Showing posts with label fairy tale society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fairy tale society. 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.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Interview Pt IV: In which we discover even more bonuses in studying 'The Fairy Tale', as well as The Carterhaugh School 'grimoire'!

"These are the courses for people who dreamed of elven battles while studying economics, those who have always sworn they could see ghosts, those who longed for a school of magic to send them an unexpected acceptance letter. The gates of Carterhaugh are open. Welcome."
Have we intrigued you into signing up to study The Fairy Tale yet? If you're needing (yet another) incentive... ta da! There's a special one-time bonus for this first 'long course' The Carterhaugh School is offering.

Welcome to Part IV and the final (sob!) section of our interview with the fairy tale mavens and marvelous magical mentors Brittany Warman and Sara Cleto, of The Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic, in which we learn about all the package trimmings and shiny extras in store, especially for those who sign up for the first Carterhaugh School long course, The Fairy Tale
Psst! If you missed the other parts of our interview, we've linked you to them directly below:
Pt 1: 'Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic' Brings Us The Best Gift Ever: Fairy Tales! 
Pt II: In which we discover what studying Carterhaugh School's 'The Fairy Tale' is like
Pt III: In which we discover the different paths of study (Scholar! Artist! Writer!) in 'The Fairy Tale' course at Carterhaugh School
Before we let our magical guests get back to weaving the wondrous course material into magical lessons (Yes. Yes it IS a virtual Hogwarts classroom for fairy tale folk!), let's find out a little more about the tangible magic bonus they're dangling offering (because who doesn't love presents?), waiting to boost your personal enchantment quota:

You've mentioned a special bonus for participants for this debut of your first 'long course'. What shiny things are you dangling to tempt us to join as soon as possible?
Ah, that is a surprise, so we can’t tell you too much, but every participant in the fairy-tale course will receive a special package in the mail containing several little items to help prepare them for their journey into Caterhaugh. Though we can’t reveal the exact contents of this package yet, we promise it will enchant and inspire.

In the real-world mail?! Even though this is a virtual, online course, you mean there will be a magical owl, or fairy godmother magically delivering an actual, bona fide, package, that we can w̶e̶a̶r̶, er, hold, to our mail boxes where m̶u̶g̶g̶l̶e̶s̶ regular folk can see proof of u̶n̶i̶c̶o̶r̶n̶s̶, our fairy tale course involvement?
Well, we can't guarantee owls or fairy godmothers, but we can assure you that yes, it will be real in the physics sense of the word, and that it definitely won't turn into a pumpkin at midnight. (As for wearing them, that's up to you...) These items will be things you can keep and are especially - and only - available to our first long course participants this coming January (2017).


So... if this course is given as a gift, it's a present that has presents 'inside' too?
Why, yes. Yes it is. That's very fairy tale isn't it? (Of course ours isn't inside a needle, inside an egg, inside a duck, inside a hare, inside a chest, buried under an oak tree, on an island in the middle of the ocean...

But we haven't even mentioned our "grimoire pages", one page PDF lesson summaries created to look like pages of an ancient spell book, and these will be available for every course taken at Carterhaugh School. The more classes you take with us, the more pages you can download, print and add to your own personal Carterhaugh grimoire! We plan to offer bonus pages as free downloads on the website as well, so watch our blog...

That settles it: this is about as irresistible an offer to study fairy tales as one could get! Where can interested folk find more information and what is the deadline for joining the fellowship (aka registration) for The Fairy Tale 10 lesson course in January?
The deadline to register for the fairy-tale course is January 15th, 2017 at midnight - we’ll post the first class the next day! All of the information about the course can be found at http://carterhaughschool.com/courses/the-fairy-tale/ . You can visit the rest of the site (http://www.carterhaughschool.com/) as well, which includes some FAQs, testimonials, information about the “grimoire pages,” and more!

Do you plan to offer this, and other folklorific and tale-licious course/s again in the future?
If it goes well, absolutely!!

What else should fairy tale folk know about The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic?
We love teaching, and we especially love teaching this material to people who are excited to learn more! We’re always happy to answer questions or chat about the course at carterhaughschool@gmail.com or on our Facebook page.

Thank you both so much for answering our questions this week! 

We're excited about all these Wonder-filled possibilities and hope our readers will perhaps meet in these virtually magical spaces of learning in the year to come. 

Best of fairy luck with the long course and may the magic spread far and wide.
For our readers, once more, here is the summary of the course details:
Dates: January 16th, 19th, 23rd, 26th, 30th, February 2nd, 6th, 9th, 13th, 16th – note that these are simply the dates that materials will be posted! You will be able to access everything indefinitely and watch whenever is most convenient to you. 
Total Number of Lessons: 10 
What’s Included: Welcome Letter, Mailed Special Welcome Package, 10 Video Lectures, 10 PowerPoint Presentations, 10 Beautiful PDF “Grimoire Page” Lesson Summaries, PDFs or Links to Any Supplementary Reading, Personal Feedback on Completed Final Assignment if Desired 
Any Additional Materials Needed: No 
Registration Closes: January 15th at Midnight 
Price: $150 – you can pay in one, two, or three installments! Full payment must be complete by the time registration closes on January 15th.
Click HERE to sign up yourself, or a lucky fairy tale friend.  
(And if you'd like to send something your friend could officially wear - or hold - you can send a t-shirt, tote, button-pin or sticker with the gorgeous Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic logo (see below next to the course schedule), through HERE! There's a special 20% off storewide till SUNDAY December 25th 2017: Use Code: ZGOODBYE2016)
And once again, we're including the course schedule below, detailing the wonderful range of tales & topics to be studied and explored, along whichever path (scholar, artist or writer) the participant chooses. It's inspiring to read all by itself:

***********************************************************************************************************************
Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic: The Fairy Tale - Course Schedule
***********************************************************************************************************************
Here is a tentative schedule for the upcoming fairy-tale course. Some of the individual stories are subject to change, but the themes for each lesson are set! Take a look:

Lesson One: January 16th, 2017
Intro to Fairy-Tale Study / Little Red Riding Hood / The Story of Grandmother


Lesson Two: January 19th, 2017
Cinderella Day – Cinderella / Donkeyskin / All Kinds of Furs / Yeh-hsien / The Princess in the Suit of Leather
Lesson Three: January 23rd, 2017
Jack Tales Day – Jack and the Beanstalk / Whickety-Whack, Into My Sack / Old Fire Dragaman
Lesson Four: January 26th, 2017
Beastly Bride Day – The Swan Maiden / The Crane Wife / The Loathly Lady / The Story of Uloopi and Arjuna
Featuring a guest lecture by the amazing Shveta Thakrar!
Lesson Five: January 30th, 2017
Awkward Husband Day – Bluebeard / The Robber Bridegroom / Mr. Fox / Fitcher’s Bird
Lesson Six: February 2nd, 2017
Sibling Day – Hansel and Gretel / Jorinde and Joringel / The Juniper Tree / Brother and Sister / Tatterhood
Lesson Seven: February 6th, 2017
Sleeping Maiden Day – Sleeping Beauty / The Ninth Captain’s Tale / Sun, Moon, and Talia / Snow White / Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree / The Glass Casket
Lesson Eight: February 9th, 2017
Search for the Lost Husband Day – Beauty and the Beast / Hans My Hedgehog / Small Toothed Dog / The Pig King / East of the Sun, West of the Moon
Lesson Nine: February 13th, 2017
Salon Day – The White Cat / The Great Green Worm / The Rose Cloud
Lesson Ten: February 16th, 2017
The Golden Key / Wrap Up
***********************************************************************************************************************
To our readers: we will endeavor to keep you all on owl-alert with any news and magical reports coming out of Carterhaugh. Stay tuned!
* All artwork is by Dulac, except for the Carterhaugh School logo.

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Issue 02 of the AFTS Ezine: 'Frog King, or Iron Henry' Sneak Peek!

It may have been a little quiet on the fairy tale news front from our newsroom this week, but that doesn't mean we're not working our tails off (take that to mean what you will).

We're in the final pages of layout for the Member Exclusive ezine for The Australian Fairy Tale Society, and this one is packed with excellent new fairy tale works by members on the theme of The Frog King, or Iron Henry.

Above is a sneak preview of the cover and though we don't want to give too much away, we can tell you we are going behind the scenes of two internationally acclaimed artists to see their process of 'transformation', we have new short stories, essays, froggy fairy tale history, a never-released frog king song and much, much more.

Going to miss out because you're not a member? Now is the perfect time to sign up and get exclusive access to our 30-ish page unique fairy tale magazine! You don't need to reside in Australia to join - you just need to support the research, use and creation of fairy tales and folk who love them, in Australia.

For $25 annual membership you receive the 20+ page ezine every second month (6 issues a year), discounts to fairy tale events, exclusive fairy tale reference and research lists (put together by our qualified librarian and historian), many opportunities to network with professional writers, artists and scholars, all of whom love and work in fairy tales, and opportunities for publication of your work.

We think that's a pretty good deal.

Much magic is happening in fairy tale realms Down Under these days! Join HERE today and Issue 02 will be winging your way shortly.

In the meantime, posts may be a little sparse as our key personnel are in crunch time, but we should be returning to our regularly scheduled - and more - fairy tale news posts in a few days.

Disclaimer: Our resident Fairy Tale News Hound, Gypsy Thornton, is a founding member of the AFTS, Committee Member, and Editor and Designer for the AFTS Member Ezine. She receives no remuneration for her work and no profit is made on this publication. All work is done in the aim of supporting AFTS members in their fairy tale journeys.

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Australian Fairy Tale Society Launches Unique Tale-Themed Member Ezine

Front cover of AFTS Ezine Issue 01; illustration included by A H Watson 1939
Full disclosure: I am intimately involved with this project. I am Editor and Designer, and my incredibly talented fairy-sister Louisa John-Krol (internationally acclaimed indie musician, with a voice like fae bells, who runs a fascinating fairy/fairy tale blog of her own) is my Co-editor, part time Muse, creative life-saver and Rock. We are both Founding Members of the Australian Fairy Tale Society, have a great passion for the work the society is doing and are also committee members.
The Australian Fairy Tale Society (AFTS) has just launched a special new fairy tale ezine (electronic magazine) for registered members, and it's quite different from anything else out there.

The ezine will be published every second month, in between 'Fairy Tale Ring' meetings, where members meet to have tea/coffee and chat about the Tale of the Month; from academic musings, to creative inspiration. Apart from providing members with something unique and exclusive for their membership fees, the ezine aims to support and share the creation of new and excellent fairy tale works, inspired by these meetings. From essays to poems, short stories to music, visual art to plays, interviews to Australian national fairy tale news and much more, the ezine will focus on sharing newly created fairy tale works.
Rumpelstilzchen Valerian Gillar 1947 (not included in ezine)
Members also receive the amazing and wonderful Reading Reference, and Points to Ponder lists every second month, researched by Ring Maiden and qualified fairy tale librarian, Jo Henwood (Co-Founder of the AFTS). They're sent out before the meetings to help attendees prepare for the conversations, to be inspired by the many aspects and considerations with regard to the tale and to support the creation of new works inspired by it. (You can read the lists for Jack and the Beanstalk and The Little Mermaid, without being a member, HERE.)
Rumpekstilzchen Liebermann 1929

Each issue will have the theme of the meeting from the month before (eg July's Tale of the Month was discussing Rumpelstiltskin, so all the content for Issue 01 Aug/Sep was Rumpelstiltskin related), with each issue having many illustrations (both public domain and used by permission), and an analogous color palette inspired by the tale as well. As you might have guessed, the Rumpelstiltskin issue was gold. (There is a limited page preview which non-members can view, of Issue 01, HERE.)
Rumpelstilzchen Thekla Brauer 1910 (not included in ezine)

Here's a hastily taken, sneak peek of a few of the interior pages from the Editor's desktop as we were finishing up the final details, right before publishing a couple of weeks ago:
Even though the ezine is focused on Australian members, there is plenty there for fairy tale folk around the world to enjoy. (The first issue was 32 page chock-full of Rumpelstitskin exploration.) While the society is still experimenting with how to connect long distance members for inclusion in fairy tale ring meetings via online resources, at $25 for a year's membership fee, just receiving 6 issues a year is still a fairy tale bargain, even if networking is, for the moment, limited. (You can read the membership details and choose to join through this page on the AFTS website HERE.)

Rear cover of AFTS Ezine Issue 01
Image included by Walter Crane 1882
And did I mention the publishing opportunity? AFTS members are encouraged to submit their work for inclusion in the ezine. While a certain standard of excellence is expected, and the Submission Guidelines are fairly typical for publishing, the Editorial Troupe also expects to work with newer artists and writers to assist in polishing work they could easily include in a professional portfolio.

Excerpt. from AFTS Ezine Issue 01
Illustration by A J Gaskin 1894

For Australian AFTS members at home or abroad, who are also regular readers of Once Upon A Blog, we hope you are busy thinking about September's Tale of the Month, The Frog King, or Iron Henry, as the Rings begin to meet, and are ready to discuss all aspects of slimy suitors and be inspired by themes of transformation and learning respect...

Note: The Australian Fairy Tale Society is an Australian national registered non-profit organization with pending ROCO (Register of Cultural Organizations) status. 

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Your Fairy Tale News Hound Is Now A Card Carrying Founding Member of the AFTS!

It's official!
It has been a week teetering on insanity (exactly how many days can one go without sleep?) but I've nearly made it to the end and will be able to bring you daily news again shortly... (after I catch 40 winks!)

Very quickly, an exciting bit of my news that arrived by mail box this week: I am now, officially, a card-carrying founding member of the AFTS (Australian Fairy Tale Society)! *does backflip* *imagines she's doing a backflip while pouring a celebratory glass of wine*

Australia is rich with many (many!) authors who work with fairy tales, fairy tale artists and filmmakers and those using innovative approaches to fairy tale scholarship. You might be surprised how many names you already know, but didn't realize hark from Oz! (I'm aiming to highlight some of these people around the time of the inaugural conference taking place on June 9th.)

The AFTS is brand new and needs support to help get things running, with the intent that their work will not only benefit Australians working in fairy tales, but will also be of use to scholars, students, artists and enthusiasts all over the world.

To this end, AFTS has a crowd-funding campaign with the option to become a founding member at the same time as well (no Australian citizenship required).They (we!) are now a little over half-way funded in the modest goal of $2000. If regular Once Upon A Blog readers donated just the minimum, we'd easily meet the goal and fill the kitty!

Please consider donating to help this important - and much needed - society, start it's daunting work in earnest. Every little bit helps.
Here is a little summary of the AFTS' objectives:
The objectives of the Australian Fairy Tale Society as set out in our extremely new constitution are:  
To investigate, appreciate and perform fairy tales within the Australian context through: 
• Collecting original Australian fairy tales, fairy tale adaptations, interpretations, and criticism, through research within existing collections and in the field. 
• Organising and cataloguing this fairy tale collection meaningfully for maximum accessibility by Australian and international researchers, folklorists, educators and creatives. 
• Analysing this fairy tale collection according to evolving manifestations of Australian cultural identity  
• Communicating this investigation through: interpersonal discussions (conferences and small groups); the publication of written articles; digital resources (websites, social media, teleconferencing)  
• Building a community of interest across Australia, (academics, folklorists, performers) in national and local groups, which can communicate with like-minded communities internationally.  
• Promoting Australian fairy tale retellings in all forms 
• Encouraging the creation of new fairy tale works (literary, visual, musical and performative). 
• Analysing this fairy tale collection according to evolving manifestations of Australian cultural identity  
• Communicating this investigation through: interpersonal discussions (conferences and small groups); the publication of written articles; digital resources (websites, social media, teleconferencing)  
• Building a community of interest across Australia, (academics, folklorists, performers) in national and local groups, which can communicate with like-minded communities internationally.  
• Promoting Australian fairy tale retellings in all forms 
• Encouraging the creation of new fairy tale works (literary, visual, musical and performative).
The status of the crowd-funding campaign on May 22, 2014

Friday, May 2, 2014

The Australian Fairy Tale Society Awakens After a Hundred Year Sleep!

AFTS logo by Regan Kubecek
The world has a new Fairy Tale Society. In Australia! (Woot!!) *fistpump*

It's called, coincidentally, the Australian Fairy Tale Society. (The temporary online home, until the official launch in June, is HERE.)

Welcome to the world AFTS!

But the creation of this society is really a continuation of work that began one hundred (ish) years ago...
"One hundred years ago (or thereabouts) the eminent folklorist and fairy tale collector Joseph Jacobs might have been Australia’s answer to the Brothers Grimm. Jacobs was born, raised and university educated in Sydney but he moved to England in the late 19th Century to gather and publish fairy tales there. Meanwhile our rich tapestry of tales grew, yet there was no comprehensive endeavour to collect, analyse and preserve Australian fairy tales... until now."
To help make the organization the best possible resource for the collection and preservation of Australia fairy tales and to support current and new work, the new Australian Fairy Tale Society launched a crowd funding project on Monday April 28 to help them get off the ground.
As well as collecting folklore, the AFTS national website* will promote current events, share fairy tale news, inspire new works, and encourage a strong network of fairy tale lovers across the land. The society will hold annual conferences and encourage discussion groups to form across the country. (*To be launched at the conference.)
by Regan Kubecek
With a crowd funding project that launched on Monday April 28, an inaugural conference on Monday 9th June, and a new national website, the Australian Fairy Tale Society (AFTS) has broken the
spell."
But they don't just want your monetary help. They looking to launch an active and ongoing collection of fairy tales in Australia:
Does Grandma tell a bawdy version of Little Red Riding Hood? Did Cinderella make her way into your childhood rhyming games? Know any good Beauty and the Beast jokes? We're searching for Australian fairy tale folklore for our new collection.
Take a look at the video to see more about the new Australian Fairy Tale Society and what they (we!) hope to do with the support of contributors (and, like most crowd-funded projects, there are some great gifts and perks, according to your donation amount - see website for details HERE).
Being a long way from home myself, I am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be a way for supporters afar to participate or spectate but nothing has been confirmed as yet. If this changes and the conference participants (or attendees) jump on Twitter, Skype or Facebook for any panel or presentation (and I get a heads up) I will definitely let you know ASAP so you can plan your live participation with the time differences etc.

Here are some event details confirmed to date (more details on papers & panels below the poster):



  • Best selling and award-winning author Kate Forsyth will present her paper 'Rapunzel in the Antipodes' and be on our discussion panel looking at 'Cultural Editing: How some fairy tales get lost in the woods'.
  • Sarah Gibson - Jungian analyst, creator of Re-enchantment and the Fairy Tales Re-imagined Symposiums - will address the 'Ways of Interpreting Fairy Tales', with a focus on Australian visual artists.
  • Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario, who researches and teaches fairy tale, children's and fantasy literature at Monash University in Melbourne, will break open the definition of fairy tale in her exploration of 'Baroque in Oz: From Giambattista Basile to Shaun Tan'.
  • Belinda Calderone, who runs the Monash Fairy Tale Salon and is completing her PhD on motherhood in fairy tales, will present her paper 'Strange Lands: The transportation of European fairy tales into the Australian landscape'.
  • Jo Henwood, storyteller and co-founder of the AFTS, will tell 'An Australian Thumbelina' replete with "dingoes, wombats, echidnas and lorikeets" at the June conference.
  • Vasilisa Fair by Regan Kubecek
      Jenni Cargill-Strong - storyteller, singer, and founder of The Storytree Company - will share her research on the Little Red Riding Hood tale on our discussion panel looking at 'Cultural Editing: How some fairy tales get lost in the woods'.
    • Griffith University Honours student Sophie MacNeill will complete our discussion panel looking at 'Cultural Editing: How some fairy tales get lost in the woods' with her extensive knowledge of Snow White.
    • Storyteller and researcher, Tobias Eccles, will look at a common thread weaving through locally collected tales in his paper 'Stealing from the Sky, Stealing from the Underworld: The heroic thief in Australian fairy tales'.
    • Danielle Wood, who is working on her second collection of original fairy tales, will present a reading of her latest book 'Mothers Grimm' at the conference.
    • Robyn Floyd will be presenting her paper 'Constructing Australian Fantasy from a Grimm Perspective: Olga Ernst' followed by a storytelling performance of one of Olga's stories.

    There will also be some fairy tale artists and writers present for panels, meet and greets and signings of their works and books.

    If you're not in Australia, but still want to show your support for this new (and huge!) fairy tale endeavor, please feel free to contact the lovely and very friendly duo who got AFTS off the ground, Reilly McCarron and Jo Henwood, either via the AFTS Facebook page HERE or the crowd funder site HERE.

    Although I dearly wish I could be there in person, I will most definitely be there in spirit. 

    Note: all the art shown is, as credited below the images, by Aussie illustrator Regan Kubecek, who both created the AFTS logo and is the (unofficial at this time) AFTS artist. Ms. Kubecek also recently created a set of fairy tale illustrations which you can see HERE.