Podcast: A.S. Byatt discusses the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm

Posted on 16th January 2015 by William the Bloody

Novelists A. S. Byatt and Lawrence Norfolk venture together into Germany’s dark woods to discover witches, goblins, lost children and treasure.

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CFP: Reading the Fantastic: Tales Beyond Borders conference, University of Leeds, 23rd-25th April, 2015

Posted on 16th January 2015 by William the Bloody

Also approaching the deadline of 31 January 2015, this conference and workshop at the University of Leeds looks fantastic (if I can say that), and offers much to postgraduates as well as established scholars–and invites contributions from outside academia.

We welcome proposals from postgraduate students, established scholars, independent researchers, writers, and artists from any background.  Papers can be on any subject or discipline in relation to fairy tales, folk tales, and fantasy literature but we encourage these topics to question or address ideas and crossings of boundaries between/within conceptions of the fantastic and the speculative.

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CFP: Wonderlands: Reading/Writing/Telling Fairy Tales and Fantasy, 23 May 2015, University of Chichester

Posted on 16th January 2015 by William the Bloody

Apologies for the late posting of this CFP for the postgraduate symposium at the University of Chichester–the deadline is 31 January 2015, so anyone interested (and I can’t see why they wouldn’t be!) will have to hurry.

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.

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CFP: Current Research in Speculative Fiction 2015, 8 June 2015, University of Liverpool

Posted on 16th January 2015 by William the Bloody

An exciting conference for postgraduates to present their research at the University of Liverpool, well-known as a pioneering centre for research into science fiction:

Returning for its fifth consecutive year, CRSF is a one day postgraduate conference designed to promote the research of speculative fictions, including SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY and HORROR; showcasing some of the latest developments in these dynamic and evolving fields. CRSF attracts an international selection of delegates and provides a platform for postgraduate students to present their current research, encourages discussion with scholars in related subjects and the construction of crucial networks with fellow researchers.

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CFP for A Second New Edited Collection (Memory in Post-Apocalyptic and Dystopian Tales)

Posted on 16th January 2015 by William the Bloody

Heather Urbanski is seeking articles for a collection on post-apocalyptic and dystopian narratives–a mode that has come into the forefront recently in YA fiction, where it has also encountered paranormal romance. Generously, Urbanski is seeking work from ‘under-represented groups’ and ‘graduate students and junior faculty’. She says:

While the underlying premise of this collection is rhetorically based, interdisciplinary approaches are most desirable. In particular, my goal is to collect perspectives that cover the intersection of contemporary interpretations and explorations of the ancient rhetorical canon of memory, narrative theory, and cultural studies.

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William Gray, ‘Go into the woods – at your peril’

Posted on 16th January 2015 by William the Bloody

The Disney film of Stephen Sondheim’s darkly witty musical Into the Woods, with its ingenious interweaving of classic tales from the Grimms, is to be released soon. Here, Professor William Gray of the University of Chichester, Director of the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy explores the implications of the subversion of the ‘traditional’ fairytale happy ending.

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Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – 150th Anniversary

Posted on 16th January 2015 by William the Bloody

Lewis Carroll’s two classic novels for children are not immediately Gothic, or related to the undead, but they are central to any research on the fantastic and on children’s literature. This is a very rich portal to resources on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which has its 150th Anniversary this year.

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CFP: Victorian Authenticity & Artifice, 13-15 July 2015, Senate House, London

Posted on 16th January 2015 by William the Bloody

A conference by the Victorian Popular Literature Association. There is certainly room for work on fiction of the undead and other allied and suitably Gothic themes in popular literature.

The organisers invite a broad, imaginative and interdisciplinary interpretation of the topic and its relation to any aspect of Victorian popular literature and culture which might address literal or metaphorical representations of the theme.

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Alison Nastasi, ‘Beautiful Illustrations That Reimagine the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales’

Posted on 16th January 2015 by William the Bloody

And they are beautiful–visual interpretations by David Hockney, Edward Gorey, and others of the Grimm Brothers’ tales.

In celebration of older brother Jacob Grimm’s birthday this week, we’re looking at beautifully illustrated retellings of the Grimms’ fairy tales by artists new and old.

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Miriam Allott Visting Writers Series: Bestselling Novelist Neil Gaiman, University of Liverpool, 5 March 2015

Posted on 16th January 2015 by William the Bloody

The (literally) marvellous Neil Gaiman–author of splendid works of fantasy, of graphic novels, and children’s literature–is at the University of Liverpool  in March to launch the Centre for New and International Writing.

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