poetry that took conversations to another level. Terri Windling's incredible blog, Myth & Moor (now sadly retired), was a favorite online haunt of hers where she not only showed support for Windling and her other dear friends there, but regularly offered her artistic response to a post or comment by way of writing her responses in spontaneous, often fairy tale-alluding poetry. 

Her Mark - and Her Magic - Remains

Quirky, unique, outspoken, a master wordsmith, and magical, she is already greatly missed. To have lived in a world where she was writing, busy creating wondrous works, and distilling conversations and comments into little fairy tales filled with profound observations and wisdom that we can continue to tell, forever, has been a privilege. 

Thank you for everything, Jane.

Your star will shine brightly ever after.

Tribute portrait of Jane Yolen June 12, 2026 by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
__________________________________________________

A Small Selection of Yolen's Fairy Tale-Related Book Covers

Books shown (left to right, top to bottom):

• Briar Rose
• Finding Baba Yaga
• Tam Lin
• Sister Emily's Lightship and Other Stories
• Touch Magic - Fantasy, Faerie & Folklore in the Literature of Childhood
• Mapping the Bones
• The Girl Who Cried Flowers and Other Tales
• Gray Heroes - Elder Tales From Around the World
• The Seeing Stick
• Jewish Fairy Tale Feasts - A Literary Cookbook (Tales retold by Jane Yolen, Recipes by Heidi E.Y. Stemple)
• Sleeping Ugly
• Tales of Wonder
• His Fairytale Life - A Book About Hans Christian Andersen
• Not One Damsel In Distress -Heroic Girls from World Folklore
• Once Upon A Time (she said)
• Fairy Tale Feasts - A Literary Cookbook for Young Readers and Eaters (Tales retold by Jane Yolen, Recipes by Heidi E.Y. Stemple)
• Sister Bear - A Norse Tale
• The Moon Ribbon and Other Tales
• The Fish Prince and Other Stories (with Shulamith Oppenheim)
• Twelve Impossible Things Before Breakfast
• Mightier Than The Sword
• Favorite Folktales from Around the World
• The Barefoot Book of Ballet Stories (with Heidi E. Y. Stemple & Rebecca Guay)
• How To Fracture A Fairy Tale

Jane Yolen's Anticipated Baba Yaga "Verse Novel" and How Taisia's 'Ask Baba Yaga' Advice Column Helped Make it Happen

Yolen’s Finding Baba Yaga is a story in verse
about a teenage runaway who finds herself drawn
into the world of the mythical Slavic witch,
as she sets out to make her own fate,
“a theme that has never been more timely than it is now.”

It's Ms. Yolen's first ever "verse novel" (see below for details on its inspiration) and to say it's highly anticipated by the fairy tale community and Baba Yaga aficionados, might be understating things a tad. Best of all, it's nearly here...

• There is a title. (Finding Baba Yaga)

• There is a book. (It's in the "pre-release" promotion phase)

• There is a release date. (October 30, 2018 - that's this year!)

• There is a cover. (See above)

• And there is an excerpt! (Click HERE, and scroll down, to read it)

• There is also SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT we need to clear up... (read on - you can take a shortcut to the words in bold if you're in a rush)

Little Ivan and Baba Yaga by Julie Rouviére

We're talking about Jane Yolen's long-anticipated book in verse, Finding Baba Yaga. The Mary Sue got the exclusive cover reveal and interview so we're pointing the way, in case you missed the announcement.

There's a little bit of information we wanted to set straight, however. We were very surprised to find Once Upon A Blog/InkGypsy credited with posting the Ask Baba Yaga advice and for being the catalyst that got the book going. In Jane Yolen's introduction, she adds this PS:

PS: In July 2013, I discovered the very strange website http://fairytalenewsblog.blogspot.co.uk which has an ongoing set of weekly posts by Baba Yaga as a Lonely Hearts columnist. The site is written by someone known anonymously as InkGypsy, reputed to be a Russian poet who grew up in the UK.Whoever she is, she’s hilarious and provocative. These poems would not exist without her posts.

While we did post the Ask Baba Yaga columns, weekly as could be managed at the time, Gypsy (aka InkGypsy) did not write them. She only included a personal commentary, added a picture and formatted the posts. The main content, the advice - questions and answers - were, and have always been, the brilliant work of Russian-American writer and poet, aka the "hilarious and provocative"  Taisia Kitaiskaia, and Taisia very kindly gave us permission to reblog these brilliant nuggets of advice at Once Upon A Blog in an ongoing manner.

(Note: We were not even the original publishing 'home' of these letters of advice. That honor - and credit of discovery - belongs to The Hairpin. We have always acknowledged Taisia as the writer and Oracle "speaking on our behalf to Baba Yaga", as well as the original source of The Hairpin, and have linked to her, and The Hairpin, on every Ask Baba Yaga post, but we're also aware that in this age of social media, end matter is easy to skim over and can easily be missed.)

We are so very happy we've helped Taisia's work be seen by more people. Hopefully, even more folks will seek out Taisia's writing and her other wonderfully unique book Literary Witches (created in collaboration with Katy Horan), now her column has been credited in Jane Yolen's newest book. We just want to be very clear that all credit for any creative inspiration lies with our friend Taisia Kitaiskaia and we're very grateful she allowed Once Upon A Blog to be a part of the journey to publication because.. that's right, Taisia's columns have been expanded and made into a book! It's appropriately titled: Ask Baba Yaga: Otherworldly Advice for Everyday Troubles 

Check it out! >>>>>>>

(Psst! Expect a giveaway of that awesome collection in the near future...)

Here is a sneak peek of one of the nuggets of advice included in Ask Baba Yaga (the lovely illustrations and design motifs are by Brenna Thummler:

 

Returning to Finding Baba Yaga, we will admit, knowing now that Taisia's columns kick-started Jane Yolen's writing of her newest book - written entirely in verse! - that makes it a guaranteed sell for us! While we wish we could own every copy of Jane Yolen's books, she is so wonderfully prolific we have to sadly admit we haven't quite completed our (ongoing) collection of her works. This one, however, is moving not only to our shopping basket but will be put firmly on top of our must-read pile as soon as it appears. Poetry is something that's not always easy to read but Yolen's verse often changes minds about that. It's just a different pace for her wonderful storytelling.

Here's what Ms. Yolen had to say to The Mary Sue about creating the work: 

Artist unknown
(pls comment if you know so
we can correct the credit)

Baba Yaga is my culture hero—the strongest and greatest witch in the world. She makes her own way, is both anarchic and eternal, has transportation that runs on pure energy which has the added value of not destroying the earth, and she always says what she thinks. How could you not admire her? 

I first learned about Baba Yaga as a ballet kid in the 1940s, one of those New York City girls studying at Balanchine’s school of ballet. Maria Tallchief was my ballerina crush and she once hung her practice tutu on my locker! She was the world’s greatest dancer at the time, and her most iconic role was Firebird. 

Being a bookish kid, from a Russian Jewish background, I wanted to find out more about Firebird—and there she was, on the pages of some long-forgotten book in my parents’ library, along with the other two famous Russian folklore characters—Koschei the Deathless, and Baba Yaga. 

So from the time I was about eight years old, I wanted to be Baba Yaga, gnashing my iron teeth. Riding in a mortar steered by a pestle. Living in a little house that walked about on chicken feet. Well, since I couldn’t, I wrote about her when I got older—in a picture book called “The Flying Witch,” in a short story called “Boris Chernevsky’s Hands,” in a graphic novel called “Curses, Foiled Again,” and in a novel written with Midori Snyder, Except the Queen. Except. . . Midori claimed the Baba as her character before I could do so, so I invented three black witch sisters living in Harlem to make up for my loss. 

All the while, I was writing poetry about Baba Yaga and one day I realized I had almost enough for a possible collection, but there was a story beating inside me that pulled all the poems together, and insisted on being told. And so my first ever verse novel was born. It took possibly four years in the writing, and four more in the selling, but when my editor at Tor, Susan Chang said: “I don’t actually like poetry and I couldn’t stop reading this mss.” I thought: maybe this will actually become a book some day! 

And as if I were the Baba herself, my prophecy has come true!

And we couldn't be more thrilled! 

While the sneak peek gives us the introduction and the first verse, introducing the idea of Baba Yaga to the reader, knowing the Lonely Hearts advice column sparked the idea of a teenage runaway finding her way into the realm of our favorite witch, makes us mightily intrigued. 

Here's the official description of Finding Baba Yaga by legendary writer, and "America's Hans Christian Andersen" Jane Yolen:

Baba Yaga by Rima Staines

A young woman discovers the power to speak upand take control of her fate―a theme that has never been more timely than it is now… 

You think you know this story. 

You do not. 

A harsh, controlling father. A quiescent mother. A house that feels like anything but a home. Natasha gathers the strength to leave, and comes upon a little house in the wood: A house that walks about on chicken feet and is inhabited by a fairy tale witch. In finding Baba Yaga, Natasha finds her voice, her power, herself.... 

A mythic yet timely novel-in-verse by the beloved and prolific author and poet Jane Yolen, “the Hans Christian Andersen of America.”

You can pre-order Finding Baba Yaga HERE.

Timeless Tales Magazine: Arthurian Legends LIVE!

Greetings, fairy tale fans! This is Tahlia, editor of Timeless Tales Magazine, letting you know that our latest issue is ready for your eyeballs' gentle caress 😉. It is chock full of surprising and inspiring retellings of Arthurian Legends. 

We've really tried to capture both the drama and the absurdities of life in King Arthur's court. We promise that you've never seen Camelot like this before! 

• What if the Sword in the Stone took place among the Aztecs?

• What if Lancelot met Guinevere in a Starbucks?

• What if Sir Galahad was actually a woman?

• What if Merlin was an outlaw in the Wild West? 

• What if Morgan Le Fay never died, but was reborn over the centuries?

Plus, this issue has two poignant poems written by award-winning author Jane Yolen. You do not want to miss them! Read the entire collection here: www.timelesstalesmagazine.com/arthurian-legends 

Here's an excerpt from "Galahad & the Trickster" by Andy Scott:

“Hail,” Galahad called. “P-pardon me, good sir. Pray, tell me, is this still the North Road?”

“This?” the man crooned. He turned and stretched like a cat, his lithe body lounging perilously on the old rickety post. The sign's letters danced and transformed into letters, but were still gibberish.

Galahad gasped. “Demon! B-Be gone, wr-wretch of the infernal abyss.” His voice echoed into the empty forest.

The man leaned back and closed his eyes. “Wuddifahcud, pup … buddahcan’t. All-Father, in his one-eyed wisdom told me I couldn’t leave this hole until the prophecy was fulfilled.”

“Wh-what prophecy, demon? And speak true!” Galahad almost believed his own courage.

The man sighed.

“Odin’s prophecy, dolt. Can’t get around that.” Swinging his legs he sang, “Never shall you see Asgard again, Loki, until a virgin ploughs Yggdrasil’s key from his consummated bed.”

Loki? Galahad’s insides squirmed. He had heard of the ‘gods’ of the North Men. Cruel, pagan demons with brutal rites. He whispered a prayer under his breath, sword still trembling towards at Loki’s neck.

“Y-you said ‘consummated’” Galahad croaked, “but if the bed was consummated the giver couldn’t be a virgin?” 

“You said it, kid.”

“That’s nonsense.”

“That’s gods, for you.”...

READ THE REST OF THE STORY AT TIMELESSTALESMAGAZINE.COM

The Last Selchie Child by Jane Yolen

Coming soon! OK - soon-ish, in May. (I'm always excited about Jane Yolen releases. :) And it has selkies - or in this case selchies.

Magical transformations, enchanted mirrors, talking animals, familiar tales in unfamiliar guises, all these and more are found in the pages of The Last Selchie Child. 

Retellings of archetypal myths and fairy tales and the nature of storytelling itself are explored in this new collection of poems by Jane Yolen.

If you're not really a poetry fan but love fairy tales I suggest you at least give Ms. Yolen's poetry a try.

Here's an excerpt from one of the works in the book title The Storyteller:

He unpacks his bag of taleswith fingers quickas a weaver's            picking the weft threads,            threading the warp.Watch his fingers.Watch his lipsspeaking the old familiar words:

And HERE's another, older one which has stayed with me ever since I read it on the Endicott Studio website. It's titled Beauty and the Beast: An Anniversary.

Another I love is Undine which you can read HERE and you can check the Endicott Studio poetry archive for even more fairy tale poetry, including quite a few by Ms. Yolen. 


As far as I can tell, Ms. Yolen's fairy tale poetry is scattered across publications and various books, so I'm thankful Endicott Studio has been able to post some of her works so we can read them there. There's a good chance they otherwise might be lost (at least to most of us) in out of print/unavailable publications. I'd snap up a fairy tale poetry volume containing all these gems by Ms. Yolen in a second if it were available. For now we are to be treated with new fairy tale works instead. (Selkies!) That's a very good and happy thing.

And if the idea of reading about selchies/selkies appeals but you'd rather a novel, she has one of those too. It's titled Greyling and I most definitely recommend it. Though it's out of print you can still find copies without too much difficulty.

The Last Selchie Child will be available on May 15 and is available now for pre-order HERE and HERE.

Stories for the Season: More To Explore - Story Roundup

This is my last "Stories for the Season" post but it's by no means a complete collection of fairy tales, and stories for fairy tale people that can be enjoyed during this end of year/beginning of a new year holiday time.

Here is an additional short list of stories I ran out of time to profile individually and why they can be included on your Christmas fairy tales list:

The Velveteen Rabbit or How Toys Become Real
by Margery Williams
It's the classic Christmas toy story

The Wild Hunt
by Jane Yolen
Winter arrives and The Wild Hunt rides (excellent book!)

The Wooden Shoes of Little Wolff
adapted by Francois Coppee
A boy with a good heart unknowingly helps the Christ Child and is rewarded

Miracle of 34th Street
Novella written by Valentine Davies and made into the Oscar winning film from 1947 about a department store Santa insisting he's the real thing.
NOTE: Watch the black and white 1947 version - it's MUCH better than any of the remakes and has a gentle and special touch

Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve?
by Jan Brett
A children's version of the Norwegian folktale The Cat on the Dovrefell (see below)

The Snow Princess
by Ruth Sanderson
Based on Tchaikovsky's Russian opera/ballet The Snow Maiden

The Cat on the Dovrefell
by Asbjornsen & Moe
A great white bear (yes, a bear - not a cat, but don't tell the trolls...) helps counteract an annual Christmas invasion by trolls - I love this one!

Why the Sea is Salt
by Asbjornsen & Moe
A poor boy goes begging on Christmas Eve and has a big adventure

Tatterhood
by Asbjornsen & Moe
An invasion by trolls on Christmas Eve sets things in motion

The Christmas Cuckoo
adapted by Frances Browne
Poor brothers become rich due to their good treatment of a cuckoo found on Christmas Day

The Christmas Fairy of Strasburg
A German folktale about the origins of the Christmas tree

The Golden Cobwebs
A folktale about the origins of tinsel/tree trimmings. (It's still good luck to have a spider ornament on your Christmas tree in the Ukraine.)

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
by L. Frank Baum
Mentioned in my post on Jack Frost

The Mail Coach Passengers
by Hans Christian Andersen
A New Years story in which the Twelve Months take a ride
(I couldn't find a correlating image for the story sorry - so you're being reminded of Gennady Spirin's work. :)

Again, there are many more, especially if you look at all the little folktales, but I thought these ones would interest my readers most (that I'm aware of anyway). Of course, if you have others to add please feel free to add a comment.

I hope you've enjoyed this series of posts. If you want to find them all, just click on the 'Xmas tales' tag in the sidebar.

If you're interested in finding more make sure you visit The Fairy Tale Channel HERE - they have an excellent collection of fairy tales and often post appropriate to the seasons throughout the year too (an excellent resource!).

Merry storytelling!
May fairy tales fill and enrich your holidays and the coming year.
:)

Christmas Bell Babies Grow in Australia
(They sing you joy)
by May Gibbs

Individual illustration credits (book covers show illustrators:
1. An engraving of "The Cat on the Dovrefell" from TALES FROM THE NORSE by George W. Dasent
2. Princess of Wands (Tatterhood) from THE FAIRY TALE TAROT by Lisa Hunt
3. The Christmas Cuckoo from GRANNY'S WONDERFUL CHAIR AND THE TALES IT TOLD by Frances Browne with illustrations by Florence White Williams
4. The Christmas Tree Fairy by Cicely Mary Baker
5. A Christmas spider ornament from the Ukraine (photographer unknown)
6. From THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF SANTA CLAUS by Lyman Frank Baum, illustrated by Mary Cowles Clark

Interview with Amy Morgan of The Fairy Tale Factory

Today we are talking to Amy Morgan, creator of the Fairy Tale Factory. You can find out more about the factory and the exciting workshops Amy has going in our previous post HERE.

This is a long interview post - but it's an interesting one, I promise!

Fairy Tale News Hound: Hi Amy! Welcome to Once Upon A Blog... and thank you agreeing to this interview.


Why do you love fairy tales? (You're in good company here on Once Upon A Blog!)

AMY: Oh, gosh. I love fairy tales because they speak equally powerfully to my conscious and my subconscious. They remind me that the world is far more fluid than I generally suppose, and that people are more powerful than we generally allow ourselves to be. Fairy tales remind me to trust myself. And they're beautiful. I love them for that, too.

FTNH: How have they influenced you personally?

AMY: On a personal level, fairy tales have kept me going through many a dark and dreary time. Something about reading fairy tales and stories inspired by fairy tales gives me a tremendous sense of hope and comfort.

On a professional level and as an artist, fairy tales have inspired some of my best work. That bit about trusting myself applies double-strength here - reading fairy tales has helped me trust my intuitions and inspirations.

FTNH: What was/were your favorite fairy tale/s when you were younger?

AMY: When I was a child I loved Rumplestiltskin. I had a collection illustrated by Tasha Tudor, and I was so fascinated by the fact that Rumplestiltskin [spoiler alert!] tore himself in two at the end. I would get my friends to act the story out with me - we'd use mustard-yellow yarn for the gold (this was the 70s - mustard-yellow yarn was plentiful) and we'd act out the whole thing.

FTNH: What is/are your favorite tale/s (or types of tales) now and where are they from?

AMY: My favorite tales now are the really long, weird ones from Italy and Germany. I've only recently started exploring the Russian tales, and then plan to move on to Chinese and Japanese.

There's a Grimm story The Two Brothers in which two brothers get separated, and one of them ends up traveling with a menagerie. At some point in the story, the brother with the animals gets his head cut off, and the animals have to put it back on again. Okay, here comes my favorite part: they accidentally put his head on backwards! He notices pretty quickly - as one might, so they rip his head off again and stick back on the right way.

Seriously. That is solid gold right there. The mishap with the head doesn't further the action of the plot in any discernible way. You don't learn anything about anyone's character from this little episode. It's just ... extra. A little gratuitous surrealism to help you on your way. Marie-Louise von Franz has actually written about this story and explains it in deep, meaningful, fascinating ways, but my enjoyment is more shallow than that. I just love how weird it is.

I also love The Juniper Tree - another violent, macabre Grimm tale.

FTNH: Why do you think this changed?

AMY: First reason: exposure. I only had that one collection of Tasha Tudor's Fairy Tales when I was a kid. I was so shocked and delighted when I discovered this whole other world of stories out there.

Second reason: I'm a grown-up now. The little Amy and the grown-up Amy need different stories - we're dealing with different life challenges.

FTNH: Why did you start the Fairy Tale Factory? What prompted the idea?

AMY: I was taking a sabbatical from work (aka - unemployed) and decided I was sick of the job market telling me what I could do for a living. I looked long and hard at the places where my passions intersected with my abilities, and decided that teaching a class about two of my favorite things (writing and fairy tales) could be a cool way to make money, meet interesting people, and justify my book allowance all at the same time.

I also hope, in my more optimistic moments, that this class will give people some new tools to cope with hard times. I hope to inspire people, to encourage them to trust their own voices, and to help them connect with beauty in the world and in themselves. I especially want to help people find beauty in the parts of themselves that seem dark and scary. Like that Rilke quote about all our dragons really being princesses just waiting for us to be brave.

FTNH: Who is the Fairy Tale Factory for? What sorts of people have expressed interest so far? What types of people do you think will benefit from attending the workshop/s?

AMY: The Fairy Tale Factory is for anyone who needs it. All ages, all experience levels, all cultural backgrounds. If someone feels inspired to come to my class, I will do my best to help them express whatever it is they came to say.

So far my students have been grown-ups with day jobs who still feel a connection to that playful, curious, magic part of themselves. They're intelligent, articulate, funny (so funny), clever, and stoked about the material. I really like my students.

I think anyone who likes this kind of thing will benefit from the workshops. Professional writers get a great workout - you wouldn't believe what this format does for your writing. Novice writers get to stretch their wings and explore in a safe, supportive environment. And the subject matter is great for working through creative blocks, regardless of your experience level or even your preferred medium. I keep the classes small so that it's easier for me to meet students on whatever level is right for them.

FTNH: So what was it about fairy tales that prompted you to use them as a teaching tool for writers?

AMY: My own experience. Some friends and I were playing with the format and I was shocked at what a great workout it was. Plot, language, tone, structure - it's all there. It's easy for modern writers to be soft when it comes to structure - modernism and post-modernism, while awesome, make it hard to resist the temptation to write 500-page novels in which nothing happens but a lot of Clever Words. Fairy tales don't mess around. You know almost immediately whether your story succeeds, and there's no bluffing. It's kind of like reading your work to kids: You find out real quick whether those jokes are as funny as you thought they were.

FTNH: I love the illustration for the Fairy Tale Factory homepage, complete with little iconic fairy tale symbols woven into the climbing rose border. Can you tell me about the illustration? How did it come about? Why did you choose two crows for the center?

AMY: The homepage showcases the work of everyone on my insanely talented design team. The crest is based on one that my designer (Angie Jernejcic) found in a book of heraldry. She designed the logo and it seemed like the best idea in the world to put it into that shield, flanked by those two crows. The crows chose themselves - all I did was say 'YES!' The climbing roses are from an illustration that Jeremy Eaton did for the site (he did all the illos). He drew each of the elements first (pumpkin coach, etc.), then wove them into the border of roses. My web designer (Kelly Davis) turned it into a recurring motif - she took one little section and turned it into those gorgeous climbing ribbons as a sort of wallpaper.

FTNH: There are quite a few retellings of fairy tales available and more being published all the time but not many original fairy tales. Putting aside the purist idea that true fairy tales are oral and collective in nature and can't be 'created' by one author, why is it that you're focused on creating new tales as opposed to retelling? Can you define the difference between retellings and creating new ones?

AMY: I am so much more interested in what's going on inside people now than what's already been written. I think fairy tales are kissing cousins with dreams. It's an interesting an exercise to say, "Write Snow White, but in modern times in a Chicago housing project." (FTNH: eg. Donald Barthelme's "Snow White") But it's so much more compelling and personal to ask, "What image has been tickling the edges of your consciousness lately? What story is waiting for you to tell it?"

Retelling is a good intellectual exercise. But it's easy to hide behind cleverness there. Ideally, writing your own personal tales will engage your emotions first, then your intellect. I think the stories have more juice that way.

FTNH: Would you mind explaining how that's different from writing normal fantasy?

AMY: What's different (and this is the technical workout part) is that you have to hold to the traditional fairy tale forms and conventions AND write a new story. This means that you are (a) groping around for the truest, most powerful and resonant images you can muster, and (b) coaxing those images into a form that is intensely limited. So you're engaging your subconscious and your conscious mind at the same time, like trying to stand on two boats at once.

Modern fantasy is quite different, technically, from the traditional fairy tale. In the traditional form, there is very little character development, dialogue, or description. It's little more than a fleshed-out outline. So bare-bones word choice, sentence structure, and plot become your essential tools - that's all you have.

Elmore Leonard has this great quote in his essay:

WRITERS ON WRITING; Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation points and Especially Hooptedoodle:

There is a prologue in John Steinbeck's "Sweet Thursday", ... He says: "I like a lot of talk in a book and I don't like to have nobody tell me what the guy that's tlaking looks like. I want to figure out what he looks like from the way he talks... figure out what the guy's thinking from what he says. I like some description but not too much of that... Sometimes I want a book to break loose with a bunch of hooptedoodle... Spin up some pretty words maybe or sing a little song with language. That's nice. But I wish it was set aside so I don't have to read it. I don't want hooptedoodle to get mixed up with the story."

My students laugh at me because I am obsessed with this concept: hooptedoodle. In my classes, I feel I have a holy mission to wean them off of hooptedoodle. At the last reading party I overhead some of my students shouting, "Hooptedoodle!" then laughing their heads off. I couldn't have been more proud.

So that's the big difference between modern fiction and the fairy tale form that I teach: 85% less hooptedoodle!

FTNH: How do the skills differ for each type of writing? How are they the same?

AMY: For me as a writer, I'm doing something very different when I'm retelling a well-known story than I am when bringing out something new. In retelling, I'm in dialogue with my culture. For instance - Wicked uses our knowledge of the Wizard of Oz tale to explore cultural perspective. It's still a good story if you never read or saw Oz, but if you're saturated with Oz then you are a witness to the author riffing on all the ideas that Baum initially advanced and on all the things our culture has done with them between inception and present day.

As an author, you can't help but do that when you are riffing on a classic. You start playing with feminist perspectives, like Jane Yolen's Snow White. Or any other perspectives, depending on who and where you are. The point is that you are using the warp and woof of the story's cultural context to further your storytelling aims.

When you are writing an original, it's a much more internal, personal process. You're groping around and wrestling with images that are more slippery because they're unique to you. You can't build on the framework of what's already been done. You are making new characters and new plot devices, even if you're using the same old hero's journey structure that Homer and George Lucas and the ancient Sumerians did. You have to feel your way, asking at every juncture, "Is this it? Is this the best possible answer to the question, 'What happened next?' "

FTNH: Who are some of your favorite modern fairy tale writers? (either those who write retellings, originals or use fairy tales as a base for their stories) Any favorite fairy tale books you recommend (fiction or non-fiction)?

AMY: Hm. I feel woefully Behind the Times - there are so many authors out there in this genre whose works I haven't read yet. That said, some of my favorites are Diana Wynne Jones, Charles DeLint, Patricia McKillip, and Neil Gaiman. I love young adult novels for some reason. Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series is amazing. Garth Nix does some cool stuff in his Abhorsen books.

Non-fiction: I encourage everyone who's interested in fairy tales to read everything by Marie-Louise von Franz, who was one of Carl Jung's primary disciples. She's written scads of books about fairy tales and they are all great. Women Who Run with the Wolves is a great read, too - more Jungian perspective. I love the psychoanalytical treatments of fairy tales - am a total sucker for them.

FTNH: You mention on the website that in the workshops you study fairy tales from around the world as well as the classic cannon.

AMY: I'm not as inclusive as I'd like to be. I need more Latin American and more African tales. I am starting to get into Hawaiian stories, but only just. The main bulk of the stories I read in class are obscure European tales. I try to dig out the truly bizarre and exciting ones so my students can broaden their understanding of what fairy tales are and do.

FTNH: You have a few original fairy tales available for us to read online. I personally love The Owl and the Maiden. Can we look forward to more? Do you have any plans for a collection/anthology and having them published?

AMY: Thank you, that's so nice! I'm working on a new one right now, and will hopefully have it up on the site in the next month or so.

I'm planning an anthology of all my students' stories from this past year and I might throw my own in there, too. I'm not hot and bothered to get published in any big way. If someone comes a-courting and wants to publish some of my stories, I'll definitely think about it. But I'm not chasing the dream of Making It Big Time as an author.

FTNH: I'm hearing rumors of a 'reading party' for the workshop you held in June - can you tell me more about that?

AMY: We do a reading after each class. It gives the students something real to write for. Nothing like the fear of reading your story out loud to a room full of strangers to sharpen your authorial edge! The readings are really fun. We drink a lot of wine and eat good food beforehand, so it ends up feeling more like a party than a reading. Students from different workshops show up to cheer each other on, friends and family come out. It's a nice way to wrap up the class.

FTNH: It sounds like many people would enjoy and benefit from the workshops. Has anything about starting the Factory surprised you? Do you have any stories/anecdotes you'd like to share from your experiences in running the workshops so far?

AMY: The thing that's surprised me the most is how fun it's been. (Knock on wood.) I love my students, I love the material, and I love teaching - surprise! My crazy idea worked! That's the big shocker, the thing I'm still digesting: This wacky idea I had while sitting around in my back yard one summer is actually HAPPENING. And it's cool! That just blows my mind. I'm so grateful.

The best stories, for me, are the actual stories that the students write. Those stories are way more interesting than any personal anecdotes.

FTNH: What other plans do you have for the future of the Fairy Tale Factory? Anything online for those of us who can't travel to Seattle?

AMY: If I could figure out a way to give online students the same depth of experience I can give them in person, I would do an online class. Sadly, I haven't worked it out yet. My classes are really interactive - I work hard to build strong group relationships, which seems to be an important part of the Factory's success. When I figure out how to do it online, I definitely will.

I might build another module in which people can play with retellings and other, more modern tropes. Students would have to go through the Intro and the Intensive before they could do it, just to make sure we're all on the same page. But that's just an idea. A twinkle in my eye, as it were.

I'm also scheming to get involved with the illustration community and have a heavy art component to the Factory. I'd love to have one illustrator assigned to each story in the annual anthology, then to have a group show to coincide with the book's release. My dream is to work with artists like Jay Ryan, Milk, Julie West, Ray Caesar - pop surrealists, people coming from the graffiti world and the poster art world.

FTNH: Thank you again for agreeing to this interview! The Fairy Tale Factory sounds like a wonderful combination of education and fun and we look forward to seeing what you and your students do in the future.You can find out more about Amy, her Fairy Tale Factory and the workshops HERE.