Black Fairy Tales & Folktales Matter - Useful Resources (a growing list)

ABC's Once Upon A Time Rapunzel in S3:14, The Tower, played by Alexandra Metz

This resource list is just a place to start and will be added to as we can manage. Suggestions for any category below (or for adding more categories) are welcome!

ONLINE ARTICLES:

• These Stories Are Ours, Too: Writing Black Characters into Fairy Tales by L.L. McKinney
• Not Until We Get A Turn: Retellings, Tropes, and Who Gets To Tell Stories by Kalynn Bayron
• Black Stories Matter (resources, books, ways to be an advocate) by Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic

BOOKS (tale collections):

• Blackberry Blue: And Other Fairy Tales by Jamila Gavin
• Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales by Virginia Hamilton
• The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales by Virginia Hamilton
• The Annotated African American Folktales (The Annotated Books) edited by Henry Louis Gates and Maria Tatar

BOOKS (Scholarship):

                                          

• Fairy Tale TV by Jill Terry Rudy and Pauline Greenhill (2020)
• Re-Orienting the Fairy Tale: Contemporary Adaptations across Cultures (Series in Fairy-Tale Studies) edited by Editors Mayako Murai and Luciana Cardi (2020)

ONLINE ARTICLES (Scholarship):

• Seeing White: Children of Color and the Disney Fairy Tale Princess by Dorothy L. Hurley (link to downloadable PDF)
• Moving Beyond Grimm’s Fairytales for Representations of Black and White:Diversity as an Integral Component of quality Provision in Early ChildhoodEducation by Dr Maria O’ Dwyer (link to downloadable PDF) 
• Enchanting the Masses: Fairy Tale Dystopias and Allegorical Diversity by Jill Coste (abstract only)
• From Representation to Participation: Rethinking the Intercultural Educational Approach to Folktales by Annette de Bruijn (on reading & teaching multicultural fairy tales to early elementary children)

BOOKS (Fiction):

• Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi (genre - literature, magical realism - Snow White, Goblin Market & more)
• Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron (genre - fantasy/UF, Cinderella, princess culture)
• A Blade So Black by A. A. McKinney (genre - fantasy/UF, Alice in Wonderland)
• Redemption in Indigo: A Novel by Karen Lord (genre - fantasy, magic realism, Bluebeard & Beauty and the Beast)

BOOKS (picture books):

• Freedom Child of the Sea by Richardo Keens-Douglas, illustrated by Julia Gukova - though it's a picture book, we recommended it for everyone

• Rachel Isadora 's fairy tale retellings - The Fisherman and His Wife, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Rapunzel, The Princess and the Pea, Hansel & Gretel

• Once Upon A World Collection (board books by various authors & artists): Rapunzel, Cinderella, Snow White, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea 

              

• Fairy Tales by Jane Ray (illustrator) and Berlie Doherty (diverse cultural characters and settings for familiar tales)
• Mufaro's Beautiful Daughter by John Steptoe

GRAPHIC NOVELS/COMICS:

• The Girl Who Married A Skull: And Other African Stories (Cautionary Fables & Fairy Tales 1) by Mary Cagle, Kel McDonald (Editor), Kate Ashwin (Editor), & 15 more

• Fred H. Crump Jr (Main FT printings: 1989- 91, 2007-10) Retold & Illustrated Fairy Tales and classic stories with POC Main Characters - over 40 titles, now out of print (NB: created specifically for children of color by Crump, a black comic artist, and teacher) A collection of book covers can be seen HERE.

FILM/TV:

• HBO's Happily Ever After: Tales for Every Child series (1995-2000) - world-famous fairy tales told with diverse characters and settings

• Emerald City (NBC 1 season - 2017 - based on The Wizard of Oz)
• The Princess and the Frog (Disney 2009)

• Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (Disney 1997, live-action remake of stage-play, starring Brandy and Whitney Houston)
• The Wiz (1978 musical movie Wizard of Oz, starring Diana Ross)
• The Wiz Live (2015 starring Shanice Williams, Queen Latifah)

UPCOMING:

          

Come Away official poster; Halle Bailey as Disney's new Ariel (pic was Disney approved for announcement)

• Come Away (due for release Dec 2020, directed by Brenda Chapman, starring David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Angeline Jolie; Alice in Wonderland & Peter Pan) Trailer available to view HERE.
• The Little Mermaid (Disney's live-action remake of their animated classic, due for release July 2021, starring Halle Bailey)
  

FAIRY TALE ARTISTS TO KNOW:

• Lachanda Gartistry with Creative Soul Photography - Black Princess Portraits

OTHER ART RESOURCES:

• Racebentdisney.tumblr.com - not recently updated but still a good resource, Tumblr blog includes a wide range of artist interpretations, POC actors in traditionally white Disney roles and more.

FAIRY TALE/FOLKTALE AUTHORS TO KNOW:

• Helen Oyeyemi (Mr. Fox, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, Boy, Snow, Bird, Gingerbread: A Novel)
• John Steptoe (Mufaro's Beautiful Daughter)
• Virginia Hamilton (collections of African American Tales)
• Nalo Hopkinson (Brown Girl in the Ring, Skin Folk, Sister Mine, multi-award-winning folklore/fantasy author)

Coming Soon: A Virtual Fairy Tale Salon with Timeless Tales Editor Tahlia Kirk

Written by Tahlia Kirk

Spend an evening chatting about your favorite fairy tale at the Storied Imaginarium's virtual fairy tale salon on November 6 (Nov 7 for Australia).

We're evoking the elegant Parisian salon of 17th century France, when wealthy women hosted gatherings in their living rooms to discuss literature and write stories. One of the most popular parlor games played at these salons was to retell classic folktales. Storytellers would use fanciful language of fairy tales to slyly slip rebellious commentary on aristocratic culture past the court's censors. I hope to share some of my favorite counter-culture tales with you and talk about what makes a retelling resonate. While this is more of a meeting-of-minds than a formal writing workshop, I think all fans of the magical and whimsical will enjoy our time together. 

Seats are limited, so sign up now to save your spot!

(Pic is my envisioning of the type of outfit one might wear to a modern literary salon 😅)

"The Wound and The Gift" - A Film Screening @Home MAY 16, 2020 w/Illustrations by Victo Ngai

HAPPENING TODAY!!

A special film suitable for all ages, about an animal rescue program inspired by an ancient Japanese fable of a wounded crane.

From artist and illustrator Victo Ngai (all images in this post are by her):

Verified

I created artwork for a very special project back in 2014 called “The Wound and The gift” - a documentary exploring the relationship between animals and humans directed by Linda Hoaglund and narrated by Vanessa Redgrave. 

The narrative spine of the film is an animated ancient Japanese Fable about a wounded crane, saved by a couple of peasants, and attempts to express her gratitude with a gift. Scenes from the folklore are woven into real-life footage of rescued animals. As the fable and the film unfold, the question begs to be asked is - “who is saving who?” 

The @nikkeimuseum in Vancouver is hosting an online screen of the film throughout this week with a Zoom Q&A session this Sat (May 16). 

The link to the tickets ($5 suggested donation) is (below), 100% of the sales will benefit the museum’s activities. Please spread the word!

LINK:

Film screening @Home - The Wound and The Gift

by Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre

Here is the lovely trailer with sneak peeks of how the folktale and illustrations are woven in:

The Wound and the Gift - Trailer from Linda Hoaglund on Vimeo.

It's suitable for ALL ages (no worrisome footage to be concerned about!) and has lovely reviews regarding the cinematography, animation and the weaving together of stories. Here's one review, to give you an idea of the tone and how the project and folktale are woven together:

Saw this... at the Vancouver Film Festival, and it is spectacular. The cinematography is what drew me in from the trailer and I was not disappointed, and the stories unfold within the animated story of the Crane perfectly. And I really appreciated that it wasn't cluttered with information and stats. The film breathes slowly and elegantly. Highly recommended. (review by Saints Rescue)

About this Event

Film: Available for viewing at your leisure online May 9-17, 2020

Meet the director Linda Hoaglund online presentation of stunning still images from filming in beautiful Hokkaido, and a moderated Q&A session.

Saturday, May 16, 2pm PST | 5pm EST

The Wound and The Gift is a film about the animal rescue inspired by ancient Japanese fable about a wounded crane, saved by peasants, that attempts to express her gratitude with a gift - 鶴の恩返し. The fable is illustrated by Victo Ngai. The film is suitable for viewers of all ages. (83 minutes).

The film will be available on Vimeo, and the talk will be hosted on Zoom. 

Official Website: http://www.thewoundandthegift.com/

Director: Linda Hoaglund

Narrator: Vanessa Redgrave

Ceinematographer: Kirsten Johnson

Animation Artist: Victo Ngai

Editor: William Lehman

Music: Satoshi Takeishi & Shoko Nagai

Animation: Joe Wu

Producer: Hashimoto Yoshiko & Maryanne Culpepper

Assistant Director: Takaaki Okada

See HERE for full illustrations, some storyboards & an animated scene preview.