2025 Sydney conference

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Date: June 14-15, 2025 (10am-6pm both days)
Venue: Prince Henry Centre, Little Bay, Sydney
Program: All the session times!

2025 AFTS Sydney Conference art by Helen McCosker (c)

Our 2025 theme, Over Water, Under Water, Magical Waters of Fairy Tales, celebrates Sydney as a place where ocean, harbour and rivers meet – as passages, barriers and sources of life.

‘Many meanings lie beneath fairy tales. They are like underwater portals to other worlds and how we experience them. Fairy tales have travelled across the oceans from many lands to make their home here in Australia,’ Sydney Ring Maiden, Jo Henwood, says.

This June, expect new creations, performances, panel discussions, sales of books and art, academic talks and workshops, music and activities – and best-selling fairy tale author Demelza Carlton to give the keynote.

The Call for Presentations closed on February 28 (11pm AEDT), 2025.

We outlined what we were looking for – and were open to your suggestions too!

Registrations are now open! We look forward to seeing you on June 14-15, 10am-6pm both days.

As well as our keynote speaker, internationally renowned author Demelza Carlton, in her only Sydney appearance, we have best-selling fairy tale authors, Kate Forsyth and Kell Woods, plus artists and academics, storytellers and psychologists, media creatives, and people drawing on their cultural heritage across the seven seas, all to stimulate us to understand and appreciate stories near and far.

You might also like to renew your AFTS membership ($25) (or join!) at the same time to extend to May 31, 2026. Payments (for conference and membership) can be made via bank transfer (click ‘Register Now!) or by credit card (via Humanitix).

Register Now!

It’s time to get excited!

Keynote: Demelza Carlton

Panels

  • Australian Fairy Tales: What, When, Where, Why, Who and How? (Laura Fulton, Serene Conneeley, Demelza Carlton, Camille Booker)
  • Folklore of the Seas, Rivers, Lakes and Swamps (Molly O’Neill, Kell Woods, Erin-Claire Barrow)
  • The Magic of Tears in Fairy Tales (Kell Woods, Kate Forsyth, Serene Conneeley)

Talks

  • The Adventurer’s Guide to Folklore Waterways (Erin-Claire Barrow)
  • Aquatic Reinvention: From Selkies to Homo Aquaticus (Eliane Morel)
  • Echoes Across Oceans: The Influence of Indian Fairy Tales on Australian Folklore (Priti Modyiyer)
  • Fairy Tale Water Crossings, Identity, and the Search for the True Self (Lisa Ritchie)
  • Finding a Common Thread: Combining Fairy Tales to Create Something New (Kell Woods)
  • Generations of Mermaids: From Little Mermaid to Little Whale (Jo Henwood)
  • Here Be Mermaids: From Bog Snorkelling to Sydney Harbour (Liz Locksley)
  • The Hidden Magic Behind Water Animation (Rhianna Cordingley)
  • Life! I Can Feel It in My Waters! (Debra Phillips)
  • The Liminality of Water in Fairy Tales (Elizabeth Blackwood)
  • Many Waters: A Geologist Explores How Water Shapes Our Stories (Molly O’Neill)
  • A Monstrous Voyage: Melusine’s Travels in Colonial Australia, with art display (Fiona McDonald)
  • “Once” – How an Exhibition Came to Life, with art display (Helen McCosker)
  • The Tragic Story of Unrequited Love behind The Little Mermaid, with a look at her novel Dancing on Knives (Kate Forsyth)
  • The Water Dragon (Theresa Fuller)

Performances

  • The Faithful Fisherman of Burano (Jill Webster)
  • From Under to Over: Two Tales Together (Jo Henwood, Priti Modyiyer)
  • Heart of Flesh, Heart of Stone (Kate Forsyth)
  • How the Giants Fell Up (Laura Fulton)
  • Sea Shanties (Eliane Morel)
  • Sydney’s Mermaid (Liz Locksley)
  • The Television Told Me a Story (Alexandra McCallum)
  • The White Trout (Alexandra McCallum)

Plus!

  • Activity: Clearing the Waters with Faerie and Folk Tale Wisdom (Louise Phillips)
  • Short Film: The Salt Maiden (Donna Cameron)
  • Workshop: Fairy Tale Writing Elements – A (Very) Short Course with Laura Fulton and Melanie Hill

One AFTS Bursary is on offer to a current member to attend our Sydney conference.
The bursary will cover: a) transport and accommodation costs to $400
b) a ‘fairy godmother/father’ as conference mentor.
Please note that the bursary holder is responsible for their own registration cost.

Applications closed at 10pm, May 8, 2025. Thank you for your applications. We are delighted to announce Mikaela Grosseholz is the talented and enthusiastic winner, who will join us in Sydney.

Markets and Merchandise

Red Bubble: Visit ‘Austfairytales‘ anytime for your AFTS merch! (2025 Conference items coming soon.)
Conference Market: Buy art, books, CDs and more direct from our creative members.

Read more about the conference

  • Our keynote, Demelza Carlton is renowned for her mermaid tales. How researching a shipwreck off the WA coast resulted in her first book ‘Ocean’s Gift’ is a fabulous tale in itself, as is the unexpected inspiration for ‘Blow: Three Little Pigs Retold’!

Pre-conference events

  • Artist-author Erin-Claire Barrow hosted the Society’s first public art workshop, Magical Waters: How to Illustrate a Fairy Tale, on Sunday April 13 at Tempe’s River Canoe Club. The students’ artistic visions were liberated to to see fairy tales in new ways.
  • World Storytelling Day, March 23, had the theme Deep Water, which was such a perfect match to our conference theme that the Sydney Fairy Tale Ring collaborated with the Australian Storytellers for a concert at Kirribilli Neighbourhood Centre, near Sydney Harbour.
  • WEA Sydney hosted two workshops, Fairy Tales Matter/Fairy Tale Matters, and Randwick Library (near the Prince Henry Centre) hosted two children’s workshops over the Easter school holidays – How to Write an Australian Fairy Tale and How to Tell a Fairy Tale.

We’d like to thank …