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

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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.

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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):

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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.
;)

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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

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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.
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