2018 Australian Fairy Tale Society Conference on June 10th Is Garden Themed! (And Being Held at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney)

Have you ever wondered about the herbs, flowers or seeds that turn up in fairy tales? Would you like to learn more about the symbolism or practical uses of plants over the centuries? Is grass really greener on the other side of a fairy fence? How about a little shade with your sunshine?Welcome to the 2018 AFTS 5th Annual Fairy Tale Conference
‘Gardens of Good & Evil: Growing Life, Plucking Death.’ 

What is it? 5th annual national conference of the Australian Fairy Tale Society 

When is it? Sunday 10th June, 2018 

Where is it? Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney (NSW, Australia) 

Who is the Keynote Speaker this year? Bestselling author, scholar and storyteller Kate Forsyth. 

Who can attend? Anyone who is a fairy tale enthusiast! Our conference generally appeals to writers, illustrators, publishers, storytellers, academics, budding scholars and many other disciplines manifested by enthusiasts of fairy tales. 

What AFTS specific items are included on the conference agenda? 

• Annual AGM  
• AFTS communal quilt project 
• 2018 Australian Fairy Tale Society Award Presentation (which honours a person who has significantly contributed to Australian fairy tales, through literature, academia, art, or performances. Nominees for this year’s award include authors Dr Kate Forsyth and Kevin Price, and Australian fairy tale expert Dr Robyn Floyd.)  
• Milestone Membership Celebration  

What is the cost? There are two parts to the conference this year! A free-to-public segment with the registered guest conference presentations following. 

         Free-to-public segment noon-2pm is free. 

         It is interactive and family-friendly, featuring a fairy tale garden tour, puppet show with Frank’s Fantastic Fairy Tale Theatre, presentation on ‘The Language of Flowers’ and storytelling with Thrive Story. [PSSST! Come in costume - we dare you! Fairies love giving prizes for magical things like the maddest hat, most abundant garland, leafiest cloak and jumpiest boots!]

         Remainder of conference (9am to noon + 2pm - 5:15pm) is for registered guests:

$95 Full Price
$85 AFTS Member Discount conference + membership
         OR 

Registration for Conference ONLY:
$65 AFTS Member Discount conference only
$85 Friends of Royal Botanic Garden, or Students

Botanical explorer, natural history author and artist
Cheralyn Darcy will talk to us about the
'Language of Flowers in Fairy Tales'.

PRESENTATIONS SNEAK PEEK FOR OUR READERS!

Dr. Kate Forsyth (Scholar, storyteller, international bestselling author & 2018 Keynote Speaker): “Edward Burne-Jones’s obsession with ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and the motif of the rose”
Her novel Beauty in Thorns is the story of Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones’s obsession with the Sleeping Beauty fairy-tale and the symbolic meaning of flowers, e.g. the wild rose in ‘The Legend of Briar Rose’. Kate is one of Australia’s best-known writers, with over a million copies sold around the world. Later in the day, Kate will perform the tale of Katie Crackernuts.

Robyn Floyd, Phillippa Adgemis, Christine Shiel: “A garden always has a point.” (Elizabeth Hoyt, The Raven Prince)
What is the point of the garden, the bush, the landscape in folktales? Follow Christine, Robyn and Phillippa down a wonderland ‘rabbit hole’ as they explore the impact of transplanting traditional tales into new natural environments: the garden, the bush, the island. They'll present a dialogue (trialogue?) that questions the effect of various natural settings on mannerisms, behaviour and appearance of characters in retold/ adapted fairy tales and mythologies.

What if this small press shifted its focus to
forgotten tales from folklore and fairy-tale retellings?

Monique Mulligan, Editorial Director of Serenity Press

tells a story of serendipity and shares upcoming projects.

Graham Ross (Storyteller & Historian):  “The Australian Fairy Tale Princess” - the story of a nameless Australian Princess, orally performed (not read).
It is intended to be historically allusive, yet told in a fairy tale genre (i.e. palace, royal garden, fairy godparents, magic), and aims to deepen interest in the life and work of the Australian painter Ellis Rowan (1848-1922). Graham has been telling stories in an oral tradition for many years, sometimes under the auspices of the local chapter of Storytelling Australia (SA). He is President of this chapter and convenor of the Fairy Ring in South Australia. He comes from an eclectic background of psychology, teacher education and performing arts.

Natalie Phillips (Postgraduate Student): “Fairy Tale Rings”
The fairy ring is an intriguing natural phenomenon. Scientifically it is the result of mycelium (fungal threads) absorbing nutrients in the soil, which present as a ring of darker grass, or dead grass, or mushrooms (Rutter 60). Its presence in folklore is more convoluted. It can mean a trap, luring unsuspecting mortals; or a portal to a magical world, protection or fortune. This academic paper explores the fairy ring in folktales, art and literature. It will break down elements intrinsic to this phenomenon — magical, scientific, symbolic — to explain why the fairy ring captivates imaginations. [Rutter, Gordon. “Fairy Rings”. Field Mycology 3.2 (2002): 56-60. ScienceDirect. Web. 15 Jan. 2018.] Natalie is a doctoral candidate with the Writing and Society Research Centre at Western Sydney University. Her thesis focuses on symbols and personifications of death in literature.

What is the point of the garden, the bush, the landscape
in folktales? Christine, Robyn and Phillippa explore the
impact of transplanting traditional tales into new
natural environments: the garden, the bush, the island.

Helen Hopcroft (Manager of Frank’s Fantastic Fairy Tale Theatre): “Rapunzel and Spinach”
FFFTT is a portable puppet theatre in Maitland, telling traditional fairy tales in new ways for contemporary families. All their puppets, stories, costumes and props are handmade, loosely based on the Queen’s Theatre at Versailles. Plays are between 5-20 minutes, appealing to children aged 4-10 years. With a crew of six including a storyteller, MC and sound technician, it’ll take you on a magical journey into imagination! Helen has a PhD in English & Writing at the University of Newcastle, focusing on the Arabian Nights and Western- European fairy tales. She’s co-published an article in Marvels & Tales.

Cheralyn Darcey (Botanical Explorer, Natural History Author and Artist): “The Language of Flowers
in Fairy Tales”
Thumbelina was born in a Tulip. In the Language of Flowers, this blossom speaks of
desires, yet warns of being swept away with inclinations of others. Keeping the language of flowers alive is an oral folklore tradition for learning plant usage for food, building materials, rituals, medicine and creativity along with growing cycles or dangers of poisons, illustrating concepts to advance happy, healthy, sociable lives. We’ll explore the botanical history of flowers, their meanings and how they relate to Fairy Tales. Cheralyn Darcey is a botanical explorer, organic gardener and internationally published author and illustrator of titles focused on the enthnobotanical qualities of plants, especially flowers. She has a regular segment on ABC Radio, ‘Flower of the Fortnight’.

Morgan Bell will teach us how to Interpret Evil Plants.
'Sproutlings: A Compendium of Little Fictions' constructs new
plant-based fables and folklore; and anthropomorphising botanical malice.

Liz Locksley (founding Storyteller of Thrive Story): “Goblin’s Gold”: a storytelling experience
A fragment of Goblin’s Gold, is snatched from behind a wizard in a cave on the wooded escarpment of
Alderley Edge. In it lives a resilient Tardigrade, one of Planet Earth's most tenacious creatures, likely to outlive all our anthropogenic catastrophes. Hear the tale of a lifelong quest, of Goblin’s Gold and the Tardigrade. Goblins’ Gold, also called Schistostega pennata and luminescent moss, is known for glowing and growing in dark places. Unlike any other moss, the Tardigrade, or Water Bear, is perhaps the most resilient creature on Earth. It can survive a wide range of temperatures and environments, perhaps even a cosmic catastrophe. Liz Locksley is founder of Thrive Story exploring narratives about love for life that works creatively with complexity, conflict and upheaval.

Morgan Bell (Writer): “Interpreting Evil Plants” (discussion, book launch)
In 2016 Morgan published an anthology Sproutlings: A Compendium of Little Fictions. She asked authors to write flash fiction on the theme of wicked weeds. They interpreted the challenge referencing Greek, Cornish, and Welsh myths; constructing new plant-based fables and folklore; and anthropomorphising botanical malice. The anthology compares these new works to classics from Poe, Lawson, Orwell, Lawrence, Wells, Alcott, and Wilde. Morgan Bell is an author and editor. Her works include Sniggerless Boundulations, Laissez Faire and Sproutlings. She is a technical writer, member of the Newcastle Shakespeare Society, and teacher of creative writing at U3A. Her story ‘Midnight Daisy’ was awarded a Story Commendation by the She: True Stories project, with readings on 1233 ABC Newcastle and 2014 Newcastle Writers Festival. She has written many other award-winning stories.

Natalie Phillips' academic paper will explore the
use of the fairy ring in selected folktales, art,
and literature. It will break down key elements intrinsic
to this phenomenon — the magical, the scientific, and the symbolic.

Marianna Shek and Leila Honari (author & illustrator respectively): “The Silk Road - Cultivating a Hybrid Garden”
The creative journey behind The Stolen Button picture book, a fairy tale on the Silk Road. They will discuss development behind the book with themes of migration, displacement and multicultural stories in an Australian landscape. The Silk Road is a hybrid garden, a space to portray an exotic other, where wands, dragons and goblins mingle with nagas, djinns and huli jings. This Q&A leads to an exhibition of Leila Honari’s art. Leila and Marianna worked on The Stolen Button while teaching and completing PhDs in the animation dept at Griffith Film School. Marianna is a transmedia writer working with non-linear narratives. Her latest work If The Shoe Fits won first place in the 2017 Conflux Short Story comp. She has forthcoming works in anthologies by Tiny Owl Workshop. Leila’s research investigates the mandala structure of Persian mystical stories. Her projected installation Farsh-e-Parandeh (Flying Carpet) is available for exhibitions.

Monique Mulligan, Lorena Carrington & Kate Forsyth
tell the story behind the creation of
Vasilisa the Wise & Other Tales of Brave Young Women
at this year's conference.

Monique Mulligan (Editorial Director of Serenity Press): “Growing beautiful stories: Keeping the
flame alive”
Serenity Press is an independent publisher now focussing on folklore, fairy-tale retellings and original fairy tales, keeping traditional stories and storytelling alive by fostering understanding and
enjoyment of folklore, fairy tales and myth. An editor, author, founder of the Stories on Stage programme in Perth and journalist, Monique published Vasilisa the Wise and Other Tales of Brave Young Women in 2017, feminist fairy-tales retold by Kate Forsyth, illustrated by Lorena Carrington*. These tales of female courage and cleverness, an antidote to the assumption that classic fairy-tales feature passive princesses. Set in forests, secret gardens and wild seashores, they contain motifs inspired by nature – a doll made of wood, a hazel- twig wand, roses, a silver castle hanging from oak trees, a wooden flute that summons a griffin, primarily created out of detritus from forest floors – leaves, bones, moss, twigs, seeds, mushrooms.

*Exhibitors include several visual artists, among them one of our panelists Lorena Carrington, a photographic artist and illustrator with an interest in lost and forgotten fairy tales. Her work delves deeply into themes around life and death, good and evil, created from her garden and surrounding landscape. Other exhibitors or participating visual artists include Debra Phillips, Erin-Claire Barrow and Spike Deane.

Considering the garden location of the conference chosen for this year's theme, are there any venue specific presentations? Yes! From noon to 2pm, various venues will host free events focusing on the conference’s theme. These include presentations exploring the relationship between nature and magic within the Australian landscape. The diverse program offers activities for all-ages such as puppetry by Frank’s Fantastic Fairy Tale Theatre, garden tours, and an interactive presentation on ‘The Language of Flowers in Fairy Tales’. The enchanting Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney will be host to bookstalls, exhibitions, and a quilting display with a fairy tale motif, handcrafted by members of fairy rings from various states and territories. Conference presentations (papers, performances, panels & more) follows for registered guests. 

The Australian Fairy Tale Society is a national not-for-profit community of writers,

academics, artists, and performers dedicated to exploring, reinterpreting, and creating fairy tales through Australian perspectives. 

It’s $25 to join the Australian Fairy Tale Society. Annual membership benefits include free
participation in fairy tale rings, exclusive access to our Ezine, Reading Refs and Points to Ponder,
discounts, participation in creative projects or contests, and networking with fairy tale enthusiasts in
a highly interdisciplinary, intergenerational, intercultural, inclusive ethos. Welcome!

To register or become a member:

Official website: http://australianfairytalesociety.wordpress.com/

Email:  austfairytales@gmail.com

NOTE: All official graphics for the 2018 AFTS Conference (seen here) were created by the talented Spike Deane!

Theater: 'The Salonniéres' Premieres In Fall This Year (Greater Boston Stage Company)

Poster by J. Weston Lewis

Doesn't this poster look amazing?! Fairy tale writers, storytellers and revolutionaries make for a great lens to view this period in history and we're guessing d'Aulnoy will feature... (please let it be so!) What a wonderful concept for a play. (We can't believe this is the first we've heard of this play from 2015!) The conversations and storytelling in a fairy tale salon, layered with all the social and political intrigue and chaos of the time, would be fascinating to watch. We wish we were local to check this out. 

Here's the info:

THE SALONNIÉRES

October 25-November 11, 2018

World Premiere

by Liz Duffy Adams

Directed by Weylin Symes

In pre-Revolutionary Paris, a young girl is promised in marriage to a Duke to pay off her father’s debts. She flees to the literary salon of her late mother’s friends: aristocratic women who conceal radical politics within reinvented folk tales. Which of them is her fairy godmother, and which the cruel stepmother? Is the Duke a Prince Charming or a Beast? And is the maid just a maid, or the hero of a story none of them knows they are in?

Here's a different description from New Plays Exchange (where the GBSC found the play!):

The Salonniéres  by Liz Duffy Adams

Cast: 5

Genre: comedy, drama, period, political

Keyword: revolution, feminism, Fairy Tales, France, strong female leads 

In pre-Revolutionary Paris, Madeleine, a girl fresh from the convent, is promised in marriage to an older nobleman to pay off her father’s debts. She flees to the literary salon of her late mother’s friends, aristocratic women who conceal radical politics within reinvented folk tales. When her promised husband shows up too, the women must use their wits to save Madeleine. But in the end, the maid Françoise is revealed as the real hero of a story they didn’t realize they were in.

And the recommendations from New Plays Exchange (NPX):

• Jordan Elizabeth Henry:
  29 Apr. 2018“ This wonderful period piece blew me away with its accessibility, its honoring of story, its depth of character, its crazy-high stakes, and its charm. The ending made me want to stand up and shout; I had fiery grateful feminist tears in my eyes. THE SALONNIERES is full of humor, horror, and badass women. I'm obsessed. ” 

  Kristen Palmer:
  22 Oct. 2017“ This play is so sharp. I got to hear it read recently and it soared off the page and into my head. It's a wonderful play for the moment - and puts the male canon firmly into the hands of the too long over looked women of its era - with the revolution rumbling just outside the door. ”

This is one play we'll be watching for reviews of. (And if you're in Boston and want to go in exchange for a review, please let us know. We might be able to help you get there...) 

Check out the 2018/2019 season line-up at The Greater Boston Stage Company HERE.

Jack Zipes: "Speaking the Truth with Fairy Tales" FREE Seminar Tonight (May 24, 2018) at Goldsmiths University London!

"The faithful giant could think of nothing better to do than to set the carriage on his head."
Illustration from "Poucinet" (Finnish) from Last Fairy Tales by Édouard Laboulaye, Mary Louise Booth

Jack Zipes: Speaking the Truth with Fairy Tales

Introduced and chaired by Professor Michael Rosen

"Our fondness for fairy tales, their popularity in all social classes, stems from their profound truths that can be glimpsed from the diverse human conflicts depicted in the narratives and the insistence on social justice. They attract us because they contain what we lack: social justice and characters who struggle and demand to live in truth. In many ways, fairy tales with their metaphorical allusions are more truthful than so-called realistic stories because they are generally endowed with a sense of social justice that we do not find in our societies. The formation of the genre fairy tale is predicated on the collusion and cooperation of people from different social classes and backgrounds and the retelling, and rewriting of tales that are ageless and relevant to people’s lives.  

"In my own work, almost from the very beginning of my research, I developed a strong predisposition to discover and preserve the works of neglected writers and storytellers who have sought to pierce the spectacles and illusions created by the reigning forces of culture in their respective countries. To my mind, these writers and storytellers have offered alternative ways of thinking with fairy tales that have excited me and given me the courage to try to live and work in truth. Most recently I have encountered three nineteenth and early twentieth-century European authors whose works address present-day conflicts and demand that we rethink how to deal with tyranny that has raised its ugly head in too many places in today’s world. Their truths are at the center of my talk."

Details to attend the FREE event are HERE. 

DATE AND TIME

Thu 24 May 2018

5:30pm - 8:00pm BST

The time slot includes the talk, questions and a drinks reception

LOCATION

Goldsmiths, University of London

8 Lewisham Way (LG02 PSH)

London SE14 6NW

United Kingdom

Biography: 

Jack Zipes is Professor Emeritus of German and comparative literature at the University of Minnesota. Some of his recent publications include: Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre (2006), Relentless Progress: The Reconfiguration of Children's Literature, Fairy Tales, and Storytelling (2008), The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films (2010), The Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre (2012), The Golden Age of Folk and Fairy Tales: From the Brothers Grimm to Andrew Lang (2013), and Grimm Legacies: The Magic Power of Fairy Tales (2014). He has also translated the first 1812/15 edition of the Grimms' tales, The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (2014), and Giuseppe Pitrè’s, Caterina the Wise and Other Wondrous Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales (2017). Most recently he has published The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: An Anthology of Magical Tales, (2017) and Tales of Wonder: Retelling Fairy Tales through Picture Postcards (2017).

Editor Rejects Her Own Story (Timeless Tales Magazine)

Written by Tahlia Merrill Kirk (Editor of Timeless Tales Magazine)


A couple weeks ago, I wrote a guest blog post over at JL Writers about all the challenges writers face when retelling Snow White. It basically summarized the biggest problems I've run into while reading submissions for our upcoming issue. But let's be honest: It's easy to spot weaknesses in a story--it's a whole different ball game having to actually write a retelling that avoids these pitfalls.

In the interest of keeping myself humble, I dusted off an old Snow White retelling that I wrote 10 years ago when I was a freshman in college. My initial thought before re-reading it was that I would insert it into our 5-year Anniversary issue as a bonus story, but now I'm not so sure. It's a perfectly nice story--a Snow White/Psyche & Cupid crossover, in fact. But it has enough problems that I can't just pop it into the magazine without revising it first.

So I thought I'd pretend that this is a story I received in my submissions inbox and use it as an example of how I analyze a retelling. Feel free to play along and leave comments with your own feedback or suggestions on how I should revise it! 

Note: I apologize that the resolution on these images isn't crystal clear. I spent two days fighting with my computer and this was the best I could manage. If you'd rather read it as a high res PDF, here's a link.

 

 

Alright, still with us? So if I received this story in my inbox, I would probably give it a 7 out of 10 rating, which means it would be guaranteed a second read later down the line. 8's and 9's are my "Almost Definitely Yes" pile and 6's and 7's are my "Right on the Edge" pile. When I circle back to it, I'd spend a lot of time agonizing over whether the pros outweigh the cons. Do I have a clear idea about how to explain the changes I would want made to the writer? Are those changes likely to be welcomed by the writer or will it take their story in a direction they might be unhappy about? How does this story fit with the others I want to accept? Does it have a similar tone/setting/perspective from what I've already accepted or does it fill an obvious gap? Let's imagine that my conclusion is to reject this story. Despite all the notes I've made, this is all that makes it into my rejection letter:

Dear Tahlia,

Thank you for submitting your ​Snow White ​retelling to Timeless Tales. After reading it and carefully considering, we will not be publishing it. However, I really enjoyed your unique premise (Psyche is my favorite Greek myth!). Although your writing style is strong, I felt like your protagonist Vanessa was underdeveloped and the romance was mostly told from Eros' perspective. I wanted to see more of her personality and agency come through.

Best of luck to you finding a home for it elsewhere and thank you so much for sending it our way. We certainly encourage you to submit for our next issue.

Our next theme is still TBD, but we often decide themes by letting our readers vote. To be notified when polls open for our next theme, subscribe to our newsletter via our homepage.​The newsletter will also send you occasional Timeless Tales updates and information about submission window​s​.

Thank you so much!

          ​Tahlia Merrill Kirk
         Editor of Timeless Tales Magazine
         www.timelesstalesmagazine.com


And that's how it's done, folks. Now you know why it takes me fricken' forever to go through my submission pile every issue. The time I'll spend jotting down notes on each submission varies, but this level of detail isn't unheard of when I'm feeling conflicted about a story.

Do you agree with my assessment? Am I being too hard on myself? Not hard enough? Did I miss something? Only time will tell if I end up finding a way to revise this story (I have a few ideas rattling around). Be sure to check the Table of Contents when you read our Snow White issue (coming soon!). Even if I don't, though, I promise the ten pieces we're publishing are all AMAZING and will blow your mind with their twists on this fairy tale. 

"The Prince and the Dressmaker" Graphic Novel Gets Optioned by Universal

If you're not aware of the graphic novel, The Prince and the Dressmaker, and are interested in how fairy tales are being told differently especially now that it's clear more diversity is needed in our collections and canon, you should check out this one by Jen Wang. Here's the description:

Paris, at the dawn of the modern age:Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride—or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia—the hottest fashion icon in the world capital of fashion! 

 

Sebastian’s secret weapon (and best friend) is the brilliant dressmaker Frances—one of only two people who know that sometimes this boy is a girl. But Frances dreams of greatness, and being someone’s secret weapon means being a secret. Forever. How long can Frances live in Sebastian’s closet? Jen Wang weaves an exuberantly romantic tale of identity, young love, art, and family. A fairy tale for any age, The Prince and the Dressmaker will steal your heart.

And here's a brief preview of the pages, to give you an idea of how sweet it is.

Wang says the book is close to her heart as it's the first story she's written for her (younger) self:

“I wanted a story that explored questions about gender and self-identity in a way that was also really colorful and fun and positive. The personal themes are there, but also lots of dresses and princesses. The idea was to create my ideal Disney movie, and writing this has genuinely been one of the most fun, liberating, experiences I’ve had making comics. My awkward confused fourteen year-old self would’ve really connected with this book and I hope it does the same for other young readers." (Diversity In YA)

Even with the obvious issues of challenging gender norms, and family and societal expectations (for both the dressmaker and the prince), the book never gets preachy and doesn't words such as queer, gender-norms, LGBT, transvestite, etc, which is one of its most powerful storytelling features. Instead of talking at the reader and giving labels, it just tells the story of two good friends who have their own challenges and dreams, how neither of them fit what is expected of them, and what they choose to do about it. It's a tale in which everyone can see themselves, including people who don't identify with traditional gender identity and expectations - and that's freeing for everyone.

The graphic novel has been a big hit since it was released in February this year, and the lovely balance of storytelling, art and the feel-good story of friendship and reaching for one's dreams, has - as expected - caught the attention of Hollywood.

From Deadline:

Universal Pictures and Marc Platt have snapped up feature rights to The Prince and the Dressmaker, a graphic novel from Jen Wang which has crossover YA elements in it and in more ways than one. The story is a sweet one, it is about the friendship between a seamstress named Frances and a Prince named Sebastian, whose parents are looking for a bride for him. We were told this was a competitive bidding situation.  

...The book, which examines identity, love, family relationships and sexuality, was brought into the company by Marc Platt Productions’ Adam Siegel (Drive). Senior VP of production Kristin Lowe will oversee production on behalf of Universal Pictures.

Will it be animated? It seems there's a good possibility of that, but no development has yet begun for the feature. It's clear Wang would enjoy seeing an animated production so as to be close to "the Disney movie I always wanted", and it would delight the fans, of course. Then there's also the question of "will it be a musical?", which is a fair one with the "Disney-princess-movie-that-hasn't-happened-yet" being the "ideal". The story would indeed lend itself very well to being created as a musical, so we will follow this as it develops with interest.

As to how soon it will see the light of day - it won't be this year and probably not next, considering all that would need to happen, but because it was a "bidding war" situation, with more than a couple of parties (studios) interested, this has a very high chance of being put into production soon, and actually completed too.

Congratulations to Jen Wang and the beginning of some very different - mainstream - princess movies!

Sensitive Tales As A Metaphor For Living With Conditions and Illness

These beautiful illustrations, by artist, Diana Renjina, are not, as it might first appear, for - or from - a fairy tale, but they illustrate beautifully how unusual tales of sensitivity can bring a different perspective to living with illnesses, particularly those that manifest on the skin. As you can see from the text accompanying the images, the blooming flowers and sprouting greenery symbolize psoriasis, a common, non-contagious skin condition in which the skin gets "rosy" and sometimes scaly or flaky, and can be itchy and even painful. 

Tales that come most quickly to mind are those like The Princess and the Pea, in which the princess bruises easily but also those other tales that feature skin marks and other unusual symptoms when the main character is affected by the elements (from the lightest touch of a petal - perhaps allergies, to moonlight - which could substitute easily for conditions brought on by the environment like asthma). With The Most Sensitive Woman (from Italy) and The Three Delicate Wives of King Virtue-Banner (from India) it's not difficult to extrapolate different medical conditions that might be occurring here. Tales like Donkeyskin and Allerleirauh, in which the maiden hides herself under mud and more, show a physical response to being touched/affected by the world and their various environments. In these cases, the Donkeyskin tale types can illustrate how being abused can bring about conditions of illness, though we won't go into that in this post.

Tales of transformation, too, can bring a new perspective on living with visible diseases. From The Frog King, to Hans My Hedgehog to The Wild Swans, it's clear the transformation is not wanted, is painful and considered ugly, and, sadly, often less than human, so that these poor cursed or affected people have to prove themselves worthy or find a way (usually a difficult, extreme and long-term process) to be cured.

More recently, possibly due to technology such as digital animation and art, it's becoming more common to see fairy tale-type illustrations in which patterns, flowers, plants, frost and other beautiful natural manifestations sprout - literally - from the skin. There's no doubt these images call to mind fairy tales, even if they're not specific and familiar ones we've heard, and whether or not it's intentional, it seems instinctive to parallel the tragic beauty of a natural - yet unusual - physical manifestation of a condition with the (usually) melancholic hero or heroine it's happening too, such as could be described in these images in this post.

When we do not "feel good in our own skin" we cannot help but try to do something about it. Some try to deal with it by using salves, medicines, trying to find a cure. Others try to escape it all together and find ways to cover themselves; we put on costumes, (either by dressing differently than we otherwise would, or literally creating a costume which incorporates - or hides - the condition) or, essentially, a different skin. 

In fairy tales this can happen literally. There is an interesting looking book titled: Fairy Tales and the Social Unconscious: The Hidden Language written by Ravit Raufman, that discusses the idea of how we identify with our skin - and how we look. We have only skimmed it, so cannot speak to the whole work but it has very interesting things to say about the physical manifestations in fairy tales such as Donkeyskin indicating an unhealthy state - whether that's psychologically or (sometimes and) physically.

What we have to wonder is, if we could see some of these diseases as not needing to be 'cured' but more of an unusual condition that manifests under certain circumstances (like stress - which is a trigger for almost everything), would we be more understanding and accepting of people's conditions than we, as society, currently are right now?

Here's an illustration by a different artist, Lynore Avery, showing the youngest brother in The Wild Swans tale-types, having to live with his only partially 'healed' condition. Illustrated like this, with feathers overlapping like scales or unusual skin cells, it seems to underscore the physical issues of the problem and shows the remnants of the 'hidden' curse, but it also hints at a Magic, and, possibly, a potential we haven't yet considered. 

Accepting this about oneself if always easier when others close to you do, and this is where sensitive stories like these could be helpful. While using fairy tales to explore these ideas could be condemned as romanticizing a very real condition, we think it might also bring healing and new understanding, especially for those of us who live with and love their swan princes, just the way they are. Then we might be able to finally accept our own skin and live out our story, happy ending-possibilities and all.

The Three Little Pigs? Or The Three Little "Pigsies" (aka Pixies)?

Henry Justice Ford - The Three Little Pigs: The Fox Carries Whitey Off To His Den - Green Fairy Book Andrew Lang 1892

Sometimes we come across the greatest fairy tale connections in the most unusual places. Looking up the folkloric connection for pixies, to create a more fleshed-out background for a Dungeons and Dragons playable character, we came across a great little video that exposed a curious idea. UK-based YouTuber "Arcane Forge" is an avid player and researcher, who loves comparing and combining folklore and real-world history with Dungeons and Dragons lore and (published canon) history. He casually mentioned an earlier spelling and pronunciation of "pixie" in connection with a well known story...

We're transcribing the relevant section for you below:

Pictured: a pixie. (Artist unknown)
(Also known as pixy, piskie, piksy, pexy, pigsey, or pigsnye.)
Pixie was originally just the Cornish term for a fairy. The exact etymology
is unclear. It's been connected to everything from Picts to Puck.
Anna Eliza Bray's A Peep at the Pixies (1854) uses the word for
all sorts of fairy beings of varying size and appearance:
will o' the wisps, fairy godmothers, brownie-style house elves,
and ghostly phantoms.

"The stories of pixies were often adapted after widespread Christianity, and Christian belief took hold of Britain, and these stories were written/adapted to fit Christan beliefs. It was said that pixies were the unbaptized children who had died, and rather than haunting people like ghosts, because they were children they still had childlike temperaments, and played pranks and tricks instead. Clothes were often burned and as a result they would often need to find natural things to cover themselves in the afterlife.  

A collection of Cornish folktales features
the lore of the mysterious and invisible
tiny spirits as based on stories that
have been handed down from generation to
generation.

But pixies even made it into some of the world's most enduring stories. in the Cornish dialect "pixie" used to be pronounced "pig-zxeez" (or "pizgzees") and spelled p-i-g-s-i-e-s* (or p-i-s-g-i-e-s). It's believed that the story, The Three Little Pigs actually featured "pigsies" rather than pigs. it was only after a dialect shift, and subsequent retellings of the story that resulted in the version that we now all know."

*You may see an in-between spelling used too: "piskies"

We had forgotten all about the pixie variant (or possibly ancestor) of The Three Little Pigs!

There is an English tale (specifically Dartmoor), very similar to The Three Little Pigs, which is known as The Fox and the Pixies. The notes on the linked page mention that "Katherine M. Briggs includes a version of this story in her A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language, part A, vol. 2 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1970), pp. 528-30." (from D. L. Ashliman's folk texts) It's a pretty delightful read and uses one smart pixie's trickster antics wonderfully in the tale to outwit his nemesis. (Note: pixie is spelled "pixy" in the online text here.)

Then there is the version of The Three Little Pigs in Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book, (which the illustration at the head of the post is from). The antagonist here is also a fox - a fox with a litter to feed. The pigs in this tale all have names: Browney (likely called such because he was covered in mud, was lazy, and dirty, and had a house made of mud), Whitey (a clever but greedy little she-pig [we would say 'sow' but that term is given to the mother who is in the first half of the story, worrying about her piglets], and she gets a house made out of cabbages) and the third is Blacky (who was black, good, nice and the ceverest of them all, and made a house of brick). Blacky not only outwits the fox but goes and rescues his terrified brother and sister from the fox's den at the end of the story too.

So we go from a Fox and Pixies, to a Fox and Pigs (Piggies?), to a Wolf and Pigs. What we really want now, though, is to read a revised, contemporary tale of the Three Little Pisgies that harks back to the tale's rumored roots...

You can listen to Arcane Forge's whole video on pixies HERE (and watch as he draws one too). His approach is so intriguing, we think we may just have to mine some of his other videos on 'monster lore' too, just in case there are more fairy tale connections hidden there too.

Henry Justice Ford - The Three Little Pigs - Green Fairy Book Andrew Lang 1892

Animated Fairy Tales Get A Real World Edge At 'Animation Reimagined' (Modern Eden Gallery)

Mulan - Olga Esther

Curated by Michael Cuffe of Warholian, the 'Animation Reimagined' exhibition will bring together many animated classic icons - both past and modern-day - "fantastically recreated in new paintings and from new perspectives". While there are more than just fairy tale characters, we're focusing on those that are most closely linked to our favorite subject here. (We've included a list at the end of the post with all the other cartoon characters we've been able to discover - and identify - to date.)

Official poster, featuring a reimagining of Dumbo (artist unknown)

Cuffe has asked all artists to bring a bit of realism into their paintings and works. We will see these animated classics re-imagined in a way we’ve never seen before, from a unique artistic viewpoint.

It's always interesting to see what sort of spin artists will put on animated icons, especially fairy tales. These paintings and sculptures belong in the 'fine art' realm, though at a glance it may be easy to dismiss some of these as 'professional fan art'. They all, however, share the intent to bring some realism - and real-world consideration - to their interpretations of flat cartoons and animated characters. The idea is to take them beyond the realm of the "safe" screen and have them "intrude" on ours, creating a response in the viewer. From the selection we've been able to find scattered around social media corners, the achievement is quite impressive. We hope to see more/better quality images, once the show is opened to the public today (Saturday, April 14, 2018) and the Gallery puts the collection online.

In the meantime, enjoy! (We've included artist's titles, comments, and statements where they were available.)

Alice In Wonderland (2018) - Brianna Angelakis

"Frozen in Time" - Ania Tomicka

“The Young Goddess Artemis” - Richard J Oliver
I went to the source of what I believe inspired the character
of a well known Disney’s Animation. For a while I’ve been wanting to
make a painting based on DIANA (Roman Goddess)
or ARTEMIS (Greek Goddess) of Hunting and nature. After
some research the similarities between these
Goddess’ and the princess character Merida
were uncanny so I drew my inspiration from the mythical
daughter of Zeus.

Kiki's Delivery Service - Carly Janine Mazur

Ratatouille - Richard Ahnert

Pinocchio - Hanna Jaeun

"Bibbedi bobbidi boo" (Cinderella) - Anne Angelshaug
As a child I adored the story of Cinderella, but rewatching it
as an adult it conjured very different thoughts and feelings.
Thoughts of abuse, apathy and delusion....
sorry I took it to a dark place, but it just seemed right...

The Little Mermaid  - Meredith Marsone
"This (is a close-up of) a painting of The Little Mermaid just after
the point of her transformation, still underwater, but human now and
so in imminent danger in the place she used to call home."

Sleeping Beauty - Sheri DeBow 

“Guardian” - Lena Danya
The Little Mermaid Meets Marlin and Dory from Finding Nemo

Sometimes Ups Outnumber the Downs - Jessica Dalva
"My sculpture based on Disney’s Robin Hood."

"The Strands the Bind" - Stephanie Pui Mun Law (The Fox and the Hound) 

There are many more cartoon classics reimagined, of course, these are just the most fairy tale related of those revealed (whether in close-up or as finished pieces). Others include Mickey Mouse, Felix the Cat, Sponge Bob, The Aristocats, Jack and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Lady and the Tramp, Frankenweenie, Pink Panther, Coco, Jessica Rabbit, Betty Boop, Toy Story, Gumby, Sailor Moon, Bambi, She-Ra and more.

The exhibition is free to the public and opens today, Saturday April 14, 2018, at The Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco.

Exhibition Dates: April 14–May 4, 2018

Opening Reception: April 14, 2018  6 pm–9 pm

Featuring the artwork of Adam Hunter Caldwell, Alec Huxley, Amanda Banker, Amy Mastrine, Ania Tomicka, Anne Angelshaug, Aunia Kahn, Brianna Angelakis, Carly Janine Mazur, Catherine Moore, Chris Leib, Christina Ridgeway, Daniel J Valadez, David Natale, Glenn Arthur, Hanna Jaeun, Hikari Shimoda, Jacyln Alderete, Jessica Dalva, Joshua Coffy, Julie Filipenko, Kathrin Longhurst, Lee Harvey Roswell, Leegan Koo, Leilani Bustamante, Luke Allsbrook, Marcos LaFarga, Marie Larkin, Marjolein Caljouw, Mark Bryan, Meredith Marsone, Michael Cuffe, Nathalia Suellen, Nick Stathopoulos, Olga Esther, Rachael Bridge, Rachel Silva, Raúl Guerra, Rene Cuvos, Rich Pellegrino, Richard Ahnert, Richard J Oliver, Robert Bowen, Sarah McCloskey, Sheri DeBow, Simona Candini, Stephanie Law, Steve Javiel, Susannah Martin, Susanne Apgar, Sybiline , and Zelyss.