1

The Newsletter of the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy

Feb-Mar 2015

2

Contents

Gramarye issue 6 e-book out now 3

Wonderlands: Reading/Writing/Telling Fairy Tales and Fantasy 5

More Alice anniversary events 6

Other events at the Sussex Centre 8

Never-before-seen fairy tales available 9

Conferences around the world 10

Tolkien is no longer popular with kids 12

Tolkien Society Awards nominations 13

Somerset brings in 'fairy control' 13

Viking Myths and Sagas 14

Sneak peek at Gramarye issue 7 14

3

Gramarye issue 6 e-book out now

Gramarye issue 6 is now available as unlimited ebook pdfs and Kindle mobi files from our online store.

Subscribers are guaranteed their printed copy.

This issue’s contents include:• ‘The Case of the Ebony Horse’

(Part 2), Ruth B. Bottigheimer• ‘The American Fantasy Tradition’,

Tom Shippey• ‘The Mythology of the Dark Tower Universe’, Robin Furth• ‘Child Roland’, Steven O’Brien• ‘Magic Mirrors and Shifting Skin: An Ecocritical Reading of

Cornelia Funke’s Reckless’, Joanna Coleman• ‘My Life with Fantasy Literature’, Colin Manlove• A review of Brian Attebery’s Stories about Stories: Fantasy

and the Remaking of Myth, Tom Shippey• A review of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Arthur, Dimitra Fimi• A review of Nancy Marie Brown’s Song of the Vikings: Snorri

and the Making of Norse Myths, Jacqueline Simpson

4

• A review of Jennifer Garlen and Anissa Graham’s The Wider Worlds of Jim Henson: Essays on His Work and Legacy Beyond The Muppet Show and Sesame Street, John Patrick Pazdziora

• A review of Andrew Teverson’s Fairy Tale, Cristina Bacchilega• A review of John Lindow’s Trolls: An Unnatural History,

Katherine Langrish

The printed edition of Gramarye 6 is also available from:• Atlantis Books (London)• Byre Books (Wigtown)• Emporium Bookshop (Cromarty)• Foyles (London)• Kims (Chichester)• Nemetona (Montrose)• Practical Magick (Knaresborough)• Transreal Fiction (Edinburgh)• Treadwells (London)• Waterstone’s (Chichester)• Way Out There And Back (Littlehampton)• White Witch (Waltham Abbey)• Word Power (Edinburgh)

5

Wonderlands: Reading/Writing/Telling Fairy Tales and Fantasy

PGR Symposium, 23 May 2015, University of Chichester

Timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, this event is primarily aimed at postgraduate students and early career researchers, although other scholars and the general public will be welcome.

We are delighted to announce that Professor Diane Purkiss of Oxford University, who is also a creative writer of fantasy fiction (under the pseudonym ‘Tobias Druitt’), will give the Keynote Lecture, five years after her inaugural lecture at the Sussex Centre in 2010. Other speakers include Alice illustrator John Vernon Lord and creative writer and storyteller Steven O'Brien. The day will close with a series of performances from professional storytellers which engage with the theme of wonder lands.

6

An exhibition of Alice illustrations by John Vernon Lord and Mervyn Peake will accompany the symposium, and the works will be on display until September 2015.

Register to attendThe draft programme can be downloaded from Issuu.com. If you would like to register for the event, please do so via the University of Chichester's online store. Tickets are £15 and £10 for concessions.

If you have any queries, or to see a list of suggested accom-modation, please e-mail wonderlands.symposium@gmail.com.

This event is kindly sponsored by www.Zharmae.com – get your fiction fix!

Want to go to more Alice anniversary events?A list of Alice in Wonderland

anniversary events, including the Centre's 'Wonderlands' symposium, can be found here:

h t tp : / / lewiscar ro l l resources .net/2015/index.html

7

We're Global from the West Coast – we've got your fiction fix!

@TZPPBooks

questions@zharmae.com

submissions@zharmae.com(Advertisement)

8

Other events at the Sussex Centre

Prof. Jacqueline Simpson, ‘The Folklore of Sussex’Tuesday 16 June, 5.15-6.30 p.m., H144England’s foremost living folklorist, Folklore Adviser to Terry Pratchett and the Sussex Centre’s Visiting Professor of Folklore, Jacqueline Simpson will present an introduction to Sussex’s folktales. To explore the tales further, a free interactive map of folktales in Sussex and the South Downs will be available to download from this day (more on this in the Apr-May newsletter!). Part of the Festival of Chichester.

Kate Mosse. Autumn 2015, tbc.Kate Mosse is the multi-million bestselling novelist whose book Labyrinth was #1 in UK paperback for six months and was named one of the Top 25 books of the past 25 years by the bookselling chain Waterstones. Translated into thirty languages and adapted as a major television film on Channel 4 at Easter 2013, it was followed by the equally successful Sepulchre and Citadel, and several short story collections.

9

Never-before-seen fairy tales available

In March 2012, news reached us of the discovery of new folktales by German scholar Franz Xaver von Schönwerth; one tale, ‘The Turnip Princess’, was republished in the Guardian. On the Sussex Centre's own site, fairy-tale expert and Sussex Centre Advisory Board Member Professor Jack Zipes urged against overestimating

the importance of Schönwerth’s work.Schönwerth’s collection of fairy tales

appeared in German as Prinz Roßzwifl, and have now been expertly translated into English with introduction and commentary by Maria Tatar in a volume titled The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales.

The Washington Post's recent review of Tatar's translation can be found here.

You can read two never-before-seen tales, 'The Wolves' and 'In the Jaws of the Merman', at Flavorwire.

Meanwhile, Slate.com has 'Tricking the Witch', and io9 has 'The Enchanted Quill', where Tatar also answered questions about the tales.

10

Conferences around the world

Enchanted Edwardians programme announcedUniversity of Bristol, 30-1 March 2015The full programme can be found at http://edwardianculture.com/2015/02/23/enchanted-edwardians-schedule/#more-2277

The Australian Fairy-Tale Society's 2015 ConferenceNew South Wales (Australia), 21 June 2015This year's theme is 'Transformations: Spinning Straw into Green and Gold'. For more information, go to http://ausfairytalesociety.com.au/events/the-afts-2015-conference

Calendar Customs and Seasonal EventsThe Folklore Society at Exeter University (UK), 26-8 June.

From New Year's mummers to Christmas carol singing, wassailing to well dressing, Easter eggs to Halloween lanterns, this conference will look at a variety of customs and traditions associated with the calendar and changing seasons.

11

Speakers include: Helen Frisby, Prof Nick Groom, Jeremy Harte, Peter Millington, Mark Norman, Bob and Jacqueline Patten, Derek Schofield, and many others.

Go to http://www.folklore-society.com/events/calendar-customs-and-seasonal-events for more information.

CfP: Law and Crime in Legend and Tradition The Tenth Legendary Weekend of The Folklore SocietyHuntingdon (UK), 5-6 September 2015The Folklore Society would like to hear from anyone who can contribute – folklorists, jurists, storytellers, barristers, social historians, police and thieves. Go to http://www.folklore-society.com/events/law-and-crime-in-legend-and-tradition for more information.

CFP: 5th International Conference of Young Folklorists'Folklore of Connections, Folklore of Conflict'Viljandi (Estonia), 7-9 October 2015Focuses on the role of folklore in the formation of relationships and attitudes, as well as confrontations. Folklore connects individuals and groups, providing them with means to construct, reinforce, display, or question identities and cultural patterns. Folklore serves also as an instrument for exclusion and othering. For the full CfP go to http://www.ut.ee/folk/index.php/en/conferences/436-young-folklorists-2015.

12

Tolkien is no longer popular with kids

The latest What Kids Are Reading report has shown that, after six years in the top 10 for children in Years 1-11, Tolkien has dropped off the top 20. Instead, children are reading modern dystopian fantasy fiction such as the Hunger Games, Divergent and Mortal Instruments series.

The report states, 'While the primary chart top 20 is split down the middle,

featuring equal amounts of comedy and fantasy, by secondary school the ‘most popular’ charts almost exclusively feature darker conflicts from an epic fantasy genre'.

Books from the Hunger Games, Divergent and Mortal Instruments series.

13

Tolkien Society Awards nominations

The categories this year are Best Artwork, Best Article, Best Book, Best Website, and Outstanding Contribution Award. Submit your nomination to the Chairman by 31 March 2015.

Somerset brings in 'fairy control'

Fairy houses have taken off in Wayford Woods, Crewkerne. Trustee Steven Acreman said: "We've got little doors everywhere. We're not anti-fairies but it's in

danger of getting out of control." See the full story at the BBC.Out-of-control fairy houses are already a problem in

America, particularly New England, where 'stompers' take down any fairy houses to stop them distracting from the area's natural beauty.

14

Viking Myths and Sagas

Gramarye contributor Rosalind Kerven's latest book, Viking Myths and Sagas, will be available in April. Kerven retells 34 of the most important Viking myths, legends and sagas. One tale from the book will appear in...

Gramarye Issue 7

Here's a sneak peek at the next issue:

• ‘Jacek Yerka's Rhetoric of the Impossible’, Joe Young

• ‘The Seal Wife’, Judith Woolf• ‘They Say England has no Folktales’, Jacqueline Simpson• ‘My Favourite Story When I Was Young’, Sadhana Naithani

Plus the tale from Rosalind Kerven's latest book, and reviews by Naomi Wood, Tom Shippey, Colin Manlove, Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère, Jacqueline Simpson, Ruth B. Bottigheimer....plus much more!

15

If you have any queries or feedback about this newsletter, please contact Heather Robbins at

h.robbins@chi.ac.uk