Showing posts with label conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conference. Show all posts

Sunday, May 27, 2018

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
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!

Thursday, June 1, 2017

AFTS Ezine Sleeping Beauty Issue Publishing This Week + AFTS 2017 Conference Program Line-Up Released

And yes, that's why we've been so busy. It's a bumper issue (60 pages!) with a lots of diverse new fairy tale works - from short stories, to stage, to storytelling, to sci-fi and much, much more! The issue includes an AFTS exclusive preview chapter from Kate Forsyth's new book 'Beauty in Thorns', (we've read it - it's amazing!), and a wonderful look at her writing process in weaving together Sleeping Beauty with the romantic and notorious stories behind Edward Burne-Jones' 'The Legend of Briar Rose' Pre-Raphaelite paintings, in a special interview. We already recommend this book, and may just have to import a copy from Oz for our library as soon as hard copies hit Australian shelves this July.

The ezine is available to Australian Fairy Tale Society (AFTS) members only. (It's one of the many benefits of paying an annual membership of $25.) Want to join? You can sign up HERE.

AFTS members:
watch your inboxes this week for the private member link to download, so you can see it in its proper - and very pretty - magazine format.
Expect lots of wonderful fairy tale reading in your very-near future!

We also want to take the opportunity to mention that the program for the 4th annual conference for the Australian Fairy Tale Society has also been released. The event will take place right after the Australian Winter Solstice on Saturday, June 24th 2017. Please find the program flyer below, designed by our News Hound, Gypsy Thornton, using wonderful artwork by world renowned, Australian artist Kathleen Jennings. Click to view full size.
Artwork used by permission: "Exotic (Thumbelina)" by Kathleen Jennings
You can find more information about the conference and register HERE.

Monday, December 12, 2016

CFP: 'So Many Mattresses: Truth, Reality Fiction on a European Bed' (Australia)

The Princess And The Pea' by Louise Montillio
The Australian Fairy Tale Society has just released their Call for Presentations and Papers, for their Annual Conference, and it's not your average fairy tale theme! We're looking forward to seeing what papers and performances are inspired by 'So Many Mattresses' (so many possibilities!) and look forward to seeing how the conference shapes up for June.

Click to enlarge:
The conference will be held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on June 24, 2017. Deadline for proposals is January 27th, 2017, at 5pm AEST.

Friday, September 9, 2016

Call for Participation: Fairy Tales, Folk Lore and Legends 2nd Global Conference

The Knight and the Faerie - Daniel Eskridge
This call for participation, posted 2 days ago by inter-disciplinary.net, sounds very interesting with all the possible subjects, and there are so many options for approach available I have only included the content information and basics (emphasis in bold, mine). Although the conference is a full three days (both Tuesday and Thursday are full days, as well as the Tuesday), and would be able to include many papers and presentations, the organizing chairs are going to have real work on their table narrowing down the choices of abstracts!

The first conference program, held in Budapest, Hungary in March this year (2016), can be found HERE, while the Abstracts from that conference (which are also fascinating) are HERE and HERE. They indicate a great second conference!

(Anyone feel like shouting me a ticket to Portugal next year?)

From hastac.org. Note: it was really hard to choose excerpts from so I have included all but the "fine print" which you can read at the link:
Fairy Tales, Folk Lore and Legends2nd Global Conference
Call for Participation 2017
Tuesday 4th April  – Thursday 6th April 2017
Lisbon, Portugal
In contemporary retellings of historic fairy tales certain characters recur without failure: wicked witches, evil stepmothers, Rumplestiltskin, jinn, gnomes, trolls, wolves and thieves, as well as fairy godmothers, departed beloved mothers, firebirds, dwarves, princesses, dragons, woodcutters and princes charming. Disney has established a near monopoly on how these characters are viewed in contemporary society and how their stories are retold but the Disney lens is not the only one available. Fairy tales, folk lore and legends are the common patrimony of us all and the canvas on which the vast mural of good versus evil plays out; our darkest dreams or nightmares struggle against our better selves and highest hopes in these tales. At the same time, the relationship between these tales and modern society is a complex one that invites closer consideration of the changing nature of the stories and how modern sensibilities have both challenged and been challenged by the values and viewpoints that underpin the narratives. 
Childhood itself, the presumed audience for most of these stories, has itself undergone radical redefinition since the tales first began to be collected or written. How have those changes influenced or been reflected in the retelling of the tales over time? Fairy tales can be interpreted in a variety of ways and from a variety of viewpoints: they can be psychological exposes, blueprints for dealing with the traumas of childhood and early adulthood, guides to navigating life, windows onto social realities long forgotten, remnants of ancient mythology or hints at how to access the Transcendent. How have adult sensibilities of what is appropriate for children appeared in the retellings or new collections? How many tales are actually retold for the benefit of adults, despite their supposed audience of children? 
During the 2016 project, the unexpected preponderance of Disney-related discussions surprised all the participants. The Disney footprint seems to be inescapable when discussing this literature, whether a particular story has served as inspiration for a Disney film or not. That in itself is perhaps a subject worth discussing. The the 2017 project meeting will focus on non-Disney retellings of the classic tales as well as those tales which Disney has chosen thus far to ignore. 
The Fairy Tales interdisciplinary research and publishing stream investigates how fairy tales/folk tales/legends represent both good and evil, how these are personified or interact, what these reveal about the lives of those who have told them over the years, what they mean for us who read or listen to them today. Possible subjects for presentations include but are not limited to:
Exploring the Tales Themselves
- Functions of tales over time and across cultures
- Socio-political context of tales and their capacity to serve as allegories for real life issues
- Justice and morality in the tales
- Fairy tale utopias and dystopias and the blurred lines between fiction, fact, reality, science fiction and mythology
- How fairy tales shape ideas about happiness
- Considerations of why tales are an enduring aspect of culture
- Factors that make some tales more popular than others (and why popularity can shift over time)
- (Re)interpretations and re-imaginings of the same tales differ over time or across cultures
- Relationship between fairy tale characters and real life humans: do human ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys’ behave so differently from fictional goodies and baddies, where there times when characters that seem fantastic to modern folks were actually considered to be more realistic by historical readers/listeners, what factors shape the changes that cause people to perceive characters as more or less real
- Relationship between fantastic and magical elements of tales and lived reality
- Tales and monsters: monstrous animals, monstrous humans, children’s interaction with monsters
- Intended lessons and values of stories and counter-interpretations, particularly in relation to gender, sex, materialistic values, notions of virtue and authority
- Processes around the domestication of fairy tales
- Tales as a source of/mechanism for oppression of individuals or groups
- New/modern tales
- Critical approaches to tales
- Tales and their authors
- Fairy tale artwork and imagery
- Fairy tale geographies: spaces and places of both the worlds within fairy tales as well as the spaces and places where the narratives are told or written

Encountering Fairy Tales/Legends/Folk Tales
- Studies of readers/audiences across time and cultures
- Listening versus reading: impact of oral traditions on the narratives, impact of illustrations in reception of the tales, etc.
- Relationship between traditional and modern forms of interactive storytelling involving fairy tales
- How adaptation to other mediums, such as film, television, visual art, music, theatre, graphic novels, dance and video games, affect the content of the tales themselves, appreciation of the narrative or our interpretations of narrative meaning

Uses of Fairy Tales/Legends/Folk Tales
- In advertising (re-imagining tales in advertising imagery, marketing the princess lifestyle, etc.)
- Tales and pedagogy: using tales as teaching and learning tools
- In tourism through destination marketing of spaces associated with fairy tales, Disneyfication of tales, etc.
- In the formation of national/cultural/ethnic identity
- In the publishing business
- Communities, biography and fairy tales: How social communal identity is forged around telling and re-telling tales

Tales, Health and Happiness
- Tales and magical thinking in the human development
- Tales and psychological/clinical practices involving tales
- Tales and unhealthy behaviour/beliefs
- Effect of tales on shaping notions of (un)happiness, (in)appropriate ways to pursue it and how to respond to respond to others’ (un)happiness
- Tales and aging (“growing old” as a theme in tales, how tales shape perceptions of old age, etc.)

Live Performances of Tales
- Theatrical, dance and other types of staged presentations
- Pantomime
- Vocal performances
- Art installations
- Readings
- Curated film screenings

What to Send
300 word abstracts, proposals and other forms of contribution should be submitted by Friday 28th October 2016.All submissions be minimally double reviewed, under anonymous (blind) conditions, by a global panel drawn from members of the Project Team and the Advisory Board. In practice our procedures usually entail that by the time a proposal is accepted, it will have been triple and quadruple reviewed.
You will be notified of the panel’s decision by Friday 11th November 2016.
If your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your contribution should be submitted by Friday 3rd March 2017.
Abstracts may be in Word, RTF or Notepad formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords.
E-mails should be entitled: Fairy Tales Abstract Submission
Where to SendAbstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs:
Organising Chairs:
Stephen Morris: 
smmorris58@yahoo.com
Rob Fisher: 
fairy2@inter-disciplinary.net
You can find the full details HERE.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Happy Winter Solstice Down Under Fairy Tale Folk - Today (21st June) is the 2015 AFTS Conference!

Program cover, titled 'Spinning stories into golden matter', is by Debra Phillips

The 2nd Annual AFTS Conference
Transformations:
Spinning Straw into Green & Gold!
Right now, on this Winter Solstice morning Down Under, Australian fairy tale folk are getting ready to walk into the NSW Writer's Center on the East Coast of the country and gather for the 2015 Annual Australian Fairy Tale Society Conference.

Although things may have appeared quiet here and elsewhere, there's been a lot going on behind the scenes. We have speakers, authors, artists, live music, exhibits, book signings, storytelling performances and more! To see what's going on, take a look at the program below, and there will be live 'reporting' on the AFTS Twitter account HERE, as well as the AFTS official Facebook page HERE.
If you want to add comments, ask questions, or are there in person and want to add your own pics to help those folk who are following remotely have a taste of the event, please add  to your posts and/or tweets so everyone can find them!

And for Aussies, either local or abroad, (and for those who've met Aussies and heard some of our yarns), the AFTS wants your input! We're collecting Aussie folklore and fairy tale lore and stories (and versions and twists!) for our growing collection, to preserve them for the future and study and work with them in the present.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Jo Henwood Talks About What Makes A Fairy Tale (& Is There Such a Thing As An Australian Fairy Tale?)

Jo Henwood, co-founder of the Australian Fairy Tale Society talked to Mitch Byatt on 2ser Real Radio (Australian online radio and podcast station) about what fairy tales are and if there is such a thing as an Australian Fairy Tale, before the conference on Monday. Although intended to promote the inaugural conference, the conversation is still fascinating and Ms. Henwood has a real talent for explaining things simply, succinctly and, best of all, with the intrigue of a storyteller that makes you want to hear more.

Incidentally, at the conference on Monday, Ms. Henwood told the story of Thumbelina with an Aussie twist. As seen on Facebook in response to the event :
Wonderful thought provoking papers. And Jo Henwood telling Thumbelina as the child stolen by the dingo.

I really hope the recording of the events went as planned and I'll eventually be able to hear and see all these things!

In any event, I thought it was worth preserving the interview audio, since it's relevant to fairy tales beyond the conference and beyond Oz, and added a few extra visuals along the way the illustrate some of her points (especially for those people who aren't familiar with things like Cinderella variants or know who May Gibbs is). It's a very quick slap-dash presentation (on my part - the audio content is wonderful) but hopefully you'll forgive my lack of available time to do this perfectly and will enjoy it anyway. (My apologies to Ms. Henwood in particular for not representing her chat better but I wanted to make sure I could share it while relevant.)

This seems to be only an excerpt from a longer interview but a lot is said in a short time. If I ever find the rest I'll share the audio for that too. I'd love to hear it

Here it is:
Stay tuned for a small but special selection of (the many!) Aussie artists and writers working in fairy tales these days over the coming week.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

The Inaugural Australian Fairy Tale Society Conference Has Begun!

Wishing my fellow Aussies a wonderful beginning for what will undoubtedly be "an awfully big adventure!"

Congratulations to Reilly McCarron and Jo Henwood, and to all who helped make the dream of the Australian Fairy Tale Society become reality.

We're looking forward to reports from today's first conference (of many conferences and events to come...).

For those who see this post in time today and wish to follow along from afar, (or would like to catch up later), AFTS will be tweeting updates using the #AFTSConf hashtag on Twitter.

Here's the program again (remember to allow for the time difference if you're checking in from anywhere not in the same time zone as Sydney, Australia if you want to follow along live):

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Australian Fairy Tale Society Inaugural Conference Program 2014 (& a preview of amazing Aussies working in fairy tales!)

The Forbidden Chamber' by Spike Deane (2013)
examines tales like those of Bluebeard and Fitcher's bird
where a terrible secret lies behind a forbidden door.
Here it is folks! The first conference program for the AFTS! You should be able to see why we're so excited about this (and why I dearly wish I could be in Oz for it, but can't) and this is just the beginning. Conference number one, and just for one (packed!) day but this is how we get going - like gangbusters! ;)
Click to enlarge program for easy reading
And more news: the AFTS just became incorporated! (That's a big deal and makes the whole society legitimate and in keeping with governmental guidelines, enabling proper collection, procedures and protection of future work.)

Expect to see a little showcasing of Australians working in and/or with fairy tales in the coming couple of weeks (many of whom you will probably already know). Here's one; a soon-to-be-released book by Australian author Juliet Marillier which will be Book One of the Blackthorn and Grim series, an adult fantasy novel with mystery and fairy tale elements:
At the head of the post is a small preview of some amazing work by Australian glass artist Spike Deane, who's work is inspired by, rooted in and represents fairy tales. I can't wait to show you her work! It's inspiring and unique. Having the impact of seeing images of her work online only makes me wonder how much more powerful these pieces must be in person. Hopefully one day I will be privileged enough to see them.

In the meantime, the AFTS is close to getting the funds they need to get the society off on the right foot and fund the basics of the first conference, but not quite.

They still need to raise just under $500 in only seven days, which may not seem like much to some but will make all the difference to what the AFTS can do in the immediate future, and how steadily they can start their work.

A personal request: If you enjoy this blog, love fairy tales and want to support the preservation of tales, their collection and in encouraging artists of all kinds to continue their work and create with fairy tales, please consider pledging a little. Just a few people contributing the minimum will get us most, if not all, of the way home.

(Don't forget there are rewards available too! Certificates, complimentary AFTS founding memberships [you'll get an official card and everything], limited edition AFTS mugs, fairy tale bookmarks by artist Regan Kubecek, a professional storytelling CD... lots of lovely things!)

Thank you!

And stay tuned for more news on the amazing work
and creativity happening in fairy tales down under, to be posted during the inaugural conference week.
;)

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.