Marly Youmans' Thaliad offers a healing balm to the swath of nihilistic post-apocalyptic fiction for young adults. Told in free verse reminiscent of heroic epics (Homer meets Gerald Manley Hopkins), Thaliad recounts the aftermath of a fiery apocalypse and the perlious journey of a band of children led by a girl whose prophetic visions […]
Marly Youmans and Clive Hicks-Jenkins Collaboration: Thaliad Read More »
Ursula Kirchner — like Lotte Reiniger Silhouette Films — did amazing work in black and white detailed paper cut illustrations. These beauties are from Märchen, edited by Karlhans Frank, published by the Goethe-Institute in 1985. I love this style — it’s so dramatic, so filled with energy. I also think the way it’s constructed from
Ursula Kirchner: Fairy Tale Paper Cuts Read More »
"6. After searching for entire nights without knowing it, beyond sleep, beyond exhaustion, having traveled forests of lucid insomnia, you will reach a great deserted clearing where, holding your breath, your ear against the ground, you can hear the very heartbeat of silence. Then, as you rise, you will realize that you are surrounded by
Fernand Dumont: Treaties on Fairies Read More »
Actor John Turturro has acquired the rights to create a filmed version of Italo Calvino's Italian Folktales (perhaps my all time favorite fairy tale collection). Last year, Turturro tested the waters so to speak with a new play "Fiable Italiano" adapted from Calvino's collection. It was performed before sold out audiences in Turin, Naples and
John Turturro And Italo Calvino: Italian Folktales On The Stage And On Film Read More »
I am swooning over these gorgeous illustrations from the Czech children's book The Forest Story," written in 1929 by Josef Kozisek and handsomely illustrated by Rudolf Mates. I would so have loved as a child to receive such a gem of of a book. (Via Will Schoenfeld's amazing 50 Watts, a website dedicated to sharing
A Forest Story And The Lush Illustrations of Rudolf Mates Read More »
As it turns out, Hans Christian Andersen produced really wonderful, whimsical, and beautiful papercuts when he told stories. He also produced lovely Christmas ornaments out of colored paper. I always think of his melancholy fairy tales — and was surprised by the humor and quirkiness of these delicate pieces. Happily, you can see a lot
Hans Christian Andersen’s Whimisical Paper Cuts Read More »
I would like to thank Katherine Langrish, young adult author and literature blogger supreme (Seven Miles of Steel Thistles), for inviting me to participate in her Fairytale Reflections Series — a collection of wonderful posts on fantasy authors, their work, and then a short essay by the authors on their favorite fairy tales. It’s a
Lately, I have been reading a lot of Italian fairy tales as a kind of inspiration and preparation for the new novel I am working on, a companion to The Innamorati. As the plot is a renaissance road trip with a young woman in search of herself and her trickster companion (to create a little drama along
Return to Sender: The Rejected Brides of Fairy Tales Read More »
