Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy tales and Fantasy Newsletter January 2012 Inside this Issue (Click to be taken to page)

New Sussex Centre Assistant...... 1

Images of Witches: History, Fairy Tales, Films...... 1

Folklore and Fantasy Conference...... 2

After Grimm: Fairy Tales and the Art of Story-Telling Conference...... 4

Snow White and the Huntsman...... 6

Tolkien: The Forest and the City...... 7

Grimm Bicentenary Celebrations ...... 8

From Fata to Fairies ...... 11

Westerman: A Fantastic Literary Discovery ...... 11

ii New Sussex Centre Assistant Heather Robbins

ello and welcome to 2012 at the HSussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy. I’m Heather Robbins and I am absolutely delighted to introduce myself as the new assistant at the Centre. Coming straight from my role as commission- ing editor at Phillimore publishing house, I hope to make my mark producing these newsletters, a high- quality journal and smooth-running and popular events for the Centre. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected]

Images of Witches: History, Fairy Tales, Films Evening Public Lecture

illem de Blécourt, Honorary Re- Wsearch Fellow at the Huizinga Institute, Amsterdam, author of Werewolves and co-author of Cultural Approaches to the History of Medicine: Mediating Medicine in Early Modern and Modern Europe, Beyond the Witch Trials: Witchcraft and Magic in Enlightenment Europe and Witchcraft Continued: Popular Magic in Modern Europe, will present a public lecture on ‘Images of Witches’. The Mitre Lecture Theatre, 5.15 – 6.30 p.m. Wednesday 21 March. For tickets (£5/£2 concessions) contact [email protected].  Folklore and Fantasy Conference Friday 13th - Sunday 15th April 2012

he Folklore Society and the Sussex TCentre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy are delighted to announce a joint conference on ‘Folklore and Fantasy’ at the University of Chich- ester on Friday 13th to Sunday 15th April 2012. Many folktales are closely related to the fantas- tic – through subject matter, content and impulse. Folklore often deals with the fantastic, or turns to the supernatural to provide explanations for extraordinary events. Similarly, folklore has long been a major source of inspiration for fantasy lit- erature, from authors like Kevin Crossley-Holland and and graphic novelists like Neil Gaiman and Bill Willingham who take on and re-present traditional stories, to authors like , and Kate Thompson who draw on established tropes, to authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Susanna Clarke and who invent their own folk traditions. This three-day conference will explore, investi- gate and celebrate the relationship between folklore and fantasy. The Call for Papers deadline has passed and there has been an exceptionally strong range of proposals. The conference will begin at 2 p.m. on Friday 13 April with AGM for FLS members. This is fol- lowed by The Folklore Society Presidential Lecture by Mr Robert McDowall: all welcome. Folklore and Fantasy conference papers will begin at around 4.00 p.m. Conference fees include lunch on Saturday and Sunday and refreshments between sessions.  There will be a conference dinner on Friday evening: optional but pre-booking essential. All participants are required to pay the conference fees. Reduced rates for: speakers, FLS members, stu- dents, staff of University of Chichester, pensioners and unwaged. Accommodation is not provided but a list of hotels is available on request.

Ticket prices:

Reduced Rate Standard Rate reduced Rate Standard Rate paid in advance paid in advance paid on arrival paid on arrival

ALL 3 DAYS including £90 £100 £100 £110 Conference Dinner 3 days without £65 £75 £75 £85 conference dinner

DAY RATES Friday including £45 £55 £55 £60 Conference Dinner Friday without £20 £30 £30 £40 Conference Dinner Saturday £35 £45 £45 £60 Sunday £20 £30 £30 £40

For more details go to http://sussexfolktalecentre.org/ folklore-and-fantasy. For the booking form and list of hotels, e-mail [email protected] or tel. 0044 (0)207 862 8564.  After Grimm: Fairy Tales and the Art of Story- Telling Conference Thursday 6th – Saturday 8th September 2012

ingston University and Chichester KUniversity present a conference to celebrate the bicentenary of the publication of the first volume of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children’s and Household Tales) by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. This three-day conference will explore the trajectory of the Grimm phenomenon in the English-speaking world. The bicentenary will also be celebrated through story-telling events, read- ings, a creative writing prize and an exhibition of illustrations. Proposals for conference papers are invited on any aspect of fairy tale and storytelling over the last two-hundred years, but particularly in the follow- ing subjects: • The Oral Tradition within Grimms’ Tales • The literary origins of the Grimms’ ‘folktales’ • of Grimms’ tales into English • The influence of Grimm upon British collectors of fairy tales • The impact of Grimms’ tales upon world litera- tures in English • Uses of Grimms’ tales in English-language vis- ual media • Grimms’ tales and Romanticism • Grimms’ tales in Victorian Britain • Grimms’ tales in colonial and post-colonial contexts • Illustrations and art works relating to Grimms’ tales • Grimms’ tales in the electronic age  • Memes, Tropes and Unchanging Elements • Telling Stories with Pictures • Songs as Stories • Reading Aloud • Performing Grimm • Packaging Grimm (illustrations, book covers, merchandising etc.) • Fairy tales in (popular) culture • Retellings, Revisions and Reworkings • Adapting to New Audiences • New Fairy Tales a Fairy Tales on Stage and on Screen • Gossip, Slander, Rumour and News This multi-disciplinary conference will welcome contributions from any disciplinary perspective in- cluding proposals to read creative work, screen films, mount performances and exhibit visual work.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers: Professor Donald Haase, Neil Philip, Professor Marina Warner and Professor Jack Zipes.

Abstract Submission: Please submit an abstract of approximately 300 words, and a brief contributor’s bio online at: http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/activities/conferences/ abstracts/ before January 31 2012.

Go to our website for more information.  Snow White and the Huntsman Professor Bill Gray becomes Hollywood’s Mythic and Folklore Consultant

ur own Professor Bill Gray has taken Oon the role of consultant on the set of Univer- sal Studios’ ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’. The movie gives the plot of ‘Snow White’ an action-packed Hollywood twist as the eponymous heroine trains in the art of war with the huntsman who had been dispatched to kill her. The film stars Twilight’sK risten Stewart as Snow White, Thor’s Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman and Charlize Theron as theE vil Queen. The official website can be found here.

Jack Zipes on Hollywood Fairy tales Is this dark twist a return to the more ‘authentic’, pre-Disney versions of fairy tales? You’ll have to watch the movie to decide for yourself, but Jack Zipes’ opinion on Hollywood’s fairy-tale films can be found at www.Salon.com

 Tolkien: The Forest and the City Former Sussex Centre Assistant Dr Jane Carroll to present paper

ormer Sussex Centre Assistant Dr FJane Carroll will present a paper called ‘On the Edge of Ruin: Unexpected Pleasures in Unexpect- ed Places in The Lord of the Rings’ at the School of English, Trinity College Dublin’s Conference on ‘Tolkien: The Forest and the City’. The conference will run on 21st – 22nd September 2012.

Registration and Fee: Conference Registration fee of €50 will cover conference pack, reception, tea and coffee, and a discount on the conference proceedings volume to be published by Four Courts Press. For conference program and registration forms, please contact Dr H. Conrad-O’Briain at [email protected] For more information visit the School of English, Trinity College Dublin’s website.

 Grimm Bicentenary Celebrations

The Deutsche Märchen-Straße he German Fairy tale Route is a T600km route from Hanau to Bremen connect- ing various tourist attractions and regions linked to the stories and lives of the Brothers Grimm. Passing through various scenic regions, including eight nature parks, the route takes in such towns and cities as Hanau, Steinau, Marburg and Kassel. Several places along the Fairy Tale Route are con- nected with the fairy tales themselves, such as the House of Little Red Riding Hood; a Snow White Museum; the birthplace of Dorothea Viehmann; the hill (Hoher Meissner) where Mother Hulda is said to have resided; Sababurg Castle, located in Reinhardswald Park, referred to as the Sleeping Beauty Castle; the town of Hamelin, of Pied Piper fame; a museum devoted to fairy tales and local legends (Deutsches Märchen- und Wesersagen- museum); and the city of Bremen, which is famous for the tale of the Town Musicians of Bremen. The original Children’s and Household Tales can be found in Kassel and in 2005 this collection was added to the UNESCO World Document Herit- age List. Numerous picturesque medieval towns can be found among the Route’s attractions as well, especially Alsfeld, Hann, Fritzlar and Hameln. The 200th anniversary of the first publication of Children’s and Household Tales by the Grimm brothers will be observed in 2012-2013 with a se- ries of events. Many other events, open-air festivals, exhibits, and performances dealing with the topic of fairy tales are held annually. Visit the Deutsche Märchen-Straße website  here.  Grimm Bicentenary Celebrations (continued)

The Three Snake Leaves he Company of Storytellers – Hugh Lup- Tton, Ben Haggarty and Sally Pomme Clayton – are recreating their unique piece of performance storytelling for adults – The Three Snake Leaves. This remixed version will have live music special- ly composed and performed by musicians Dylan Fowler and Gillian Stevens. ‘A wonderful, intricate performance, based on tales from the Brothers Grimm, about the possi- bilities of redemption.’ – Independent Saturday 4 February 2012, 7.30 p.m. Unicorn Theatre, 147 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2HZ e-mail: [email protected]

Beyond the Border: Wales International Story-telling Festival

elebrate 200 years of Grimm´s Fairy CTales with performers from across Europe, in- cluding storytelling and circus from Switzerland, storytelling and puppetry from Munich, and our specially commissioned revival of the acclaimed The Three Snake Leaves by the UK´s Company of Storytellers (see above). Other themes for this year include The Silk Road and Myths and Legends of Celtic Britain. For tickets and the full line-up go to 10 www.beyondtheborder.com. In Other News ...

From Fata to Fairies rom Fata to Fairies: Interdisciplinary FPerspectives from Antiquities to the Present Day is the new book of the Lausanne University conference of the same name. A review will appear in the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy journal ... watch this space.

Westerman A Fantastic Literary Discovery new ‘ripping’ adventure from the pen of Athe great Percy F. Westerman has been found by Portsmouth-based Westerman specialist Nigel Gossop during work late last year on a Westerman reminiscence project in Wareham, Dorset. The book, entitled At Their Country’s Call, is in the form of two bound and author-annotated publishers typescripts, probably from the Glasgow- based publisher Blackie and Son Limited. Until now, it was generally accepted that Percy F. Wester­ man wrote 20 stories of the Great War, but this story makes it 21 and brings the overall number of books written by Percy F. Westerman to a stagger- ing 175 books. Details of the story are be kept under wraps until the second Westerman Seminar being held at Ports­ mouth Grammar School on Saturday 11 Febru- ary where a synopsis of the story will be available to delegates. Details of the seminar can be obtained from Nigel Gossop at [email protected] 11 Feedback

Please contact Heather Robbins ([email protected]) with any suggestions or feedback