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, but the title she was affectionately given by the press due to her constant work with and championing of fairy tales was "America's Hans Christian Andersen"*.

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

Green Hill Arts Hosting Multiple Fairy Tale Events (aka I'm Moving to Devon. I Wish)

Actually, I'd settle for a visit during this coming last week of June. At least for starters. You see, Devon (in the UK) is where Green Hill Arts lives and a LOT of fairy tale goodness happens there all year round. The end of this month, however, is particularly tempting. And if I could go but had to choose only one of the special events, I would choose the Women & Fairy Tales talk (poster shown above, info at link).

Here's the event blurb:

Fairy tales, which we now think of as children's stories, were not originally intended for children at all. Only since the 19th century have the complex, dark, sensual or bawdy tales of the oral tradition been collected, edited, and set down in print in the watered-down forms we are most familiar with today: filled with square-jawed princes and passive princesses who invariably end up living "happily ever after." 

But how many modern readers know that in older versions of Sleeping Beauty, the princess wakes up not with a chaste kiss but with the birth of twins after the prince has come and gone again? Or that Red Riding Hood's wolf demands she takes off her clothes, piece by piece, and join him in bed? Or that Rapuzel's witch first learns of the prince's secret visits when Rapunzel's belly swells with pregnancy? 

 In this talk, Terri will explore the strange, surprising history of the world's most familiar stories -- explaining why these stories have such a hold upon her, and why fairy tales still matter today -- while Howard will regale you dark, old versions of the tales that are a far, far cry from Walt Disney....

Or perhaps I'd choose the Coffee with the Artists event, because there's no way you could avoid talking fairy tales with those guys and I can just imagine all the napkin scribbles left over...

A wonderful opportunity to spend time with these three well-renowned artists who will talk about and show some of their work in an informal and intimate setting whilst you enjoy coffee and delicious cake. 

Hazel Brown is painter, illustrator, and bookmaker whose work has been published The Art of Faery and Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Letters. 

Virginia Lee is a painter, sculptor, and illustrator of The Frog Bride, Persephone, and other children's books. She also worked as a sculptor on the set of the Lord of the Ringsfilms. 

David Wyatt has illustrated numerous books including Peter Pan in Scarlet (the first authorized Peter Pan sequel), the bestselling "Larklight" books by Phillip Reaves, and fantasy classics by JRR Tolkien, Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, Brian Jacques, and others. 

Terri Windling will join the coffee morning as the discussion moderator. Terri Windling is a collage artist, folklore scholar and an award winning author of over forty books including ‘The Wood Wife’ and ‘Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells’.

But, no. I really, really want  to hear what Terri has to say about "the strange, dark history of fairy tales as stories for adults..."! I'm hoping (please?) that someone will be recording, taping, transcribing, taking notes, pics - something! - from the event so for those of us who can't go can still participate. In absentia. From the outside. After the fact. But still, I know that anything said will be good fodder for fairy tale brain cells and anything we can do to continue that "17thC French Salon" mentality of talking tales among authors, writers and thinkers, would be fantastic.

You know what? If I were in Devon I'd just go to both: scrub floors, collect dishes - heck, I'd clean puppet orifices! - and listen from the kitchen if I absolutely had to!

Let's just break from my fantasizing for a moment to exclaim over the scrumptiousness of all three Green Hill Arts posters!! If they make prints I'll happily purchase a good sized one for my wall. (Hint, hint.)

But that's not all. There are ongoing Midsummer Mythic Artists exhibitions happening right now through August 7 this year!

Midsummer – Saturday 22nd June – Wednesday 7th AugustWalking “widdershins” (counter-clockwise) is the traditional way to enter the realm of myth and enchantment. Come to Green Hill Arts this summer and let us show you the way... 

Widdershins is an exhibition of art works by a group of celebrated and internationally renowned mythical and fantasy artists. 

Dartmoor’s landscape is steeped in magic and mystery and it is home to many artists whose work is inspired by mythic themes. Widdershins showcases the work of those who live on Dartmoor (or have local connections), but whose paintings, sculptures, books and films are known far beyond: Hazel Brown, Neil Wilkinson Cave, Brian Froud, Wendy Froud, Paul Kidby, Alan Lee, Virginia Lee, Rima Staines, Terri Windling, David Wyatt.
Widdershins explores local legends, world myth, folklore and faery tales in diverse, surprising ways... and although it all starts ‘Once Upon a Time’, it is definitely not for children only. In addition to the exhibition itself, we have a full programme of mythic, magical events for adults and children. It includes artists’ talks, book-signings, storytelling, puppetry, music and much more. 

See? Clearly I should be in Devon.


But Devon isn't the only place where the fairy tale fantastic is happening (though, these few weeks, they definitely have the lion's share). Look what I missed announcing earlier this year from Australia:

Apparently there are fairy tale salons (because conversation and exchanging ideas on fairy tales, is an important part of all these) springing up all over the world!

Some lucky Victorians (that is, people at the Monash University in Victoria, Australia, just had their own salon event in May:
In Fairy Land.

You can see an online catalogue/slideshow of the fairy tale rare books they viewed and discussed HERE.

Even better, though, The Monash Fairy Tale Salon is a regular group! (Do they take penpals? Voip-pals? I want in!)

The event from the year before  is shown at right: >>> (screencap only  - links are not clickable sorry) >>>


And HERE's a brief recap of the event on the Storytelling Australia blog.

Sounds fantastic, doesn't it? I would have been there with bells on if I could. (Where's a Tardis when you need one?)

Oh, for a fairy tale passport that would whisk me to fairy tale salons and events all over the world... *sigh*

I'll leave you with an alternate poster for the exhibitions at Green Hill Arts to inspire you (and perhaps, my passport, to get it's act together in time for the Winter Solstice events... or at least Midsummer next next year!).

YASIV Visual Recommendation Search

Brother and Sister Visual Poem by Terri Windling

I couldn't think of a way to make the title of the post interesting but I think a lot of you may enjoy this great new, free service called YASIV. It's essentially a search engine connected to amazon.com which suggest books "like" a title you search for and books others bought after they purchased the book you're interested in. It also gives you a handy list on the left when it's done making it's connections (which you can watch it do) and, when it's settled you can move the page around as if it were a giant (clickable) piece of paper.

Galley Cat has mentioned the service more than once the past week and I have to admit it is a lot of fun to use.

Just one set of "branches" the YASIC engine found for Grimm's Household Tales. The actual "page" (clickable & movable) is MUCH larger.

 About Yasiv 

Yasiv is a visual recommendation service that helps people to choose the right product from Amazon's catalog. Being it a book, a perfume or a video game - Yasiv finds anything what is sold on Amazon.com. 

Let's face it: We often decide what to buy based on what others are buying. And it's not a bad thing after all. If something is bought by many of our friends there has to be a reason for that. Maybe it's good and worth its money? This is where Yasiv steps in: it shows what people are buying with other products. A link between two products means that they are often bought together. By simply observing the network of products one may guess what has more popularity and what has less. 

The site is really in it's early stages and there are many things that we want to fix. But to know what's important and what's not we need your help. Please tell us what do you like and what you don't? We would really love to hear from you. 

Yasiv is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com with no additional cost to customers. 

Andrei Kashcha 

I put in Grimm's Household Tales as an example for you but it works with any title available (or visible) through amazon.

When you click on any cover the information will come up summarized (and, again, clickable) at the right. You will also see the network connections to the book highlighted by the lines and arrows turning yellow.

It even has a product link paste function so you can literally search visually - and not just for books! Check the demo video below showing what happens:

Very fun and useful in quite a number of ways if you like to have your information presented visually! I only wish you could have the option of showing related items (eg gifts) as well as books altogether (like a product version of a visual collage on a topic or story, such as the lovely Brother and Sister visual poem of Terri Widling's at the head of the post, which shows text, images and found items) or choose to search books separately.

You can start your own searches HERE.

Speaking of interconnectedness, there's one more thing you may be interested in: I did a google image search for "connected fairy tales" and among a lot of random things there were a few that made sense: The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente, Into the Woods musical, Jim Henson's The Storyteller, Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue, ABC's Once Upon A Time, NBC's Grimm, A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz, Bill Willingham's Fables and the Brother and Sister visual poem by Terri Windling (though how it found the latter I have no idea). Various books by A.S. Byatt appeared as well.

Note: In case you're wondering: I have no affiliation with amazon. I'm just posting about the service because I think it's a great research/hunting tool for visual people, which many fairy tale lovers are. :)